SW3105

Hi,

We're very far from having medicals done but OH has been reading up further on the process, we are aware that we have to undergo medical checks.

The paper gave a list of disorders / illnesses which could prevent people being successful with a visa application.

One of the disorders labelled - Endocrine disorders such as diabetes, OH and I both have Hypothyroidism which is an Endocrine disorder. What does this mean for us?

The other thing is that OH has an 11 year old son in Perth, the last time he saw his son was when his son was 5 years old. OH has read on the medical checks that any children already living in Australia must also undergo a medical check - I'm not disputing that OH is wrong or right, but why does his son need to have a medical? I'm not worried that anything is wrong with him, but the warning of a 'one fails the medical, instant no to a visa' is kind of worrying me.

Also, we have a 1 year old daughter - what is the lower age limit for having medicals? Does she need to go through the whole medical process aswell? Must be quite upsetting for small children to be prodded and poked for a medical check?

Sorry for lots of questions .. but thanks in advance for replies!

helena39

Not sure about the first question. Children must have a medical no matter what the age. They only get a general medical (check eyes, ears, throat etc..) nothing that would upset a child and no blood tests or xrays.
Helena

Dazster

I agree. My son was 7 months old when we had our meds done. There was nothing for him to get upset about. It was a very unobtrusive examination. No x-rays for kids younger than 11 years either.

Pollyana

I'm sure there are posters on here with thyroid problems but who have got visas, maybe do a search and see if you can track them down.

Wendy

I am one

I have had an underactive thyroid for nearly 10 years now. We went through the visa process back in 2005, and we had no problem at all with the medicals - we didn't have to have any specialist reports or anything like that. They are mainly looking for conditions that could cost the Australian Tax payer a lot of money to treat, and hypothyroidism isn't an expensive condition to treat so don't worry about it being a problem for you. There are a lot of us here with the condition and here is a thread that we started in the Barbie that you may wish to join: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hlight=thyroid



Don't worry about your little girls medical either, it will be a very basic one at her age and the doctors are pretty good with putting both the kids and you at ease.

Pollyana

Thanks Wendy! I knew there was someone out there somewhere

SW3105

Thanks for that! It's another worry gone, well another 2 .. I'll definitely join the thyroid thread

Can anyone answer the question about OH's son? He's been living in Oz since he was 4 years old, but now we want to move over, we've read that he also needs to have a medical done? He's 11 now and has been living there for years so I don't understand why he needs to have a medical done.

Thanks x

moneypenny20

I know that children who aren't migrating need a medical but not sure about the situation when the child is already in Australia. I can't even think of anyone who's been through your situation. Hopefully one of the agents will be along to answer this one.

SW3105

Thank you

Wendy

Do they hold a PR visa or Citizenship?

If they do then I can't see that he will need one as he wouldn't need a visa if anything happened and he had to come and live with you guys - which is the reason why they usually ask for medicals for non-migrating dependants. I would assume that he would have already had to satisfy the medical criteria. Of course I'm not an expert so could be wrong!