NZ medicals for Essential Skills Visa

[ngedza]

Hallo everyone its my first post here. I did my medicals on the 19th of December 2018, & i received a message from e-medical wit part which read " Your health examination results show no abnormal or significant findings. This does not necessarily mean that you have an acceptable standard of health for the purposes of your visa application. INZ will contact you if it has any concerns and requires further information about your health" I then submitted my application on the 21st of December 2018.

1. What does the above message mean, did i pass the medicals examination?
2. After medicals have been examined by the system is it assessed by a human again?
3. In any case that one didn't pass when is he notified from the time of submission?
4. How long does it take to have the visa approved?
5. At this moment do i have a case officer working on my case as i have never had anything from him/her neither were my referees contacted?

9 December 2018: Job Offer
21 December 2018: Essential Skills applications submitted

[JandM]

1. What does the above message mean, did i pass the medicals examination?

This means that, as far as the doctor was concerned, you seem to be fit and well. The medical is now sent to INZ. Your message didn't come from INZ - the medical hasn't gone through their processes yet.

2. After medicals have been examined by the system is it assessed by a human again?

Now, at INZ, your medical will be checked by computer. You know from the message you have received that no abnormal readings were noted, so that is all right, but we think, from other people's experience, that there are probably certain keywords (for instance, some past condition which was treated and cured some time ago) which can flag the need for a look by a human being. If that happened, and the first person to check felt there was need for an expert to consider it, that is when the case would be referred to an MA (Medical Assessor). MAs have the duty of understanding an applicant's state of health, and have the power to require extra tests and/or doctors' reports until the point when they can clearly see that s/he will not cost the NZ Health Service too much for care and/or treatment. If your medical went to an MA, you would probably only hear about it if the MA wanted extra information. (This is all unlikely in view of what your present message from the examining doctor has said - it's just information to explain the system.) Messages from the MA come through INZ, not directly. If your medical doesn't cause an alert from the computer, or if the human beings (the first level checker, and/or an MA) take a look and are satisfied, you won't hear anything more at all about it.

3. In any case that one didn't pass when is he notified from the time of submission?

A medical being found not satisfactory could not happen until after going through the process just described - an MA requiring more information, perhaps several times, and you providing it. That could take weeks or months. Basically, no news is good news.

4. How long does it take to have the visa approved?

Google "INZ processing times" to see what their most recent estimate is. There IS no normal time period. All cases are individually assessed, and the times while files are waiting are affected by variables like staff shortages or training, holiday periods (like now), slow replies from third parties while the CO is checking your evidence, etc., etc..

5. At this moment do i have a case officer working on my case as i have never had anything from him/her neither were my referees contacted?

It's most unlikely that your case has yet been allocated to a CO, in this short time, and given that the Christmas/New Year holiday has intervened. Also, the NZ summer holiday period runs on till the start of the new school term around the beginning of February, so many staff take some of their holiday entitlement, and offices and businesses in the country tend to be running on skeleton staffing. Your case is most likely in the date-order queue of cases waiting to be allocated. As COs finish their current work, they take more from the front of the queue, so your case gradually moves forward till it gets to the front and will then start to be processed.

[ngedza]

Thank you JandM for the quick response, i guess what i will just have to do at the moment is just to wait....

[ngedza]

One other short question which has just crossed my mind with regard to my application. Directed to @JandM or any takers....
--> I was instructed to courier my passport to Immigration New Zealand from here in Zimbabwe, which i did on 27 December 2018 & i received it back on 07 January 2019. Does this mean my case is being worked on by a CO or its just one of the works done by clerks and add on to my application/case?

[JandM]

Again, most likely a clerk has inspected your passport to make sure it's genuine, and scanned it into your records, so the file will be all complete whenever a CO starts to work the case.