Chrones

[alimal]

I have a friend that suffers from Chrones. She is worried that her medical condition could affect her visa application.:unsure:

 

Has any POI Chrones sufferers experienced any difficulties with their application because of this?

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Ali

[robfromdublin]

Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but I would also be interested to hear if this could affect a visa application as I've got ulcerative colitis.

[Guest spongy42]

i'm sure there was a post a few weeks back about chrones disease and medicals i cant find it at the moment but i'm sure they had to get letter from consultant

[Guest manish]

hi,

i have active crohn during my medicals ..and examining doctor said that it might be a problem with DAIC...but my medicals got passed without any problem

[Guest]

It really depends on the type of visa and what medication your are on - not just the condition itself. Basically the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth will assign a severity level to your condition and a hypothetical costing. It's basically all about the cost.

 

My husband's spouse visa was refused because he has ulcerative colitis and DIAC also wouldn't grant us a waiver - we are now applying to the MRT. We were pretty shocked that they'd deny a spouse visa because of ulcerative colitis - my husband works full time and is not incapacitated in any way, he just needs medication.

 

I see that a lot of other seem to pass the medical with the same condition and the only thing I can think of that might be different is that my husband is on remicade infusions. As that is an expensive drug, we think the MOC must've blown his costing out as a result and assigned him a severity level of "moderate".

 

Also, as it is a spouse visa, they won't allow us to say that we will cover it with private insurance because of the fact that he is eligible for medicare regardless of whether we take out private insurance or not. The temporary skilled visa categories aren't eligible for medicare and require that the person cover their own health costs so it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue. The health requirement is definitely more stringent for permanent visas.

[Guest JK2510]

I think a letter from a doctor explaining prognosis and medication should be ok. I've seen on PIO about any extreme costing for medication and care whilst in oz going over a certain limit but I'm sure that's tens of thousands over so many years(I'm sorry I can't be more precise it was just something I glanced at a while back!)

I suffer from zero negative arthritis and have regular check ups with a specialist and was told by my agent it wouldn't be a problem.

[robfromdublin]

It really depends on the type of visa and what medication your are on - not just the condition itself. Basically the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth will assign a severity level to your condition and a hypothetical costing. It's basically all about the cost.

 

My husband's spouse visa was refused because he has ulcerative colitis and DIAC also wouldn't grant us a waiver - we are now applying to the MRT. We were pretty shocked that they'd deny a spouse visa because of ulcerative colitis - my husband works full time and is not incapacitated in any way, he just needs medication.

 

I see that a lot of other seem to pass the medical with the same condition and the only thing I can think of that might be different is that my husband is on remicade infusions. As that is an expensive drug, we think the MOC must've blown his costing out as a result and assigned him a severity level of "moderate".

 

Also, as it is a spouse visa, they won't allow us to say that we will cover it with private insurance because of the fact that he is eligible for medicare regardless of whether we take out private insurance or not. The temporary skilled visa categories aren't eligible for medicare and require that the person cover their own health costs so it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue. The health requirement is definitely more stringent for permanent visas.

 

Wow, that's terrible. I'm sorry to hear you've had such trouble. So a severity level of 'moderate' is enough to have a visa rejected?

[Guest]

Wow, that's terrible. I'm sorry to hear you've had such trouble. So a severity level of 'moderate' is enough to have a visa rejected?

 

Thanks - yeah, don't get me started, I am SO p***ed off about it because it means that I, as an Australia citizen, can't live in the country I was born in unless I separate from my husband! Completely, insanely unfair. I'm hoping the MRT will see reason but that still means it's going to take us around 2 years to get a decision rather than 3-6 months PLUS lawyer's fees and the MRT application fee on top of the visa fee.

 

It's mainly the cost they look at and I guess from the severity they determine the likelihood that you will use hospital, health, and community services. They decided that my husband would cost $100,000 over a lifetime (which is five years - not sure how that works out!). The threshold is $21,000 over five years.

 

We had included a specialist report as well as statutory declarations from family and friends to say they would provide care if needed (one of which was a nurse with 30 years experience). Also, my own occupation is on the Skilled Occupations List so we included all of that extra information in the hope of getting a waiver but they still said no.

 

I haven't been able to find anyone else who was refused because of Crohn's or UC so it may be that we just drew the short straw. I haven't seen any other cases in the MRT decisions database where the health costing was under $200,000 either but maybe they just don't publish those ones.

[ali]

It's important to remember that Aus has a different system to the UK, No free prescriptions for long term drug therapy as in the UK and no free prescriptions for children either, which is how the medical costs add up.

 

Jejuniper ... Good luck with your appeal, fingers crossed for you both xx

[alimal]

Thank you all for your replies. I will pass this information on to my friend.

 

Jejuniper - I hope you get good news soon.

 

Best wishes

Ali x

[Guest panicstation]

Hiya!

 

I have indeterminate colitis (they think it's Crohns but can't be certain so sat on the fence when diagnosing!). We came over on a 457 visa for my new job. I had to have a medical and also provide a letter from my doctor and consultant detailing my condition, treatment and diagnosis. If your friend can, I would suggest getting these up front as it will save time in the long run. It took me about two weeks to get the consultant to write something but I didn't get charged for the letter.

 

I have previously spent time in hospital, and am on medication for life (azathiaprine and mesalazine). I have to have private medical insurance as part of my job contract and they won't cover me for the first 12 months for pre-existing conditions. Prescriptions cost $33 each but they seem to give you more meds (in quantity) in one prescription than I would get in the UK. However, they don't do any sort of prepayment card as in the UK although there is a cap of about $1300 after which you go to the minumum cost of $5-6. My dosctor has suggested I register with a consultant in case anything happens but I'll need to see how much an initial consult costs before I decide.

 

Well, good luck to your friend.

xxx