HELP Needed: Application of Contributory Parent Visa 143 - Down Syndrome dependant

[Guest Essue]

I am originally from Malaysia, and both myself and my sister are already Australia PR.

I'm applying Australia Contributory Parent Visa 143 for my mother (68 years old) and brother (down syndrome, 41 years old).

We are coming to the last stage of the application (i.e submitted AoS, health report and police check report).

The application now is being commented by Medical Officer of Commonwealth as does not meet the health requirement for my brother (who is having down syndrome).

 

Now we are given the extension of time till 9 Mar 2012 to reply or withdraw our application. To reply means we will have to get a specialist for down syndrome to provide more information on my brother's condition. However you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find someone specialising in down syndrome in Malaysia or Singapore who's willing to see adult down syndrome cases.

 

Anyone has any idea what should we do from now on?

 

Essue

[Guest bigal]

Your case doesn't sound very promising, I would send an email to Chris Bowen the immigration minister and also contact your local federal MP to ask for advice.

Good Luck

[Gollywobbler]

I am originally from Malaysia, and both myself and my sister are already Australia PR.

I'm applying Australia Contributory Parent Visa 143 for my mother (68 years old) and brother (down syndrome, 41 years old).

We are coming to the last stage of the application (i.e submitted AoS, health report and police check report).

The application now is being commented by Medical Officer of Commonwealth as does not meet the health requirement for my brother (who is having down syndrome).

 

Now we are given the extension of time till 9 Mar 2012 to reply or withdraw our application. To reply means we will have to get a specialist for down syndrome to provide more information on my brother's condition. However you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find someone specialising in down syndrome in Malaysia or Singapore who's willing to see adult down syndrome cases.

 

Anyone has any idea what should we do from now on?

 

Essue

 

Hello Essue

 

I am so very sorry to hear about the problem that you have encountered.

 

Because time is so very short, I recommend strongly that you should contact George Lombard in Sydney without a moment's delay:

 

http://austimmigration.com.au/site/?q=node/1

 

George has masses and masses of experience of the cases where a medical problem is threatening a visa refusal, so he is by far the best person to help you. The absence of suitable specialist medical experts in Malaysia does not matter: George would be able to insist that DIAC give him more time to assemble the information that the MOC wants and he can get suitable medical experts in Australia to provide opinions about your brother's condition.

 

That said, if your brother is severely disabled by Down Syndrome then the chances are that it will not be possible to get a Contributory Parent visa at present. That might change in the future, following a high-profile Public Inquiry that was held during 2009/10:

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=mig/disability/index.htm

 

In the Enabling Australia Report, that the JSCM produced at the end of the Public Inquiry, they recommended strongly that Australia's Immigration law should be changed so that people like your brother will not be excluded from being able to migrate to Australia in future years. As one of the people who made a formal Submission to the Public Inquiry, my fervent wish is that the relevant Law will be changed completely within the next 5 years or so.

 

However, there isn't time to expect you to absorb all of the information that can be learned from a detailed study of everything that happened both before and during the Public Inquiry. George Lombard understands all the issues in great detail so the quickest thing is to get him to help you without delay.

 

Incidentally, I was born in Batu Gajah and we lived in Ipoh during most of my childhood. Whereabouts in Malaysia are your mother and brother, please?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Essue]

Dear Bigal,

Thanks for your suggestion! I am in the process of drafting the letter to the minister.

Essue

[Guest Essue]

Dear Gill,

Thanks so much for recommending George. I have sent an email to George and hopefully he is willing to help us.

We have also written in our reply to Parent Visa Centre some points to support this visa to be granted:

1. our financial background (me and my sister have 3 properties still under mortgage in Adelaide, so my mum and brother will definitely have a place to stay)

2. Despite having Down syndrome, my brother is otherwise healthy with NO other serious medical conditions that could be common in down syndrome sufferrers e.g. congenital heart disease, alzheimers, seizure disorders etc. His only symptom is mental retardation.

3. For Contributory Parent Visa 143, we would have no access to social security payment for 10 years, and we have already paid $14k of AOS. Also the fact that we are going to pay a amount of $60k-$70k for the visa to be granted anyway.

4. My brother is already 41 years old, the average life expectancy of people with down syndrome is around 55 years.

5. We are prepared to get full private health insurance cover for both my mum and brother....

 

I sincerely hope the above points are good enough for them to reconsider this case in a positive way...

 

It's a pleasant surprise that you lived in Malaysia for quite sometime before

We are from Johor and currently my mum and bro are living in Johor Bahru, which is about 1.5hrs away from Singapore

 

 

Essue

[Gollywobbler]

Dear Bigal,

Thanks for your suggestion! I am in the process of drafting the letter to the minister.

Essue

 

Hi Essue

 

Do not waste your time on drafting letters to the Minister. He has no legal power to intervene at this stage. The Migration Act REQUIRES the Minister to accept the Opinion of the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth, so even if the Minister wanted to help you he would not be able to do anything at the moment.

 

It is possible to make an eventual application for Ministerial Intervention but that can only be done under S351 of the Migration Act. It is only possible to use S351 AFTER the applicant has first made an unsuccessful Appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal.

 

So please don't waste your time with any of this. Please contact George Lombard instead, honey.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Essue]

Thanks Gill. Awaiting email reply from George now. Will call him if I don't hear anything this afternoon.

[barbaitch]

Good luck, Essue! If anyone can help you and your family, both Gill (Gollywobbler) and George Lombard can! Have faith and do exactly what Gill advises.

 

Honestly, PIA, isn't it time we all banded together and started a 'Gill for Dame!' petition? We need 100,000 signatures, as far as I know; surely we PIO/PIA members number far more than that to present to the UK Parliament?!! (If Beverley Hughes can be made a Baroness (Eeeek!@#$%&!!!!) then, surely to God, our own selfless, migration-advice-seeking people's champion Gollywobbler is most definitely a deserving candidate....!

 

I'm not much of a leader, but I'll cheerfully bring up the rear of such a worthy campaign!!

 

Don't give up, Essue!!

[Guest Essue]

Thanks! It's indeed a very stressful time for me and my families but we are not ready to give up yet!

[Guest Essue]

Hi Gill,

I have drafted the letter but haven't sent it to DIAC. From George's reply I gathered that I can't be too optimistic...

I wished I knew that it could come to this 2 years ago before we lodged our application. It is very devastating to find out that they may not be able to move here, when we pretty much have settled most things back in Malaysia to enable the move

 

Essue

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Gill,

I have drafted the letter but haven't sent it to DIAC. From George's reply I gathered that I can't be too optimistic...

I wished I knew that it could come to this 2 years ago before we lodged our application. It is very devastating to find out that they may not be able to move here, when we pretty much have settled most things back in Malaysia to enable the move

 

Essue

 

 

Hi Essue

 

I am relieved to hear that George Lombard responded to you promptly.

 

I think it is appalling that the DIAC website does not do enough to warn people like you in advance that you are likely to have problems if a disabled member of the family tries to migrate to Australia. Unfortunately, though, the only way that the situation will improve is if the Australian Government decides to follow the recommendations made by the JSCM in their Enabling Australia Report. That Report was tabled in Parliament on 21st June 2010 but so far there has been no formal Response from the Government.

 

In the long term, I think the Australian Government will be forced to buckle down and accept what the JSCM have said. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was ratified by Australia in 2008, I beleive. This Convention is known as "the CRPD." It says that somebody like your brother is entitled to the same free movement between countries as you are - his disability should not be allowed to stand in the way of his rights, as described in the CRPD.

 

The Australian Government believes that the problem is that if they allow the CRPD to apply fully, including to disabled people who wish to migrate to Australia (or, if there is intellectual impairment, someone else wishes this on behalf of a disabled person) that it will result in a huge increase in social care costs.

 

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians say that it won't.

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=mig/disability/subs.htm

 

The RACP Submission is #80. They said that the majority of disabled people who need help with personal care get that help from members of their families, not from Social Services. The RACP's members are all doctors so it is very unlikely that they do not know what they are talking about with this issue.

 

Undoubtedly, though, whilst it wouldn't require a massive increase in the work needed from Social Services, what it would do is to increase the Social Security bill massively. That would be inevitable and the only way to fund a dramatic increase in the Social Security bill is to get the money from the Australian tax-payers. That said, Australia prides itself on being an enlightened, civilised country. The CRPD says, in effect, that this means the Australian tax-payer will just have to pay more towards the cost of Social Security.

 

A minority Government such as the Gillard Government is not going to risk annoying the Voters (many of whom are also tax-payers) about something like this CRPD issue ahead of the General Election that must be held in 2013. However, whoever wins the next General Election, I think that the Government is going to get some serious lobbying about the issue as soon as the next Election is out of the way. Australia cannot sit on her hands forever about this issue.

 

I think Australia is going to have to bite the bullet on this, like it or not. For instance, an Australian with Down Syndrome would not be prevented from migrating to the UK. If the British Government believes that it it is reasonable to lumber the British taxpayer with a huge increase in the Social Security bill then the Australian Government will be between a rock and a hard place if it tries to maintain a different stance, it seems to me.

 

Also, in the worst case, you and your sister might decide to sell up in Australia and return to Malaysia (which is a much nicer country anyway, in my opinion.) If you returned to Malaysia, how would that help the Australian economy? It wouldn't, so I think the Australian Government is going to have to give in about this but I do think that it could take at least another 5-10 years before they do.

 

I can't say that I remember Johor Bahru well but I have driven through Johor, and JB, a few times during the 1970s when we were on our way to Singapore by car. My late father was a keen Freemason. He never told us anything much about it but he had been the District Grand Chaplain of the Eastern Archipelago, I discovered when I was sorting out his documents etc after his death. This District Grand Chaplain thing seemed to be one of the Orders of Freemasonry or whatever they are called.

 

Anyhow, Dad used to have to go to Singapore quite a lot for Lodge meetings. Mum always thought that this was a good excuse for her to go shopping in Singapore, so she insisted on going as well, which meant that my sister and I were taken along, too. So - we all piled into Dad's car with Dad and Halil, our driver, in the front and Mum, myself and my sister in the back! I think it was about 400 miles from Ipoh to Singapore in those days because it was before the Federal Highway was built. I remember that it used to take all day. Dad used to drive for the first 200 miles and then Halil would drive the rest of the way.

 

Halil deserved a sainthood. He used to put up with my mother (who has never been able to drive.) He used to find out from her in advance which shops etc Mum wanted to visit and then Halil told her, "Right, Ma'am. We will do it in YZX order." Good for him because otherwise she'd have been doubling back all over Ipoh. KL, Singapore or wherever and these shopping trips (which were always very boring for everyone except Mum) would have taken forever. So the rest of us cheered silently whenever Halil put his foot down with Mum about the order of attack! Traipsing round in the order that Halil had decided was always much quicker instead of being hopelessly inefficient and slow - which they would have been if Mum had been allowed to have her own way!

 

Round Ipoh and in Perak generally, the scenery was all either rubber estates or tin mines. In Johor, the scenery was pineapple plantations, I remember. I remember that distinctly because the scenery in Malaysia does vary a lot between one State and the next. The pineapple groves (or whatever they are called) always looked lovely. Are they still there? Up in Perak, most of the rubber estates have been replaced with palm oil plantations and most of the tin mines have been filled in and housing estates built on top of them. but the world still eats pineapples, so are those still grown in Johor or has Johor moved on to palm oil as well?

 

Also, we used to know a British family called Aziz who divided their time between Johor and the UK. Apparently there was a long-standing tradition amongst the Sultans of Johor that each successive Sultan would have four wives and the fourth wife would always be British. That tradition had gone on for more than 200 years according to Mum.

 

The Aziz family were related to the Sultan of Johor but I think it was a case of the Aziz family being descended from one of the British fourth wife of an earlier Sultan or something. The Aziz family were never going to inherit the Sultanate or anything but they were related to the current Sultan in some way, I was told.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Essue]

Hi Gill,

Just giving you an update. It's extremely unfortunate that after consulting George, we now have to work on withdrawing my brother from the application. According to George, it's unlikely (or impossible to be exact) for my brother to get his visa approved. Based on criteria 4005, no matter what financial strength we show, DIAC will still refuse the application due to the financial implication my brother may cause to Australian community. And if the application is refused, George said that the review tribunal will not help us either if we go down the appealing pathway.

I am extremely disappointed now and can't help feeling helpless.... It seems we can only hope that at least my mum have her permanent residensy granted.

 

Essue

[Guest DayTrader]

Hi Gill,

I have a brother who has down syndrome. I want to apply for Contributory Parents visa and my bro would be applying as dependent. After reading your case, I am little bit nervous and sad. So would like to know how did you proceed further with your brother's application? Is your brother with you now in Australia? What steps did you follow?

Kindly let me also know. That would be a great help.

 

Regards

[wrussell]

Hi Gill,

I have a brother who has down syndrome. I want to apply for Contributory Parents visa and my bro would be applying as dependent. After reading your case, I am little bit nervous and sad. So would like to know how did you proceed further with your brother's application? Is your brother with you now in Australia? What steps did you follow?

Kindly let me also know. That would be a great help.

 

Regards

 

Regrettably you are most likely wasting your time and money applying if your brother is included.

[Guest DayTrader]

Hi Wrussell,

 

I understand its a complicated issue but there should be some way out. If not a PR then atleast some other kind of visa which can let him stay with me.

[Blossom]

Hi Wrussell,

 

I understand its a complicated issue but there should be some way out. If not a PR then atleast some other kind of visa which can let him stay with me.

No, I don't believe there is. Not everyone can move here, even temporarily.

[Rabeah]

DIBP is very strict and with stringent conditions there is definitively no way out.

[jtct]

Batu Gajah and Ipoh! Wow that brings back memories. My Dad worked for Malayan Tin (Tronoh Mines) all his life, but in the London office, although he did visit when he retired back in the 70s. I have a huge collection of Malaysian stamps because of that

[Gollywobbler]

Batu Gajah and Ipoh! Wow that brings back memories. My Dad worked for Malayan Tin (Tronoh Mines) all his life, but in the London office, although he did visit when he retired back in the 70s. I have a huge collection of Malaysian stamps because of that

 

Hi there

 

Your post brings back memories for me too! My father bought shares in Tronoh Mines and hung onto them for about 30 years, I think. During the 1980s, something happened to the world price of tin. I don't know exactly what happened but my father sold his shares in Tronoh Mines (probably at the bottom of the market.) I remember thinking that if the value of his Tronoh Mines shares had plummeted, Dad might as well keep his purely for their sentimental value if nothing else.

 

My father was an engineer. He always worked for Perak Hydro, which wa a wholly owned subsidiary of Balfour Beatty. I think BB had been responsible for building Chenderoh Dam during the 1920s. Back then, I think the British Colonials had decided that hydro-electric power was the way to go. According to Dad, reliable mains power was essential for keeping all the tin mines running and also to prevent looting during the 12 years' Emergency between 1948-1960. Some of the tin mines used dredgers but even the open-cast tin mines all needed huge pumps for the water. After the Emergency, everyone got used to an endless supply of mains electricity, I suppose.

 

My parents retired from Malaysia in 1976, when my father was 55. (I think it was compulsory for the expats to retire once they turned 55.) However, buring the 1980s all of Perak Hydro's expat engineers were forced to retire, even though many of them were not 55. I think Perak Hydro was taken over by the Malaysian version of the National Grid.

 

I remember seeing tin-mines every day whenever I was in Malaysia. The dredgers looked big, black and scary, I recall, so I always declined invitations to go aboard a dredger! However, I still have a lovely paper-weight, made of pure tin. One of the tin-mining companies probably gave it to Dad originally and I probably snaffled it from him! Pure tin is beautiful. It looks like sterling silver and it does not tarnish or rust but, apparently, tin is too soft for making jewellery. "Perak" means "silver" in Malay, which must be how the State got its name, I imagine.

 

Thank you very much for bringing back such happy memories for me.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Wrussell,

 

I understand its a complicated issue but there should be some way out. If not a PR then atleast some other kind of visa which can let him stay with me.

 

Hi Day Trader

 

Wrussell is Westly Russell, who is a very experienced Registered Migration Agent.

 

In general, Australia will not accept migrants who are or will be incapable of earning their own living. Therefore, everything turns on the degree and severity of the medical condition involved.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Essue]

Hi DayTrader,

Unfortunately I had to withdraw my brother's application. My mother was granted PR in late 2012. At this point in time and in the near future I cannot forsee DIAC to change the way they assess applications from people with Down Syndrome.

 

Essue

[wrussell]

Hi Wrussell,

 

I understand its a complicated issue but there should be some way out. If not a PR then atleast some other kind of visa which can let him stay with me.

 

As long as you have a dependant with a disqualifying medical condition you will fail the public interest (medical) criterion.

If dependency on you were removed allowing you to successfully apply then a visitor visa, student visa, medical treatment visa might be an option for your current dependant, but there is probably no PR option. If you decide to proceed, have the medical issue professionally assessed.

[Guest DayTrader]

Thanks for your response wrussell.

Your last statement says "If you decide to proceed, have the medical issue professionally assessed". Will it be of any help? If yes then how?

 

Regards

[Guest DayTrader]

Hi Essue,

Its very sad to know that you had to withdraw your brother's application. I hope that DIAC understand the seriousness of this kind of situation. So what's your next plan of action? Are you going to the tribunal court requesting visa grant for your brother? I heard sometimes even a minister can also intervene and help.

 

Plz keep me posted.

 

I pray & hope your brother gets visa too.

 

Best wishes

[wrussell]

Thanks for your response wrussell.

Your last statement says "If you decide to proceed, have the medical issue professionally assessed". Will it be of any help? If yes then how?

 

Regards

 

If you send an email to: visa@pinoyau.com I shall discuss your case with you.