Hi, I'm new to this site and looking for some advice please? My wife, our 3 kids and I have recently been awarded our 175 Skilled Independent visa and have received our visa grant notice. My wife is 7 months pregnant and we informed the DIAC of this and were informed that we would either have to come to Oz to validate our visa and have the baby in Oz, which means leaving in 3 weeks - a stretch for us all but not impossible - or we would have to have the baby in the UK and then apply for child migration sponsorship, which could take up to 8 months in the UK. However, we need to be in Oz by September as I start a new job and in any case we would have to be in Oz by the end of October at the latest to validate our visa before medicals expire. Does anyone know whether we could have the baby in the UK, then travel to Oz to validate our visas in September, have the baby come in on a normal 12 month e-visa and then apply on-shore to add the baby to our visa or do the child sponsorship submission whilst we all remain in Oz? Or would we have to take the baby out of Oz under the terms of the e-Visa? It all seems confusing and I'm not sure if there are any special cases or fast track routes that we can use - we're not trying to frig the system or do anything intentionally to bypass the rules, but it seems odd that you can't add a new addition onto an existing visa award? Has anyone got any experience of this or know if we can bring the baby in and then apply whilst staying in Oz?
We're not averse to having the baby in Oz, but are fairly clueless at the moment as to the set up with hospitals, midwives, costs, what's covered and what's not under Medicare and whether we could get private insurance at this late stage that would cover pregnancy, as I know a lot of insurers won't cover it unles you have cover 12 months before the birth date - Initially we would go to Sydney as we have friends there to help out, but will need to be in Brisbane for work by the end of August after the baby is born.
Thanks in advance
Martin