DIAC sort of contradicting itself on medicals - what to do?

[SOMV]

Hello,

They are trying to streamline the process with the applications now. What you have received is an automated email, which is a part of that attempt. You can do your medicals now or you can wait until you receive another reminder or a request from the case officer directly.

The timing of your medicals and police clearances is important for your initial entry date. But if you are confident with your application, and you are happy to go to Australia as soon as the visa is granted (or soonish) then there is no harm getting them done now.

It all depends on how fast you want to get out to Australia.

If you want to prevent delays, I'd get the medicals and clearances done now. That way, when the case officer is assigned and actually looks at your file, there will be two more boxes he or she will be able to tick and the processing will be faster.

[sim]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Haven't heard back from DIAC yet, but I'd prefer doing the medicals only once I have a case officer - which is going to take months anyway.

Of course I'd like to get over to Australia ASAP, but there are some minor details to arrange (like selling the house) after the visa is granted, so I'm not in that big of a hurry

[anj1976]

Originally Posted by SOMV

Hello,

They are trying to streamline the process with the applications now. What you have received is an automated email, which is a part of that attempt. You can do your medicals now or you can wait until you receive another reminder or a request from the case officer directly.

Hi Veronika

As you said they are trying to streamline the process.. How much time do you think normally it would take for skilled PR visa. I have heard that those who applied in September are being allotted the CO now, which means 10-11 months.
My agent told me that the entire process takes not more than a year which includes 3 months for the ACS. and say 7 months for the visa.

My husband is an IT professional, a system administrator and has his assessment done as a computer manager i guess. the ACS assessment took less than a month.
We have some issues with our passport, husbands passport does not have my name as a spouse but we have our marriage registration, we applied for the inclusion of name and it is taking forever, it has already been 4 months and from what I can see, it would take another 4 months, we do not want to wait that long, do you think we can apply now without my name on it? and of-course, my passport has his name as a spouse.

Yesterday we went to the passport office and there was some issue regarding the same, and they told us the entire process has to be done again, I have been so depressed we are loosing time, our ACS was done in May end and we have lost 3 months already

Our house lease too expires in Jan and the landlord is not too keen to renew it, We need to plan accordingly, if it takes not more than 7 months then I can talk to the landlord but if it takes a year, I would have to look for another house...

Please help

[sim]

First on the original topic; I got a reply from DIAC stating:

I advise that you wait until your case officer has been allocated to do your medical examinations and your police clearences.

So that's that, I'll wait until there's a case officer and s/he requests the same.

On anj's case, it's unfortunate the bureaucracy at your end is taking so much time On the other hand, your ACS assessment was really fast. It's a bit weird that your agent is promising schedules like that, as the agent doesn't really have a say in how long DIAC will take to process the visa.

Will you leave an online or a paper application? From my latest status inquiry, they're now processing paper applications (for subclass 175) from September 2007 but November 2007 for online applications.

[anj1976]

Hi Sim,
We just asked how much would the entire process take.. he said it normally takes a year to a year and half, the latter for those who take a lot of time to arrange for papers etc,like in our case, the govt work is crazy, its slow and its irritating. the govt officials are not the best spoken people in the world .. so it takes forever.. we are ready for things but i think he would apply online, since our agent is from perth, things are easier for him and faster as well. and i think he would go for the online application. keeping my fingers crossed.

[massimo]

this is the official REPLY from the Immigration Office:

Applicants for an "offshore" General Skilled Migration visa can undertake
health and character checking prior to their application being allocated
to a case officer. The benefit of applicants undertaking health and
character checks may be a reduction in the amount of time required before
a decision can be made, however, applicants and migration agents should
be aware that:
* Health examinations have limited validity periods and if these expire
before the application is finalised these checks may be requested again,
and must be provided at the applicant's cost.
* The ASPC may still need to undertake other checking in respect of the
application that may delay a decision.
* Undertaking health examinations and providing police clearances does not
guarantee an application will be successful.