iancurtis

Hi,

This topic has been debated countless times on this forum and there seems to be two main schools of thought :

1) You can't do anything about your medicals until they ask you to.

2) You can do you medicals at the start and send them with your application. In fact, this will give you priority over those that have not front-loaded them.

Can anyone give a definitive answer to this vexing topic ?

yvsie

Hi,
I know when you read this you will think oh god its not a definitive answer ...but I would REALLY like to know too so I have responded to get it to the top of the list

Hope you dont mind??!!

We too are going down the skilled independent route

Yvonne

heading downunder 2002

As Adelaide seem to be moving fairly quickly with the processing I don't think you need worry about front loading them. We applied to London in January 2001 and sent in our medicals and police checks about April because we expected to hear in about August, as we all know things changed and we didn't hear until this month. We had our police checks done again in November and were always at risk of having to have our medicals redone. Thankfully we don't have to but I think the extensions they have give are a one off and we have just been lucky.

If I was applying now I would wait and monitor the situation. After all you can send them in at anytime and don't have to send them with your application.

Hope this helps.

Susan

jopaulss

Hi Ian
The only reason you front end load is if you are going on the skills matching list. Otherwise i wasnt aware that you could just frontend load . We wanted to go on the skills matching list as a way of paul being offered a job our agent said yes thats ok , noly downfall he said is you have to have evreything done upfront.
Cant be of anymore help,except if we hadnt skills matched i wouldnt of fron loaded
Joanne

Steveg

Hi Ian,

I don't believe there is a "definitive" answer, because of the vast range of
circumstances for all the cases. But, I'll be happy to give you an experienced
opinion, hindsight being 20/20 and all, it may actually have some validity.

We front-loaded our application and submitted it on April 12, 2001 to the Washington
embassy. There were no 'major' complications with our case. A few minor ones, all
easily resolved.

Washington took a 5 month break, I assume because of the Sept 11 attacks.

Last week we received a fax from the Washington Embassy stating that we had met all
requirements for immigration (received the same fax in November 2001, except they
said they were "out of visa's" at that time), but unfortunately she noticed that our
medicals had expired. My medical was done March 5, 2001, my wife's, March 15, 2001, .
So one was a month expired, the other 6 weeks. The fax continued to say that the
immigration department would forward us new medical forms, and as soon as these were
filled out, return them with our passports to the embassy. There was also a clause in
there that there had to be no "major change of circumstance".

I know that we should be happy about this but there are a number of things that beef
me: (sorry, I'm going to use your question as an opportunity to "whinge" as the
Aussies say):

1. I front-loaded the application to speed it up. Not slow it down.
2. It was the embassy that decided to take a 5 month siesta, not me.
3. The applications in London that were front-loaded were given a 12 month extension
on their medicals, but not Washington.
4. Our doctor can't get us in for two weeks, AFTER they see what the forms look like
again, we haven't received the forms yet.
5. I'm a self employed contractor and we have to buy our own insurance. Our
insurance pays for US$100 of the physical exam cost. Last time the exams were
US$575 EACH, including the x-rays. This is a pretty good chunk of change that we
can't take to OZ.
6. I'm on the IT "fast track" with a MODL occupation, not much good it did
me.

Soooooooo after the complaining, to answer your questions, reflecting on past
experience, I would.

Get on the timeline website, http://www.austimeline.com Find out a good approximate
time that Adelaide requests medicals, Book with the doctor, for the Exams, about two
weeks before this approximate time. (maybe a month) Have the medicals complete,
sealed, and in your hands. When Adelaide request the medicals, DHL them that day.

I'm sure there are flaws with this plan, but it does have a couple of advantages:

1. It gives your medicals another month or five of validity.
2. If there are issues with your case, they will probably find them before you
get your medicals, you can then adjust the timing of your medical exams
accordingly.
3. The delay you submit your medicals is less than a week, providing you get
them in DHL the same day you get the request for them from Adelaide.

I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish the reduced timeline, you'll just have to
find the one that fits your case the best.

Good luck with your application, Steve Grauel


"iancurtis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi,
    >
    > This topic has been debated countless times on this forum and there seems to be two
    > main schools of thought :
    >
    > 1) You can't do anything about your medicals until they ask you to.
    >
    > 2) You can do you medicals at the start and send them with your application. In
    > fact, this will give you priority over those that have not front-loaded them.
    >
    > Can anyone give a definitive answer to this vexing topic ?
    >
    >
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

simon

You can send your medical forms in whenever you like. The risk you take is that the visa will only be be valid for 12 months from the date of medicals, or police checks, whichever is sooner. I understand that they are extending this date for people who have clear medicals because of the length in processing times at the moment.

We applied in Jan 2001 and sent our medicals in Dec 2001 after talking to someone at the High Commission who told us it would probably speed the process up if we did. I heard today that my medical has been given the OK after it was referred to the doctors in Oz.

Steveg

Hi Smiley,

We sent in our form 80 (if that's what you mean) with our application.

Steve

"smiley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Steve,
    >
    > Which month did you submit your "Personal Particulars" form ? before Sept 11th,
    > or after?
    >
    > thanks for any info...
    >
    > Smiley

Jaj

The only reason applications with medicals etc are (allegedly) now being given some
priority by London is that applicants who did front end load did so in good faith at
London's request (which was never a legal requirement, but most people didn't
realise that).

This was done 'to save time' in mid 2000, then the system was knocked completely out
of sych by IT priority processing and the onshore student PR system starting up.

For London to give priority to front end loaded applications is a policy decision by
London, in the light of their specific circumstances, that's all.

Same applies to extension of medicals. Apparently, those people who did supply
medicals in advance because they were asked to are getting an extension -
provided the medicals are clear - but that is not to say that others who front
end load themselves (ie without being asked to) will get the same concession. The
reverse is true.

Adelaide is not asking for people to front end load medicals for offshore
applications. That's never been the normal process and there's no reason for it to
become so now.

The normal process is:
- you wait until being asked to do your medicals and police checks (which will be a
late stage of the processing)
- the normal 12 month validity period will then apply and should not cause
any problems

By the way, I don't believe that medicals should be front-end loaded if you are
applying for Skill Matching. My understanding is that they are not required to go on
the database and would only be asked for once a nomination comes through.

Jeremy

    >On 23 Apr 2002 15:30:05 GMT, jopaulss <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Hi Ian The only reason you front end load is if you are going on the skills matching
    >list. Otherwise i wasnt aware that you could just frontend load . We wanted to go on
    >the skills matching list as a way of paul being offered a job our agent said yes
    >thats ok , noly downfall he said is you have to have evreything done upfront. Cant
    >be of anymore help,except if we hadnt skills matched i wouldnt of fron loaded Joanne
    >
    >Posted via http://britishexpats.com