priya
Hi Priya
I know what you mean. My elderly (nay, ancient) Mamma is an applicant for a Contributory Parent visa. She didn't want to hang around in the UK for months waiting to be asked to go for her meds. I believed the London website & thought she would have to sit tight.
So I wrote to the POPC (the processing office for Parent applications) saying I had clocked that we should wait to be told to get the meds done. How long would it be likely to be before we received this request from them, please?
They replied within 24 hours saying we could get the meds done straightaway if we wished - this was before the application was even submitted. I was so stunned by this news that I phone them next day, saying, "Are you SURE it is OK to do the meds in advance of even making the application?" I was told, "Its your money. You're enbreastled to consult a panel doctor whenever and wherever you wish. We can't stop you. There shouldn't be a problem because the meds are valid for a year and Contributory Parent visas are only taking about 9 months to process at present. So yes, go ahead." And they confirmed that I should use the forms from their London website.
Well - it has worked. Mum's application is now in its final stages and it is looking like the visa will be granted around the end of August 2006. So it must be OK to frontload. The reality is that they can't tell you what special requirements the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth might want by way of medical info from you until another doctor has first told him something about you and your health.
Just be aware, though, that if you frontload too soon and the application then runs into problems because of a problem with whether or not one of the other criteria has been met, it can cause serious delay. You have to validate the visa within 12 months of the EARLIER of the date of the meds or the PCCs. So if the worst comes to the worst, you could end up having to get the meds done twice and-or galloping iout to Australia at very short notice, just to pbutt through Immigration control on your way down to check in for the same plane - still sitting on the tarmac - to carry you out of Australia again!! Repeating PCCs is neither here nor there because they are relatively cheap.
One needs to be a bit canny about when to do the meds though, I reckon. But watch the timelines, watch what other applicants for the same visa who applied at roughly the same time as you choose to do etc, and you shouldn't go far wrong.
Best of luck
Gill
