Lizzywills

Hi all Anyone out there who can help with my query - my hubby is a Group Financial Controller, in his role for 5+ years. We are looking to emigrate to NSW SS visa under Accountant (General). He is sitting his IELTS this week. We were advised by an agent here in the UK (we're now going with George Lombard in Oz by the way) to dumb down his CV and any workplace testimonials for his skilled employment assessment by the CPA so that it didn't reflect all the higher level stuff he does. Otherwise, he could be considered a Finance Manager - which is a different ANZCO code and not on the list for skilled migration. Has anyone else had to do this? Am I also right in assuming that as we will be claiming 15 points for skilled employment (and 15 points for his ACCA qualification = bachelors degree comparable) that we will need CPA to assess his skilled employment at the same time as his qualification? It's no problems getting his CV and testimonials to show that he does the role of Accountant General as per the ANZCO code criteria, it just seems a strange thing to have to do - considering he is very very well qualified and then some....it does stipulate that skilled employment has to be at the appropriate level...I guess this is why we have to do it? Thanks guys in advance for any input

As confirmed you do need the Academic IELTS in order for the ICAA to assess your skills. For points etc then the General one is fine - but you cannot get a skills assessment from ICAA with a General IELTS score. You will need to do the exam again I suspect, but the Academic module.

ps. Timeframe was advised to be around 8-12 months....dependent upon processing times!

Hi there If you want to emigrate on a 189 you will need to have your skills assessed by the ACA in Australia. We're doing this at the moment, mu hubby is ACCA qualified and we're hoping to get to NSW under the Accountant (General) category. In order to have a positive skills assessment, you'll need to have an IELTS test and score at least 7 on all the modules on the Academic test. You must not do the General IELTS, in order to have your skills assessed it has to be the Academic one. Once you achieve level 7, this then needs to be sent to the ACA or ICCA in Oz, with your certification/chartered accountant qualification. Once they have assessed that you meet the criteria to emigrate under your nominated occupation, you can submit your EOI. We're using an agent, but only because there's other factors for our application. Hubby is doing he IELTS in December in Manchester, be aware that the tests do get booked up, you may find the earliest you can do your IELTS is next year if the ones near you are full. It's not advised to submit an EOI until you've had your positive assessment and IELTS as you only have 60 days to lodge your visa application if you're invited to apply. Good luck!!

Ah well done!! We are hoping to get to Sydney. We are wishing....wish us luck! With George Lombard hopefully supporting us, we may just get there....

Not at all, it is a form of Retinitis Pigmentosa, the group of diseases where pigment grows on the retina over time. It's the opposite condition to macular degneration, With MD, it's central vision which goes. With RP, it's periphery. Some people suffer with this from birth and are legally blind at an early age, others - the 'lucky ones' like my husband - don't get diagnosed until late in life and should keep relatively good vision for the rest of their lives. I think it depends how you get it. It is a genetic defect, most who have it very badly have it in their families. My husband doesn't, he was told it was just an unfortunate 'blip' and one of those things, as no one else in his family has this. In my hubby's case it is very, VERY slow progression. His condition at the moment is what I would say is mild....he drives, works, and is as independent as a person with 20/20 perfect vision. Although there is no treatment or cure, in the USA lutein and high strength Vitamin A Palmiatate are prescribed to people with RP as studies have shown it slows the progression of the disease. My husband's been taking it for nearly 3 years now...and his last vision tests showed hardly any change, certainly nothing worth noting. Which is the best we can hope for. Have you made it to Oz or are you in the early stages like us?

Maybe if you just queried where they were up to....surely that can't influence anything anyway? I can't imagine the stress you must be feeling!!

DECISION MADE! In part at least, we are hiring George Lombard to take our application forward. If he thinks he can help us that is...wish us luck!

Oh my goodness is there no one who can update you? They can't just leave you in limbo surely? Why the hold up? Have they lost them somewhere in the system?!!

Yes I think that's right CollegeGirl....but hey, finding out now what the panel doc thinks and spending £300 or so on a medical would at least give us some info about what he thinks...at the moment it's all up in the air no one can even say what the definitions are with regards to how a Panel GP would 'rate' my hubby's condition. At the moment it looks like- based on my previous comment - that he meets all the criteria for an A rating....but it depends on how 'stable' a condition needs to be for it to get an A....I am back in touch with the Professor George Lombard put me in contact with, seeing if he knows...George says the Prof may contact the DIBP for clarification on the definitions. I'll keep you all posted....as an aside in prep hubby is booked in for his Academic IELTS on 12 Dec in Manchester, ready for his skills assessment with the ICAA....

Hmmmm!!! Very very interesting re. medical FOI etc we will definitely look into this....sadly a health waiver isn't an option, we will be applying under a 190 visa state sponsored (NSW), hubby is an accountant so on the skills list for NSW state sponsorship

A further thought. I've just trawled through the guidelines for Panel GP and now I'm even more confused....see my notes in red! First of all, the guide to grading visual impairment: A-Grade: VA ≥ 6/12 in better eye. B-Grade: If VA< 6/12 in better eye, comment on functional capacity. Specialist report not required unless requested. My husband would get an A Grade as his VA is way better than 6/12 Secondly - is his condition significant? 43 Question 24: Grading A or B Panel physicians must complete this section in accordance with the following guidelines: A-Grade: Applicants without significant conditions or findings B-Grade: Applicants with significant conditions or findings. The most important decision is whether or not a condition or finding is significant. 43.1 When is a condition or finding significant? A significant condition or finding has current or foreseeable future implications (defined as 10 years according to these guidelines) for the applicant’s health and/or functional capacity. Any condition is considered significant if any of the following applies: a. represents a possible public health risk NO: OH eye condition does NOT represent a health risk b. is likely to require substantial medical treatment either now or in the future NO: No treatment available c. negatively impacts the applicant’s capacity for independent living NO: AND WILL NOT IN NEXT 10 YEARS…(the 'forseeable future') d. negatively impacts the applicant’s intended activity in Australia NO e. presents a barrier to travel. NO Important examples of significant conditions are TB, HIV, organ failure, diabetes with end-organ involvement, psychiatric disorders, including dementia, and intellectual or physical disability. If in doubt, mark as B graded and/or contact Global Health by email for clarification. 43.2 When is a condition or finding not significant? A condition or finding is not significant if it does not have current or future implications for the applicant’s health. Minor past surgery, incidental anatomical variations, trivial medical conditions, and previous illnesses with no ongoing implications are not significant. Routine medications taken for uncomplicated disorders of mild severity (such as Ventolin for mild asthma) are not significant. 43.3 ‘A’ Gradings ‘A’ should be written when all the criteria below are met: • No significant conditions or findings are noted. ?????? IS THE EYE CONDITION SIGNIFICANT IF NO IMPACT ON CURRENT/ FORSEEABLE FUTURE (10 YEARS?) • Physical findings are completely normal, including a blood pressure at or below the recommended levels, no significant cardiac murmur, no albumin, glucose or blood in the urine, and a visual acuity, corrected if necessary, of no worse than 6/12 in the better eye. CONFIRMED - HIS VISUAL ACUITY IS WAY BETTER THAN THIS • No medical or surgical condition is present which would require further investigation or treatment currently or in the foreseeable future (10 years). CONFIRMED no current treatment now or in the forseeable future: Note here that they say the forseeable future is defined as 10 years. • The applicant is independent with the activities of daily living without family or other assistance. Nursing or institutional care is not required now or in the near future (in the next 10 years, or three years in people 75 or more years of age - see Attachment 3: Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Assessment. CONFIRMED OH is independent with activities of daily living without family or other assistance....Note again here that they say the forseeable future is defined as 10 years... • The results of the x-ray examination is completely normal, except for conditions listed in Part C, page 35. hopefully yes... Where any condition is identified as stable (stable for past 2 years....by its nature it is a progressive disease however) and of no clinical significance, ‘A’ is the appropriate grade. 43.4 ‘B’ Gradings ‘B’ should always be written when any of the above conditions are not met, when conditions or findings are present, or if the panel physician has reservations about an applicant’s fitness. Notwithstanding the absence of abnormal findings, physicians should note that the grading does not determine that a visa will be granted. Further, a ‘B’ grading does not mean that an applicant will not meet the health criteria. The grading is simply a means of processing forms efficiently. For details on the recommendations to be given for commonly seen conditions, please refer to Attachments 4 and 5. So yet again more confusion...based on the above could it be that the Panel GP decides he is A grade despite his condition?? Obviously once they have digested his report, which will be taken along...AAARGH I'm going to be bald by the time this is done and dusted and we have made a decision. I've also emailed our standby MRA with full details of what I've found so far asking for his professional guidance and a copy of the Legend notes on assessing eye conditions, he has access to Legend....and also your point Westly re. doing a My Health Declaration and submitting an FOI request....whether that is an option....

Thanks Westly, we did consider using My Health Declarations service but even if we did, and then requested our records, it would be absent of any decision of whether we meet the health criteria until we actually submitted our application?

Thanks wrussell, that's a really useful guide for instructing our medical specialist. He will be a UK opthalmologist, we will be producing a full report from him for our medicals and we will ensure that it incorporates the above. Am I right in thinking however that as others have said, it's a 'lifetime' assessment they will want, not a 5 year period? We do have a migration agency here on 'standby' for us as when we went for the initial assessment it was all positive in terms of being accepted re points/skills assessment, however they weren't sure re. the eye issue and told us to contact a former panel GP for advice. Which we did - but who hasn't contacted us back...we've since been making our own enquiries to see if this whole exercise is going to be a waste of time before we actually pay the migration agency to start the process...hence my posts! And I've been doing a lot of research myself. I'm not sure I can actually ask the RMA we had our assessment with to look into this as I'm not actually a paying client until we tell them to start the process...seems its up to us to find out the answer, otherwise I'll be paying an initial £1.4k (part payment of full visa application service, the remainder upon completion and successful application) for them to research only...I'm not sure what to do to be honest.

Tell me about it! 'Permanent and ongoing condition' is what we will have, so yes it will be a lifetime assessment that they will want reassurance of....not an issue I guess, our opthalmologist can only speculate, and use how it's progressed using past 14 years as a guide. However I am buoyed by the fact that I've read accounts through my research of ppl with Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration be accepted for PR. What we want is a report from our opthalmologist which says my hubby given progress so far is unlikely ever to be 'legally blind' (defined in Oz as visual acuity of 6/60 and visual field of just 10%) and therefore highly unlikely to be eligible for disability benefit for blind ppl in his lifetime....ideally! Apparently in many cases the case officer makes the decision and only refers to MOC if they need to. If we are providing a full report with all relevant tests, and of course additional comments from the panel doctor confirming his excellent eyesight for standard eye test reading chart, then we may just be ok. Stupid thing is that this prob wouldn't even be picked up if we didn't declare it as he is perfectly capable of reading the chart etc. It's such a big risk though. We could spend £10k and then be refused.....I'm not giving up. If that happened I'd be straight onto appeals and George Lombard! Positive mental attitude needed for the next 12 months....

Yes benefit eligibility, that's what we think they would be concerned about, however I'm not sure how they can expect any Dr to say with any certainty what is going to happen surely over the course of my husband's life for the next 40-50 years....he isn't a 'typical' case for this eye condition, every case has different presentations.

Interesting, thanks wrussell. My husband's condition doesn't have any treatment costs associated, as currently there is no available treatment...sadly.Sounds like they aren't adverse to granting PR to people with vision issues, just what we need to hear. Appreciate your response, thanks again. We are just going to go for it, it's the only option we have!

Good idea! Thank you!

Hi everyone I'm in dire need of a boost....has anyone here been accepted for PR who has an eye condition. I've already posted a thread about my issues but in a nutshell, my husband has an eye problem which is permanent and progressive, in his case it's very slow progression and his actual eyesight in terms of a visa test is very good (reading the numbers chart). But we will have to declare his issue as a pre-existing condition. There is no treatment, no cure. Some people have major eyesight issues with it, some do not. We are fully preparing ourselves at this very early stage in our process by getting in touch with an opthalmologist who can prepare a full report for us explaining diagnosis/prognosis/treatment/impact on independent living/work....along with any relevant tests we should include.... But I really would love to hear from folks who have had eye issues and been accepted for PR. I think their main concern in terms of immi will be whether he will ever become legally blind in his lifetime, which would make him eligible as a PR for benefits I assume. I am wondering how any opthalmologist can predict such a thing...surely that's crystal ball territory! At the moment as it's so slow and there's been no change for the past 2 years (he's 42 now) I would say no.... I look forward to hearing from you all with your happy stories! ps/ As an aside I've already been in touch with George Lombard, (who has been incredibly useful) and also a Panel Doctor here in the UK, who says the only thing we can do is submit a full and specialist report which allays immi's concerns and makes it clear he is independent and capable of a work/living with no assistance

Excellent point CollegeGirl, thank you - yes my OH's 'optician' is an Optometrist, who has his own opticians and eye services clinic. So he's well qualified I would think to assess and comment, he was the one who diagnosed it and has been annually monitoring my OH ever since. No one understands his condition and its effect better than him

Thanks Oppyddrum! It's not glaucoma, but glad to hear all went well for you Dad We are going to get a report from my OH optician (he was the one who diagnosed it all those years ago) - outlining Diagnosis, Prognosis, Treatment and Impact on Independent Living/Work (prediction of next 5-10 years). We're then going to take this when we see the former Panel Doctor recommended to us today by our migration agent. To see what he would do/advise based on the info we give him. He may have an understanding of how DIAC and MOC view these conditions which have no cost/ongoing treatment, but are a long-term health condition. Appreciate your reply, thanks again.

Thanks Freesia and Que Sera Sera for responding I did look up the instructions for panel physicians, it says that further assessment should be the procedure if anything 'abnormal' is found Que Sera - interesting - the form via the link below (Form 26) - part D - says that the eye exam should include fundoscopy - where they shine that light into your eyes which magnifies the retina etc for examination. http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/26.pdf....and this is where they would see the pigment on his retina If he was just asked to read the letter chart then he can do that easily, his actual vision with his lenses in is very good!

Thank you thank you thank you for your very swift reply! I appreciate your help so very very much. I'll make sure we do that and I'll get in touch with George too if needs be.

Hi everyone I'm hoping someone here may have some knowledge and advice....My husband and I are looking to emigrate under skilled migration, we pass points test, very positive meeting today with our proposed migration agent... However we realise that the medical assessment needed involves an eye test, and this also includes fundoscopy (which looks at the back of the eye) My husband has an eye condition which is progressive. He was diagnosed with it 14 or so years ago during a routine eye test for his glasses. No cause for concern before this point, it was a huge surprise as he had not noticed any change in his vision. It is where pigment appears on the retina which worsens over time There is no known treatment, and no cure. There are certain things you can take which have been proven to slow its progression (which he does take). In severe cases, people can have seriously impaired vision. My husband however is one of the 'lucky' ones, and hasn't been seriously affected by this so far. Since he was diagnosed: - the progression of his disease has been very VERY slow (compared to some with this condition who have it from childhood)- minimal changes each year, it is not going to get better however - He needs no visual aids or assistance to live his life independently and actively - It does not impair his capacity to do his job - In the forseeable future, based on his medical history thus far and opticians monitoring - he has yearly eye examinations to monitor it - he won't need any assistance to live an independent life We are concerned as you can imagine that this condition will mean we are refused a visa on health grounds. He does not have a condition which poses a threat to the people of Oz, he is not going to be a financial cost for Oz (there is no treatment), he can still do his job.... At the moment we are very very early in this process but we don't want to spend the £10k going through this visa process is there is a chance of us being refused at the final hurdle. I'm conscious that this retinal pigment will be picked up his eye test, the panel doc here in the UK will state it's 'abnormal' and 'further testing' is needed.... Our migration agent has recommended that we have a private consultation with a former panel doc in Manchester which he recommended (who doesn't do Oz medicals anymore but still does NZ ones), to see what he says, before we progress any further. He is not an ophthalmologist however, and probably won't know much about this condition. So should we try to find an ophthalmologist who can help? We can always ask the one who does my husband's current testing, we would need to anyway I'm sure in order to take a full report to a panel doctor if we had submitted our visa application. He would confirm my points above: Very slow progression, doesn't impact daily life, can still do his job etc - which I assume is what the MOC/DIAC want to know. Would we be able to go to him for the 'further testing' if needs be when the time comes, or does it have to be someone of the DIAC choosing? I've searched for cases of others who have eye conditions in terms of visa approvals but have had no joy. Can anyone give us some advice please? I know we can't get an idea of what the MOC/DIAC would say (we can't even apply for an early medical to see if we're wasting our time) as they take into account your personal diagnosis.... Does anyone know of an ophthalmologist in the UK who has given them advice? And when considering implications financial and community services wise, when looking at an applicant's health condition, does anyone know how far in advance does the MOC/DIAC look?? Based on my hubby's history so far (14 plus years since diagnosis), we can safely say the slow progression will continue...but we cannot assume or predict anything with this condition....it affects everyone so very differently! Am I right in understanding that when looking at health issues, the MOC/DIAC can only consider the next 5 years or so, and only provable facts (ie. Mr xx WILL need hospital treatment/community care/ etc) - not assumptions? As we can't say (and any ophthalmologist will say the same) exactly how this is going to progress....we don't have a crystal ball!!! I'm so so sorry for the long post. Anyone who has got this far...I thank you for bearing with me. As you can imagine this has been whirling around our heads today since our meeting this morning.

Thanks for your quick reply and advice i thought Skillselect enabled employers to find potential workers from abroad who had posted EOIs to fill jobs...at least that's what it seems to say on the immi site...? I wonder if anyone out there has had success with it??