ukdarren22

I am in the very early stages of my Visa application, I am just waiting to hear back from the TRA, and I have just found out that my Wife is pregnant, does this make any difference to the Visa

maverik1979

you have to inform your CO as soon as poss, there is specific wording for this somewehre on www.immi.gov.au but i cant remember where

ljk888

If you have to take medicals for your visa this will involve chest xrays, which I don't think you're meant to have done if you're pregnant. Good luck with it all, and congrats!

Ozzidoc

Congrats on the surprise!


From a medical perspective, you CAN have xrays. However, no-one will ask you to. There was a thread on this about 4 days ago.

dave7370

We found out that my wife was pregnant the same week we got our request for medicals. Just needed a letter from my wifes GP confiming she was pregnant and a due date, this was then forwarded by our agent with a covering letter to our CO and we are now doing our meds in Jan next year.

You can do the medicals but I believe the Xrays are not recommended if your wife is pregnant. Also, if you did your meds before the baby arrived, it can cause problems with your visa application and the possible cost of adding the little'un onto your application.

Good luck and congrats....

Dave and Cheryl (plus huge bump)

HellasAU

Hi,

We've applied for a 457 visa and found out my partner is also pregnant. I've been advised by my agent that you usually have three choices when this happens. They are;

(1) She has the baby in the UK and comes to Australia once baby is born.
(2) She has an MRI scan instead of an X-Ray.
(3) She forgoes the X-Ray and has a full medical and HIV Blood Test, costing approx £132.50.

For us, Immigration chose option 3 and the medical and results are on the way as we speak. Because your wife is pregnant, you will find it pretty hard to find any radiologist who will conduct an X-Ray on a pregant woman as it harms the foetus, especially in the early stages.

Remember that although Immigration will consider a pregnancy as a "health issue", they aren't allowed to discriminate and will just want to make sure that she is fit and health. Also, you should be prepared for a few extra weeks delay whilst immigration do their checks. My partner looks like being granted her visa 4 - 8 weeks after mine.

Hope this helps!

Babycatcher

Definitely shouldn't have xray when pregnant, not worth the risk

Pollyana

Not sure whether they would take this route for a permanent visa though.

geordie mandy

Cant you just wear the lead apron? when i was pregnant i had one on while my son was having an xray on his arm when he was a baby.
Mandy

walaj

I found out I was pregnant just before we were about to do our medicals (been requested). The CO accepted our word via email that we wanted to delay the medical and then add the baby to the visa, and this was allowed (without need for Drs letter).

When baby was born, got full birth cert, passport, I think we may have had to fill in another form (ask your CO when you get one), then a very basic medical for baby (when she was approx 6mths) when we had ours.

If you have your medicals, and visa granted before baby born, you either have to be in Oz for birth and baby becomes a citizen automatically or you have another fee and application for your baby if born outside Oz.

We were happy extending the process to avoid having to do a validation trip before we were ready to move.

the above is assuming you are applying for PR

lucy.summers

I know timelines are shorter these days but I fell pregnant 2 months before sending the visa app (Feb 04). Medicals hadn't been requested by the time our son was born (Jul 04) and we informed the CO at that time and we just had to send a certified copy of his birth certificate and he was added to the application .

I don't think it get you anywhere to tell them upfront other than just be put to teh bottom of the pile and left there and if you get asked to go for medicals prior to the birth then that would be the time I would tell them and just put off the medicals till after bub is born.

Ozzidoc

Where's the evidence?

It's all about not wanting to be sued, not that there is any known harm from a CHEST xray.

hedgehog-girl

Totally agree with you. For the average person on the street, having a one off x-ray carries insignificant risks to the unborn foetus. In fact you will probably get more risks with eating unpasturised cheeses.

And if your Wife is only a few weeks then the X-Ray Department will (or should) wrap an X-Ray skirt around her waist which should cover her family bits (including bub) for the short time you have the chest X-Ray.

At the end of the day, you have to have a chat with the Radiographer and make an informed decision for yourselves.

monkeypeaches

I suppose it depends on what visa you're after, but I'm with Lucy on this one - I got pregnant just about when we heard back from Vetassess, we sent our visa application off when I was about 12 weeks. I haven't bothered to tell them as I figured we'd go to the bottom of the pile and with non-priority waiting times about 7 months we thought the baby would be here before meds were requested anyway.

As it happens, I'm due in 3 weeks and still no sign of a CO so we will just send off the details when he is born. If we *do* get meds requested beforehand we'll tell them then and ask them to give us an extension.

Good Luck with everything
Rach

busterboy

Hi everyone

I went for PR and discovered I was pregnant after we lodged. I filled out a 1022 form - change of circumstances and sent to DIMIA. On birth of child I sent another 1022 and a certified or original copy of birth certificate. Bub was included in the medicals (no x-ray, very basic) and added to the application. We are now the proud owners of 3 PR visas