Old healed chest infection from TB

[Famed]

Thanks JandM.

Is the case number the same as the one mentioned on the emedical form? Also, can I include the sputum test results while submitting the visa application itself which will also include my emedical acknowledgement? Please note that my emedical results will be directly uploaded by the panel hospital and I will be merely receiving an acknowledgement. My initial plan was requesting my panel hospital to wait for my sputum test results so that it becomes an all inclusive submission.

Since you mentioned INZ in your response, would the visa decision be taken by INZ in Mumbai or New Zealand? So how does the medical assessor of NZ come into picture?

Sorry for lots of questions. You've been very helpful.

[JandM]

Is the case number the same as the one mentioned on the emedical form?

I don't know for sure - I've never seen one, since they're so new. You could ask the panel doctor's secretary.

Can anyone who has been through this process help here, please?

Also, can I include the sputum test results while submitting the visa application itself which will also include my emedical acknowledgement?

It depends. If you're submitting by means of an online form, then no. If you're making a paper submission, then yes. This is just a matter of practicalities - you can't 'enclose' anything with the online submission.

My initial plan was requesting my panel hospital to wait for my sputum test results so that it becomes an all inclusive submission.

If you did this, you would be delaying being able to submit your whole visa application. You HAVE to have the medical done and submitted so you can enter the details on your application form. From what you have said, the sputum test results will not come through until several weeks after the test is carried out.

The normal order of events is to get the medical done, knowing the panel doctor will submit it, and enter the reference number on the visa application. Then if anything abnormal has been noted during the medical, officials at INZ will see that, and, since they are not authorized to pronounce on medical matters, will refer the medical to the MAs. MAs are a separate department whose job is to assess each medical, and judge if the care and treatment of this person because of a known condition will cost the New Zealand Health Service too much, or if they have an acceptable standard of health (ASH). The MAs have the right to require more information from the applicant - answers to particular questions from a doctor, or a specialist, or for more tests to be carried out - as many times as they find necessary, in order to understand clearly. MAs only communicate with the applicant through the INZ CO, who has to pass the messages back and forth, so the more times an MA has to ask for a test, or a doctor's report, the longer the whole process will take. Therefore, if someone like you KNOWS that a certain report or test is almost certainly going to be wanted, they can get it done without waiting to be asked, and send it in to connect up, in the hope that, by the time their medical has been waiting in the queue for an MA to look it over, the piece of information s/he would decide they need would already be there. (That is, the waiting time for the MA's attention, which can't start till the visa application has gone in and the medical has been referred, can, with luck, also be the waiting time for the medical test results to have come back and been forwarded.)

Since you mentioned INZ in your response, would the visa decision be taken by INZ in Mumbai or New Zealand? So how does the medical assessor of NZ come into picture?

There is an INZ office allocated to cover the area of the world you live in, which is where you have to send your application. Most often, the case will be worked and decided by officials there, but from time to time there are rearrangements by INZ if there are a lot of cases waiting in one place, and spare office capacity in another place.

A part of the requirements for every visa is to have a medical showing ASH. If the medical from the panel doctor comes in showing no abnormalities, the INZ official can tick that off straight away, but if there is an abnormality, the medical has to be referred to the MAs (wherever they are based), and, even if everything else in the case has been checked out and is satisfactory, no visa can be issued until the MA declares ASH.

[Famed]

Hi J&M, Thanks for all your help.

I appeared for the sputum test today. Surprisingly, the person who collected my sample mentioned that this 3 day sputum test would do no benefit to my application since ultimately the Medical Assessor would be requesting for a fresh sputum test again to officially consider the result.

Also, I just wanted to clarify that my sputum test is a stain test lasting 3 days (completing this week). So I was thinking of speaking with the panel doctor to wait for about two days so that the sputum test can be included in the submission?

He has made it complicated since he mentioned that it also needs to be a sputum culture test (lasting few weeks) and not a stain test (results out in 3 days after 3 consecutive tests.

[JandM]

The latter is what I assumed you were talking about.

I don't think I can come up with any more thoughts surrounding this situation of yours. You can obviously wait for the few days, or not, and it will help with the MA, or not. I can't read the future, any more than you can. When it comes right down to it, all that any applicant can do is whatever seems best to them, then WAIT while INZ goes through its procedures, and WORRY, which is absolutely normal and standard. Good luck, anyway.

[Riena]

Hi Famed, May I know the outcome of your application?