Who frontloaded their meds?

[carla&trev]

Hi everyone

 

 

We applied online last week for the new 175 skilled independent visa. It seems to imply on the checklist that we should get our meds done yet on another part of the site it clearly states not to go for meds until requested. I know some people do front load their meds and x-rays but when and why?

 

Can any of those people that applied online (I think it was for one of the temporary visas you could do this, but correct me if I am wrong), tell me when they went for their meds, did they do it before being requested, after a certain amount of time or immediately? Is a week after applying too soon to make the appointments to go or not?

 

I know online applications may move a bit quicker but is it (or will it be) that much quicker?

 

I would appreciate all responses - please help me in my confusion!!!!!!

 

Carla

[Hayshake]

Hi Carla,

We applied for medicals before being allocated a Case Officer, but had kept an eye on http://austimeline.com/aus/opener.jsp to see the approx times experienced by other people.

Most Visa applications seem to take 9-12 months to get a case officer, and if you can prejudge the approx time needed, it can speed things up a bit, especially if there may be any complications that need further investigation on the medical front. You also have to remember that you only have 12 months from the date of the medicals to make entry to Aus to validate the visa, and if you apply too soon it might make things very tight timewise to organise getting to the country.

[Guest dglamoore]

We asked our agent if it was ok to front load and she said yes and advised us to wait 6 weeks after our application went in. We did do ours online and it worked well as we got the CO just as the meds were finalised so speeded things along a bit

 

Lisa:cute:

[carla&trev]

Thanks Lisa

 

That's the info I wanted. How long did your whole process take? Aren't online applications meant to take about 4 months?

 

Carla

[cormcvcr]

Hi there

 

I contacted my agent today to ask if we could get the meds and police checks done, in normal circumstances ie. if you have a house to sell and have to do a lot of organising and a couple of months notice in your present job. the answer would have been no, that it would be better waiting till they request it because of the expiry date of these documents (they only last a year), but because we have already sold our house and I only need to give the max of 1 months notice in my job then it would not be a problem.

 

The only thing that he did advise us of was that without a case reference number to attach to our meds that they could end up going astray and not be tied up with our paper work. It would be more beneficial organising them for around the three month mark after the visa had been submitted.

 

So on that advice I am going to apply for our police checks just now and book our meds for end october/beginning of November and hope that we have a reference number by then!

 

Our visa was the old sir 495 which I think is now the 471? and done online so it cuts the admin down a bit for the emigration office.

 

So I think the bottom line is it depends on your current circumstances as to whether you get them done early or hold off until they are requested. I would take it under advisement.

 

I hope your dilema doesn't last tooooo long!!

[Guest dglamoore]

Thanks Lisa

 

That's the info I wanted. How long did your whole process take? Aren't online applications meant to take about 4 months?

 

Carla

 

Our application took 4 months 2 weeks but think they are bit longer due to backlog currently. We were lucky in that we sold the house last may and moved into rented - was great as we did not need to worry about selling and could go straight away plus we got a good rental reference which is worth its weight in gold here for a good rental

 

We also had our own companies so no notice to work out but you would need to take these into account as cormcvcr has said

 

Lisa:wubclub:

[Guest Welshy]

Hi Carla

I met a girl last week who works for immigration and she told me that all apps put in AFTER 1st September are being allocated to a totally separate team of people from the ones submitted before. Therefore all new applications are currently being processed really quickly and getting case officers almost straight away. We cam out here on a 495 visa just over a year ago and we got our medicals done as soon as we had submitted the application form on line. We just had them sent out to Adelaide and there was no problem or issues with this. It took from the end of May, when we submitted our visa to DIMIA until end of June when our visa was granted..

[carla&trev]

OMG! So your visa was issued in a month? Well, we are going to go for it because as far as not having a case reference number I am sure that the Transaction Reference Number that you get when you have paid your money online counts as the same for this reason.

 

Fingers crossed it is here by Jan!!!!

 

Can anyone tell me what they do with your passports once your visa has been granted? Do you have to send them to Oz, or somewhere else?

 

SOOOOOO EXCITED!

 

Thanks guys!

 

Carla

[Guest dglamoore]

Can anyone tell me what they do with your passports once your visa has been granted? Do you have to send them to Oz, or somewhere else?

 

SOOOOOO EXCITED!

 

Thanks guys!

 

Carla

 

You get a visa grant letter by email or post when you get your visa that you send off with your passports to London - the address and what to do will be in the letter :v_SPIN:

 

Lisa:wubclub:

[carla&trev]

Thanks Lisa. How long does it usually take? I am assuming that if it is London, it is Australia House. Can you take them direct to there to have it done on the spot or do you have to send them because the process takes a while?

 

Carla

[Guest dglamoore]

We posted ours by registered post on the Monday and got them back on Thursday so not long think the letter said allow 14 days or similar Not sure if you can take direct or not, sorry

 

Lisa:wubclub:

[carla&trev]

Thanks Lisa. The only reason I asked is because we live in France and we are making trips back to the UK to see family at various points of the year and we live in Essex which is not far from London! No hassle really sending them though - would just love to get the email!!!!!!

 

Carla x

[carla&trev]

Sorry, that should have said "we liveD in Essex"!

 

Carla x

[cormcvcr]

well, thats us sent away for our police checks and ready to get our meds done tomorrow (26/09/07).

 

so fingers crossed, it's another step closer to the dream.

[cormcvcr]

Well, we got our xrays done at 9am this morning then straight through to the Doctors to get our medicals carried out.

 

Xrays took 5 minutes for myself and OH. Medicals consisted of height, weight, eye test, checked ears/throat/eyes, flexibility of legs and hands, listened to breathing, blood pressure, urine check for diabetes and blood taken for HIV testing.

 

May seem exhaustive, but it didn't take long, the Doctor was brillliant and really good with the kids. Seemed to go okay, she is going to hold onto the paperwork until we give case number and then get them sent off to Sydney ASAP!

 

Glad we went ahead to get them done and shave a couple of weeks off of the final date.