mr&mrsjames

My wife is just in the early stages of pregnancy and we were just wondering if it was worth staying for a couple more years and having the baby over here, but we would have to validate our visa when it arrives.

If anyone has had the experience of emigrating while pregnant, I would like to hear from you.

Wendy

Well I can't really answer your question, but I wanted to say Congratulations

mr&mrsjames

thanks

heading south

We applied for a 136 in May 2005 and we found out that OH was pregnant soon after. It took eight months for us to be asked for our meds/PCCs and we're now sorting out our bond and expect to get our visa sometime in the next two months. Our son was born in late February this year. Our COs advised that we have until early February next year to validate our visas, by which time he'll be nearly one. Applying for a visa can take ages, so I'd just get your application in as soon as possible and then sit back and 'relax'.

Heading South

comet555

We're in a similar situation. Our hope is to make the move over in January... so basically we had to apply now to ensure that would happen.

I am currently 7 months pregnant, the baby is due in August. As far as I know you can't get your medicals done while pregnant because of the x-ray requirement. But you can lodge your application and then book the medicals for after the baby is born, or wait to be asked for them. Since I'm due in August I will be booking our medicals sometime mid to late September.

After the baby is born you need to notify DIMA, send them a copy of the birth certificate, and then get started on a passport. The baby will be added to the original application with no additional costs. And of course the baby will need medicals done as well, although not as detailed as the adults of course.

The other alternative for you is to wait until after the baby is born and then lodge your application with baby included. It really depends on when you want to move over to Australia.

Good luck!

Haley

heading south

Haley

You can get your meds done while pregnant. My OH had the meds done at eight months, but we delayed the X-ray until after our son was born. Our doc was fine about it and it didn't cause our CO any problems either. We just had the X-rays done for my OH at the same time we had to see the doc to get the meds done on our son, so my OHs X-ray results and his med results went off to the LCU in Sydney at the same time.

Heading South

comet555

Thanks heading south,

I hadn't thought about doing that... it may be a possibility. My only concern is booking the medicals and then having some pregnancy related complication arise. With my last pregnancy I had preeclampsia (high blood pressure and minor kidney problems) so if that were to develop again I would have to cancel the appointment.

I'm not quite sure if it would speed up the application as the baby's won't be done until September anyway. We know we won't be going over until January anyway so to get the visa a lot earlier won't really matter (just peace of mind). The only thing it would do would be to bump up our validation date... which I'm not sure I would want to do.

Anyway.. it's something for me to think about anyway. Thanks for letting me know. I will definately be contacting the doctor to run everything by him and to book an appointment (not sure when now).

Haley

JAJ

If granted a visa while pregnant, you must validate the visa before the baby arrives. If you do not, then the baby's arrival will be a notifiable change of circumstances and DIMA have the right to cancel your visas (eg if child has health problems).

Even if you validate before the baby arrives, if born in the UK it will have no status in Australia and will need to be sponsored for a child migration visa.

If a child is born in Australia with permanent resident parents, it's automatically an Australian citizen.

All this is moot if you haven't been asked for medicals, pregnant women don't normally do xrays and usually the application goes "on hold" until the baby arrives.

walaj

I found out I was pregnant just as we had been requested medicals - we asked CO to put application on hold until bubs born. Need to get passport and full birth certificate, then eventually 6mths later got all our medicals done in one go, visa granted a short time after, then came over when bubs was 14mths old.
(btw, this was for skilled indi visa)

I don't see point of doing part of medical up front as this will only bring the date to validate forward, time you may appreciate if you have to sell a house.

Gibbo

I emigrated in 1966, when I was 3 months pregnant. I also had a 3 and almost 2years old. We were deposited into the dreaded hostel where I refused to have my third child so we managed to get a flat before my third son was born. My husband had to take time off work to look after our 2 sons while I gave birth to the third. I came home and he went back to work! Not easy having a new born and two others under four when you are on your own, but the other migrants and aussies who lived in the flats were fantastic. Only you can make the decision whether you can cope with being pregnant and emigrating at the same time. It isn't easy but it can be done. All the best. Remember only you and your husband can make the decision. Don't let anyone else influence you.

heading south

I've read other replies with interest. Our approach suited us and our particular circumstances. On balance, had we found out that OH was pregnant before we applied, we would still have applied for our visa (a 136). You'll see lots of posts here about people (understandably) wanting to know what's going on with their application and wondering why they have not got their visa yet. We were busy with pregnancy things while we were waiting and weren't particularly bothered that we'd not heard about our visa yet. Fingers crossed, we'll get our visa in a month or two and we plan a validating trip before next February (not everyone may be in a financial position to do this, but we are so we will). From the date our visa is granted (hence the date of the meds was not an issue) we will then have up to two/three years to move out permanently depending on whether gaining Australian Citizenship as soon as possible is important to us. We may only stay a couple of years and then may head off somewhere else, or come back to the UK.

Whether you stay here a few more years here or go sooner depends on your circumstances. Some people seem to get their visas within a couple of months of applying, ours will have taken well over a year by the time it arrives, while others seem to have been in the system over a year without being asked for any further information. There are lots of different visa types/options and I guess some are sorted out quicker than others.

While we were thinking about applying to move to Australia, the pass mark for our preferred visa (136) was increased by five points. Our only viable option was to either go for the bond, or consider another (less flexible) visa. Another reason that we didn't want the application rushed through once we'd lodged it was that it gave us time to save up for our bond payment, which meant that we didn't have to sell our house/anything else to fund our bond. Depending which visa you plan to apply for things may go in your favour or against you in the next few years. The changes to the US system may work in your favour (see other threads); particular skills come onto/fall off the SOL/MODL over time; house prices seem to be rocketing in parts of Australia at the moment.

In summary, we applied and did just enough to keep our application ticking over by taking all the alloted time to reply to requests - remember changes to skills assessment/visas rules and regulations don't matter once you've lodged your application (though see JAJs recent cautionary note in another thread on this point).

That's turned into quite a ramble, but it should illustrate that what you choose to do really depends on all your circumstances, rather than just the pregnancy (important though that is). Moving half way around the world is an adventure we intend to embrace and make the best of. Granted, there's no point making things harder than they need to be, but they may always be a good reason not to apply at a particular point in the future.

Heading South (with one more person than we expected when we applied)