Lesly

Hi everyone,

I read lots of questions about people with disabilities who are very uncertain about medicals they will have to do. We are in the same postition. I would like to know if there are people who failed (probably hard to find, because they wouldn't be browsing this forum I guess), but maybe there are people on this forum who succeeded????
I' ll explain our situation:

me and my wife have 2 children (age 7 and 8), we now live in Belgium, and are looking to migrate to NZ or Oz.

Before we start any of the procedures to obtain a permanent residency, we might have a problem with our youngest child. He is 7 years old and a child with special needs. He got sick at 6 months age (encephalitis), and because of that, he now suffers brain injury, he cannot speak. Here in Belgium, he goes to a special school, speaks with a speechcomputer and uses signlanguage.
Our child is not mentally disabled, only physically.He is not sick, but he now has to live with the consequences of his disease when he was a little boy.He does not need special medical care but probably needs to go to a special school.

Question is, would that be a reason to not start any of the procedures? Do we still have a chance to become permanent residents with a child with special needs? We have asked this question many times, but nobody has been able to answer it.
I even called a paneldoctor here in Belgium, but he said he just needs to fill in the forms and send them to London. I was hoping he could have an idea of our chances.
Anyone knows the answer??

Thanks very much for the replies,
Lesly

Grayling

Lesly
Things like this have cropped up before on here.
Each case is different.
Try doing a search.
It may also be wise to talk to a migration agent before you do anything else.

Good luck

G

Phoenixuk2oz

Hi Lesly

I'd go with Grayling on this one i.e get yourself a good Agent
as they will help you through the application and may be able to assess your chances.

The very best of luck to you, your family and especially your son who sounds a little fighter

Phoenixuk2oz

Lesly

Thanks for the advice, Greyling, I'll first try to search this forum.
I allready contacted migration agents (mostly NZ agents, because NZ is our first choice), some of them look at it postive, some negative. It's quite confusing!! We even contacted the New Zealand Immigration Service in person, but I get to see a few very superficial regulations. My biggest concern is: will my son be considered as a "burden to the State"? Whatever State that would be (NZ or Oz I mean).
The only thing we can do is to keep heart.

Thanks again, Greyling!
Cheers, Lesly

Lesly

Thanks Phoenixuk2oz,

He's certainly is a fighter, I hope he will keep on fighting for the rest of his life, he will need to!! We notice that now.

Thanks for the support!!
Lesly

walaj

lesly,

have a look at posts by 'Sandra'. She has a child with hearing difficulties and did have difficulties getting the visas approved beacause, but did get it in the end (for Oz).

It is better to look at her posts than me incorrectly remembering the details.

best wishes

walaj

Simone

Hoi Lesly

I agree, try to find Sandra's posts.

Also post this on the immigration forum. There, agents such as George Lombard, Alan Collett etc might answer your question.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forum...=30&forumid=32

Good luck, and see you on the xpdite forum

Lesly

Thanks Walaj and Simone (busy life you've got!!),

Great to hear that Sandra did get it, I did ask for Alan Collet's advice a few days ago on the go mathilda forum, this was his answer:

I am afraid I'm not overly positive about your prospects for obtaining a permanent residency visa - I would though also call my office in Southampton (+44 23 80 488777) to discuss your situation with my colleague Helen O'Hare.

I 'll have a look at Sandra's experiences with this, I'm sure they will help me getting an idea of our chances.

Cheers, Lesly

Simone

Mmmm, yeah.... not that this forum should be on my priorty list...
I should be concentrating on graduating, applying for jobs in Perth etc etc

But I like to leave everything till the last minute.........
It's an illness

Phoenixuk2oz

Just another thought Lesly........

Would it be worth mentioning you were prepared to obtain some form of insurance against health matters?

I'm not sure if such a thing exisits.......but if you were prepared to insure against ill health then maybe this might help?

Half of this process is also about having the tenacity to get over each hurdle with a fight ya know. Good luck

Phoenixuk2oz

Lesly

Hi Simone, me too, everything at the last minute! I'm sure you won't forget to get on that airplane!!!!!

Hi Phoenix, thanks for sharing your thought! I don't know if an insurance would help, it 's worth investigating!
I think the need for a special school would be a problem too, so I once thought about homeschooling in NZ, but I heard or read (can't remember where) that the intention of homeschooling wouldn't be enough to eliminate that problem. The need for special schooling would be enough to have a major problem to get in!
Maybe it's the same with medical problems, maybe an insurance won't be enough to get rid of that problem. But like I said, it 's worth investigating! Thanks again. It feels great to have an extra pair of braincells!!!!

Phoenixuk2oz

Good luck.........you & your family deserve it!!!

Phoenixuk2oz

Grayling

Lesly
I don't want to pit a damper on this or give wrong advice but I think the insurance issue has cropped up before.
Whether you have insurance or not will make no difference as You are legally entitled to medicare once you have PR so therefore you will be assessed on that basis.
This is as I understand it and It really is an area where specialist advice is needed.
If anyone knows different then I will stand corrected.

Good luck

G

Lesly

Thanks for the advice and support Greyling, I am afraid you will probably be right. We will surely need an immigration consultant, and probably one of the better ones too! I hope it works out okay.

Sandra

Hi there, please feel free to private message or email me personally.

One of the best agents I would say in this case is Allan Collett and I would follow up with ringing his colleague. There are many many terrible agents out there and they may take your money without having any idea whether you will fail the medical or not. (one of the ones I used was like that).

The medical process is that you see a panel doctor and they follow a standard rountine of can you see/hear/breath etc. They have no idea what is pass or not or the criteria for which Dimia are currently operating under. The medical forms go to the processing centre along with the rest of the application and your case officer checks for any thing out of the ordinary. And I am afraid this will be one of those cases. They send the medical forms off to Sydney where the medical examiner goes over the details and at that point is usually looking for the 'cost' to the Aus government of supporting the person in the system. No amount of medical insurance or assurances of support will matter.

The limits may vary but usually they are looking to avoid costs over about $20,000 for three years , it is arbitory on each case and not fixed. Possibly a good agent will talk with you about current support costs that are needed and try and assess your chances. But if special school is required I believe this is where the costs will soar and there are not that many totally government run facilities and this is the other area - if you do fall below the cost line you are also assessed against the factor of taking a service already needed by an Australian.

I wish I had better news, but remember all of this is only from my experience only and I am no expert, I just ran the gauntlet of crap agents knowing nothing to some highly skilled very supportive people, it a traumatic time and I wish you every success.

For all those other peops out there who are worried about other medical issues, I am not commenting on minor ailments or issues just the disability one for children, There are fantastic information threads on this site that detail, weight/asthma/blood pressure etc
Please have a look.

Lesly - my thoughts are with you and your family.

Sandra