CARDIFF,GIRL

Hi all

Wanted to share this with you as at the moment we're feeling really gutted.
Last Friday we received an email from our agents asking us to go ahead & get the medicals & PCC's done, great we thought!

Monday morning I rang the doctors & arranged an appointment for THIS week, great we thought!

THIS morning, we received another email from our agent confirming with us that my husband's son from his previous marriage also was to receive a medical.

Problem is that, although we pay CSA, my husband has not been in contact with the child for nearly 7 years & we do not know where the child or his ex is residing either. If we could find her she would do her best to stop us emigrating & wouldn't allow the child to go for a medical anyway.

We are not sure how our case will fair now, our agent is contacting our case officer at DIMIA & hopefully we'll hear something in the next few days. Anyone else in this situation?

Claire

adelaidegirl

Don't worry. There are other threads on this very subject, both on here and on the Aus &NZ lifestyle forum. Basically, you will be expected to do as much as possible to obtain the medical, but at the end of day DIMIA will usually accept a Statutory Declaration (get your agent to help you with the wording) stating that you cannot get a medical for the child due to the the reasons you have stated in your post. Do a search on the forum for the other threads, I am sure you will find them encouraging. cheers, adelaidegirl

Jaj

As many people seem to have encountered this problem, I'll post a brief
extract from DIMIA's policy manual on what happens in cases where
children are *not* included on the visa application. Your agent should
have full details.

Jeremy

---------

Non-custodial applicants
If the family unit member in question is a dependent child of the visa
applicant, but the visa applicant claims to have neither custody nor
access rights, officers may under policy consider it ‘unreasonable’ to
require the child to undergo health assessment (and, it follows, the
health-related “one fails, all fail� criterion will not apply) provided:
• the applicant’s claims not to be able to contact their ex-partner (ie
the custodial parent) have been corroborated by an independent third
party; or
• denial of the visa applicant’s access to the child has been via court
order.

-----


CARDIFF wrote:

    > Hi all
    >
    > Wanted to share this with you as at the moment we're feeling
    > really gutted.
    > Last Friday we received an email from our agents asking
    > us to go ahead & get the medicals & PCC's done, great we thought!
    >
    >
    > Monday morning I rang the doctors & arranged an appointment for THIS
    > week, great we thought!
    >
    > THIS morning, we received another email from
    > our agent confirming with us that my husband's son from his previous
    > marriage also was to receive a medical.
    >
    > Problem is that, although we
    > pay CSA, my husband has not been in contact with the child for nearly 7
    > years & we do not know where the child or his ex is residing either. If
    > we could find her she would do her best to stop us emigrating & wouldn't
    > allow the child to go for a medical anyway.
    >
    > We are not sure how our
    > case will fair now, our agent is contacting our case officer at DIMIA &
    > hopefully we'll hear something in the next few days. Anyone else in
    > this situation?
    >
    > Claire
    >
    >

--
This is not intended to be legal advice in any jurisdiction

ige

When did you apply to DIMIA?

CARDIFF,GIRL

Our application was lodged with Adelaide in June 2003

Granger

Hi Claire, I am currently in the same position as you, the only difference being we know where they live. Should we ask them and see and if they refuse get her to sign a statutory declaration?

shecha

Hi Granger,
This is a bit long, but it's a bit complicated and I'd rather you know what we have already had to find out about this.
We knew where my hubby's child (from previous marriage) was residing and even though he had no contact with his child, the Australian High Commission stated his child must have a medical to fulfil the health requirement.
The AHC sent my hubby a letter addressed to his ex, for him to forward to his ex - requesting she arrange the medical for his child. This letter gave the ex the opportunity to either arrange the medical, or make a statement about her reasons for refusing, however, we were advised that such a statement is not always good enough for the AHC and the visa applicant is still expected to make further efforts to fulfil the requirement of clarifying his childs' health.
For 2 months the ex refused to arrange a medical and the AHC advised my hubby to access his childs' medical records (if the childs mother does not have sole custody (by court order) then you will automatically have joint parental responsibility and a right to access these records without the other parents consent and I've got evidence of this due to hours of searching info on the web!!!).
If my hubby hadn't known who his childs GP was, he would have needed to confirm this in a declaration and ask the AHC then to accept that it was unreasonable to refuse a visa on the grounds that the health requirement was not fulfilled for a child that was not emigrating, when it was at no fault of his that the medical was not completd and that it is out of his power that the ex refused to comply. It is not certain, however, that they will accept this and you are taking a chance.
My hubby wrote to his childs' GP and originally the GP refused to allow him access to the records due to 'data protection'. My hubby wrote a stinking letter back advising them of his 'rights' and that if they refused to allow him acess to his childs medical records, he would make a complaint. Funnily enough, the GP Practice Manager wrote back a grovelling apology and admitting they were wrong!!
By then though, the ex had finally agreed to arrange the medical so we were ok, but had she not have changed her mind, my hubby would've had to continue down the route of acessing the medical records.
Hope this helps.
Any problems regarding this, feel free to send me a pm and I'll see if I can advise you further.
Good luck
Shell

CasG

Does all this apply when the 'child' from previous marriage is question is 19? She is not going to OZ
Caroline

JAJ

No - only if child is under 18. And under 18 at date of *decision* rather than application, so it's not really an issue in most cases where the child is 17.

The reason for this is that as far as Australian immigration law is concerned, a child under 18 is 'dependent' even if not living with the parent or supported by them, once the child turns 18 the rules for dependency are much stricter. That makes things easier in a case like this, although it makes things harder for those who *do* want to take over 18 children with them to Australia.

Jeremy

shecha

Hi Caroline,
No, it's only for 'dependant children' under 18 years.
Shell