vickyb69

Well,

I think we are screwed time wise.

My medical was sent off on march 4th - still no news.

And just found out that my husbands medical needs to be sent to the medical assessors as well. For an ankle fracture he sustained about 18 years ago. That causes him no problems. He had a medical report from 2006 saying that he had a bit of arthritis but would be fit enought to join the TA if he wanted. But they decided they wanted something more up to date. Which says that he still has some very slowly progressive arthritis, that does not impact on his function, that may need intervention in the form of surgery in 10 plus years, that he would make a good functional recovery from if it came to that. AAAGGGHHH. I cant understand why this needs to go to a medical assessor. Ankle fusion surgery does not cost $25000, their quoted price. And it might not even come to that. And if it does it'll be over a decade away. He might be run over by a bus before then. No wonder their medical assessors are inundated if they are being sent referrals like this. I just don't get it.

Anyone got any smart solutions. My understanding is that the medical criteria are the same for working visas. And that we can't even go over to NZ on holiday before this all gets sorted as we might not have an intention to leave!! Can we have outbound flights to Oz or something? (my brother lives in OZ so legitimate reason to want to fly to there)

Help

simonsi

Timing isn´t helpful but I am pretty sure the immigration staff are just acting like civil servants the world over and following their playbook and passing anything medically complex to the medical assessor for it to be their decision rather than the immigration staff....I know that doesn´t help with the delays but perhaps it isn´t personal

vickyb69

I have it on good authority that ankle fusion surgery costs less than $25k.

Immigration policy stipulates that applicants should not need a joint replacement in the next 4 years - he won't and has an orthopaedic opinion supporting this, and that any anticipated surgery costs less than £25000 - even if he does eventually need his ankle fused (more than a decade away if he needs it) the cost of this will be less than that. Can I therefore question their decision to refer his medical to the panel? Or are they liable to just hate me for interfering??!!!

AAAHHHGGG- i'm just so frustrated. All i want to do is catch my flight, move out and contibute to the new zealand economy by starting my job on time.

TeamEmbo

Frustrating as it is, your CO is just following procedure, ie. medical condition - refer to MA for advice/decision regarding condition + letters from consultants/specialists, as the MA is qualified to assess this, the CO is not. Just standard procedure that needs to be followed in order to get a decision.

BTW, the actual cost of the surgery might not be $25k but the real costs looked at might include consultations with specialists, medical supplies, rehab/physio, medications, nursing staff costs, anaesthetist costs etc, etc all of which mount up.

I don't think questioning the CO's decision to refer will get you very far as, like I said, your CO is just following standard procedure and unfortunately that means a frustrating wait for you. it all works out for you in the end and that you not waiting too much longer

vickyb69

Thanks - you are right. I'm just stressed out by it all and frustrated.

Him and Me

have you spoken to your CO and asked how long the decision will take and if it's worth you paying to see a orthopaedic consultant (one thats on their list of consultants) to get a up to date statement saying your hubby's ankle will be fine?.. Only asking because i was referred to MA and i went and got a letter from a consultant to say my condition was stable and managed and sent it off to CO without waiting to be told and i think this really helped to speed things up.

Don't worry about contacting them, they know how stressful the process can get for people waiting to be given the blue stickers, i spoke to my CO everyweek and found him to be very helpful and friendly

nukiwi

When my medical was referred to the MA we were told there is absolutely nothing you can do to speed up their decision. We used a licensed agent who was an ex-case officer herself so she knew the procedures and she told us that MA's are totally independent and immigration just have to wait until your medicals are back. Yes it is very frustrating....mine took 10 weeks to come back and that was a re-test of blood. Our CO told us that as more info had been requested it wouldn't take as long as it goes back to the same MA who looked at it in the first place....not sure how 10 weeks is quicker

It's easy for me to say as we now have our PR but I'm sure it will all come good and it will be worth the wait. It is worrying and it won't matter what anyone says to you, you won't be happy until you have the all clear. Keeping my fingers crossed for you

vickyb69

Still no news - my medical has been with them over 6 weeks now. I keep goign to the 'whats happening' page on the website. Think we should change the name to the 'nothing happening' page!

AngelaandJim

Mine has taken nearly 7 weeks and now they are asking for more information! Getting seriously bored now