gibster82

If my child is autistic? Can I include my child as part of my general skills migration application?

Dorothy

You will have to include your child on your application whether they are included as migrating dependent or non-migrating dependent. Autism itself is not necessarily a barrier to a visa. Each case is assessed on it's own merits.

crazynconfused

Hi I have asked the same question as my son has that too I have searched the health questions etc there doesnt seem to be any specific questions related to autism.

Dorothy

That's because there are such varying degrees of autism. It's the same with any health condition. As I said above, every case is dealt with on it's own merits and depends on the severity of your child's disability.

quoll

Love the avatar Dorothy!

Definitely, all disabilities are taken on their individual merits with a view to how much potential cost there may be to the Australian tax payer in the longer term both through pensions, education provisions etc. Your best bet is to be prepared with copies of assessments (psych and language especially), evidence of diagnosis, general level of academic and adaptive functioning. You will need all of that anyway if you are given a visa and expect additional support from the education system when you get here.

Good luck with it.

George Lombard

Hi Gibster,

Generally, Quoll is correct but in practice you'd need to work through this carefully before lodging an application as the policy "one fail, all fail" means that it would be a very sad and frustrating experience if the child's condition were so serious as to lead to a visa refusal. We have been working through a number of such cases recently - prior to anyone making a visa application - as we're lucky to have appropriate professional advice available to us, and yes it all depends on the detail.

Cheers,

George Lombard