The hidden trap in Australian immigration process for families with members having medical issues

If you have received an invitation to apply for immigration visa and you have a migrating family member with medical condition, you better read on.

This is related to an earlier article I wrote couple of months back.That was after my visa application under subclass 189 was refused when my daughter failed health screening. I gained better understanding through more efforts since then. I hope following information can help unsuspecting families to avoid the distress and financial loss we were put through.

Visa applications for Australian immigration will be rejected if anyone of the applicant family members will fail health screening test. Any medical condition which is estimated to cost significantly will mean sure shot rejection for the entire family and will result in the loss of entire VISA application fee which is quite significant. The following link mentions this criteria but does not explain how a significant cost is calculated:

https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa/Heal/overview-of-the-health-requirement/significant-costs-and-services-in-short-supply

And there is no way to make effective queries before submitting an application to know the calculation methodology. After getting my application rejected, I did some research and found out that a calculator known by the name of 'Notes for Guidance' used by Medical Officers of Commonwealth' (MOC) can be theoretically accessed through https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa/LEGEND but only if you hire services of a subscribing lawyer or Migration Agent. I was given this information by DIBP officials in response to my numerous queries post rejection. By doing this they claim that the cost calculator is 'publicly available'.

While on-shore applicants can engage review bench and minister's intervention as ultimate options, for off shore applications, a rejected application is the END. There is another avenue of the common wealth ombudsman but that too sides with DIBP and puts the onus of making 'effective queries' upon applicants without clearly specifying how to do that.

My interaction with Ombudsman was also interesting. Initially he rejected my complaint by saying that I could have accessed missing information through something he termed as 'effective queries'. While he did not specify what he meant by it, I decided to give it a try and see if that could have made any difference. I searched through DIBP website and its FAQ section but no information on the health cost calculation methodology was found. A query form redirected to a regional VISA processing firm called VFS. And VFS redirected me back to DIBP or advised  contacting a migration agent. Upon updating ombudsman, he said I could have contacted migration agent. To test his advice again I sent a query to a MARA recognized migration agent repeating same query about the health cost calculation methodology. He also redirected me back to DIBP by saying his services are limited to his clients only. I did update the ombudsman but he went quite.

during this struggle, I approached the immigration minister, the prime minister, political parties, news persons etc. Except for the greens party, I did not receive a positive response from anyone. In fact almost no one else bothered to respond.

Currently I am trying to submit a refund request (form 1424) but DIBP officials are resisting and not allowing me to even submit the application since my application is already refused. So far they have not been able to provide any reference to a legal framework which bars submission of refund request post decision. I am following this one.

To conclude, I would recommend all prospective applicants of Australian Immigration with a family member having a medical condition is to hire a recognized MARA agent. The best advice a good agent can give you is that if you should or should not commit time and money into this process. This is because the immigration department does not bother or feel ashamed of eating your hard earned money by not providing you upfront and clear indication of the despise that effectively exercise for people with health issues especially kids.

The so called universal human values are an eye wash. They are relative to a number of things. So if you are already having a hard time due to a health issue in family, better play it safe, avoid further hardship and Good Luck!