Medical assessment timeframe

[loszsy2011]

Hi guys,

After 18 months waiting on SMC, they ask for my medical cert finally because the previous one expired. Fortunately (Kind of), they say that this is the only thing left to be done in this application (hope it's true). However, the new medical certificate has a little note but no significant and abnormal findings while everything is A grade and in the normal range. The little note on the health report made the health result fall into health assessment team and now is waiting for a doctor to see the case, according to what has the call center said. Being frustrated for the long processing time, I am quite disappointed as the call center said the assessment would take another 4 to 6 weeks.

Does anyone currently or recently go through the medical assessment and how long does it take? As I know, there is no way to push the HAT or doctors for no contact is released to the public.

Yes, the information I share is incredible, still there are some SMC cases from mid 2017 haven't been completed, and as I saw, there weren't any "too special situation" for this application, but it really took that long and I really hope it could be done before the 20th month. Share your experience guys I find this forum is very useful!

[JandM]

There's no one-size-fits-all timings for the medicals. There is an initial waiting period, when your medical is in a date-order queue waiting to get its first turn for attention - that timing is the same for all the medicals going through at around the same time. The MA's job, when the medical reaches them, is to understand the applicant's state of health, to check that any issues they have will not cost the NZ Health Service too much for care and/or treatment. This next part is entirely individual to each case. Upon first sight of your medical, the MA may, if you're lucky, understand straight away, and send to tell the CO that you have ASH (acceptable standard of health). If s/he doesn't understand everything, s/he has the power to require whatever further tests and/or doctor's or specialist's reports s/he thinks necessary - word would come back by way of the CO. That phase goes on till the MA understands fully and gives the verdict, SOMETIMES needing several further visits to a doctor for letters, etc. (but each reply does not have to go through the waiting of the ordinary, first presentation queue). There is nothing to be done but wait all this out, giving whatever the MA asks for, if it comes to that for you. Here's hoping the "little note" is nothing much at all.

You're right that nobody can contact the MAs directly, and that goes for applicants or their doctors. The COs can't push them, either - only pass messages about their requirements.

[EGoodhue]

The "standard" timeframe for medicals to come back from the MA is 1-2 weeks, but due to the large volume of applications that INZ is currently being flooded with (and was seemingly completely unprepared for!) it's currently taking up to 6 weeks for medicals to go through the MA process.

[loszsy2011]

Thanks very much JandM and EGoodhue. I can update that my case in HAT was completed around 2 weeks after the eMedical submission. Thus one more question, if the case is in quality control, how long would it be before an outcome? And does quality control mean second person check? The INZ call center answer me that they are but I saw somewhere said they are different. Thanks!

[JandM]

I presume you're talking about your case as a whole, not the medical. If that's so, then yes, I think quality control would be another way of saying second-person checking.

[EGoodhue]

If your application is in the second person check stage, it's currently taking more than 4 weeks to complete this stage (unusually long timeframe for this step, due to the high volume of applications going through INZ at the moment - for someone to undertake a 2PC it literally takes about 15 minutes).

[maria1]

Thank you for your advice, how do I know if the CO made a refusal recommendation ? Or if the 2pc will approve or deny my application? Will I have to wait for 1 year?

[JandM]

It's obvious that you're very tense about this, understandably, and you're asking people to tell the future, which isn't possible.

For the first question, there is a large clue available, as EGoodhue told you before. https://www.enz.org/forum/showthread...156#post579156 If the CO sent a PPI (potentially prejudicial information) email to you - that is, an email pointing out any point in your case where it appears that you don't meet the requirements, so if you can't explain or give more evidence, it's likely that the application will be refused - s/he can't recommend refusal. Every CO HAS TO give an applicant the chance to sort out a problem, if there seems to be one. If you didn't get any email like that, your case is on track.

However, there's no straightforward answer to the second question. The second-person check official's job is to look at everything about each case, to see if they find any errors in procedure, or points where the original CO didn't require enough evidence. If they find anything like that, they send the file back to the CO, who then has to put things right, or get more evidence, before the file would be looked at again for 2pc. If the CO could NOT satisfy the 2pc official, the case would be refused.

Will you have to wait a year for what? Starting from when?

[loszsy2011]

Thanks JanM! I suppose you think it was me to ask last question but it wasn't me. Happy to see more people share their experience. Of course all of us are quite tense because it isn't just a case or a code in the system, we are all people waiting for something changing the whole life and there is huge cost of time and energy behind.

For maria 1, yes JandM is right, you can only guess based on what have the case officer done to you. But things could change even during SPC. We should believe that most of the case officers are "competent" so their recommendation of decision should be the result they want to achieve at the end of the day. Otherwise it is very incompetent that the case officer could make a decision totally on the wrong way.

[maria1]

Got my residency qpproved this AM