artykuboty

hi. My close friend graduated from the same Australian university as me is also applied for the permanent visa recently but he is very concerned that whether he needs to lie about his past testicular cancer that struck him 1.5 years ago, he had a surgery and had no recurrence since.. I would suspect he is thinking of getting away of being found out by getting a AU citizenship after 2 years of PR grants. Do you ever think he has to be really honest about his previous conditions? He told me that testicular cancer rarely cause recurrence after 2 years of remissions but I am not sure. I　do think he may get rejected because of this. I hope he will do alright tho.

Pollyana

If he lies he is committing visa fraud.
If a visa is granted and then they find out he has lied, his visa can be cancelled.

George Lombard

... and his citizenship can also be cancelled if he is found out.

Cheers,

George Lombard

scrudu

I have been trying to find out this information for quite a long time and despite calling DIMIA and trawling many forums I didn't find any answers. The IMMI phone line simply said that "as long as the cost of treatment did not exceed a given amount per annum, no illness would result in a visa being denied". This didn't help much as I've no idea how much they would consider surveillance for or an actual reoccurrence of Testicular Cancer to cost.

My Background: My husband was found to have testicular cancer (non-seminoma) 2 years ago and had an orchiectomy (testicle removed). He did not have to undergo any Chemotherapy or Radiotherapy. Since then he's been following a routine period of surveillance, where he must have CT Scans every 3 months and blood marker tests every 6 weeks. All marker levels have been normal and no further cancer has been found from CT or XRay scans. His checks will soon be reduced to once every 6 months.

After only recently hearing about the HOC, I wrote them an email to [email protected] asking if the above history would be a reason for him to be refused a visa. I was hoping at best that it would be possible to "pre-submit" our Health Checks before submitting our Applicaiton and paying the relevant Visa Applicaton Fees.

They responded saying the following:
We held off applying for an Oz Visa for so long as we had feared that his history would result in an immediate Refusal and waste of money on the application, so we were thrilled to get this response.

That said, we can't be 100% sure that this will follow through when they actually assess our application. Has anyone actually gone through with an application with a history of Testicular Cancer?

Hope this info helps other people in the same situation! I'm not sure if this info was particular to the fact that my husband had a non-seminoma (less serious than a seminoma), or the fact it was 2 years ago with no reoccurrence ... or if these don't matter at all. I guess each case could be different.

jo_marnes

I am interested in this thread.... we are currently waiting for our meds to be finalised as my husband had skin cancer last year. Like the others here, he required no chemo etc - literally just had the mole chopped off and now has regular check ups. I am v worried this may be our stumbling block, even though our panel doctor said it shouldn't be a problem. They are taking their time finalising things though... the waiting makes me worry!!

scrudu

I'd be a lot more confident about a skin cancer (mole removal) not being an issue. Nearly every Australian I met while living there had had at least 1 skin cancer removed. It seems as common as having a cold over there.

Because of the gaping hole in the Ozone over Oz, Australians take a lot more care than Europeans about their skin, and typically have regular check ups or scans to check for skin cancers. I'd say don't worry at all. I seriously doubt it'll be held against you in your medicals.

Grayling

Usually cancer has to be in remission for 3 years.

there may be exceptions to this.

G

scrudu

I just thought I'd update this thread in case anyone is searching in the future. Our visas were just granted despite my husband having a recent history of testicular cancer. As explained in an earlier post on this thread, my husband was diagnosed 2 years before the date of our application. He underwent surgery but no chemo/radiotherapy. Despite surveillance (CT Scans, X-Rays, Blood Marker tests) he has had no reoccurrence since that time.

For our medicals we provided the GP with a short but concise letter from the Oncology Consultant who detailed his treatment and outlined the prognosis and listed the future surveillance routine (i.e. Yearly CT Scans and 6 mthly Blood Marker tests). The Consultant also sent on the latest Blood Test Results and copy of Chest X-Ray Report. No further information was requested from the HOC or MOC before visa grant.

I can't say that this is the outcome in all cases or for all cancers (testicular cancer is apparently the "best" cancer to get due to expected outcome), but I know hearing a positive story would have made us feel a little more sure before our application.

fifty_pence

great stuff

good luck

scrudu

Cheers Big smile on my face now. Nice way to start the day at work!

Pollyana

Thats great news! Its always good when someone comes back to post the outcome of a case, especially when its favourable

scrudu

Thanks Pollyanna! Yeah I am thrilled to be able to give a positive story. I'd searched so many Australian Visa forums for info on previous experiences by applicants relating to Test.Cancer, but found nothing. I hope this will give anyone else in a simlilar situation a bit more hope.

Pollyana

I'm sure it will Thats why its so good to see results like this, gives others some hope