The government recently responded to the report, accepting eight of the 18 recommendations, with a further six supported in principle, and a change of rules is underway.
The bottom line is that there will be a fairer, more flexible and individualised “net-benefit” approach, which means migrants with disabilities and conditions, who don’t meet the Australian health requirement, will no longer be routinely rejected when applying for permanent residency.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) confirmed they are currently running a “net-benefit” feasibility study and they expect the changes to be implemented in 2014 or 2015.
Under the new system, if the applicant doesn’t meet the health requirement and is judged to be over the “significant cost” threshold their financial and social contributions would be considered under a “health waiver” provision, whereby the applicant is given an opportunity to make a case to offset their health cost.
This process was applied in my case, because there is already a health waiver provision in place for those working in Australia on 457 visas who decide to apply for permanent residency. At the medical examination stage, a report was requested from my specialist as expected and my case was referred to the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth (MOC) to cost the condition.
The significant cost threshold is set at AUD $35,000. Costs are assessed over a five-year period and I busted it in style when my assessment was made at AUD $470,000.
But as the Enabling Australia report points out, this is a theoretical cost and not my actual cost. Perhaps they assumed I’m going to spend half the year in hospital and use a range of community and care services. Who knows? Our migration agent told us that there is no process of appeal against the health cost valuation and there is no explanation of how they calculate it.
This is also set to change for future applicants because the Government has accepted the Enabling Australia report’s recommendation that “the decision making processes of MOC be made more transparent and that information on costs assessments be provided to visa applicants”.
I completed the health waiver form, and we also provided detailed information on our finances, our skills and my voluntary/unpaid work including involvement in local clubs and events in the community.
Our immigration agent advised that the process to obtain a health waiver on a permanent residency application is not easy. They were bang on about that. After almost a year, DIAC refused to give us any real indication of when a decision would be made. Detachment and mental bag-packing were well underway when the Twitter feed of Chris Bowen, the immigration minister, was discussing the proposed changes and this gave me second thoughts.
Would it be worth one last try to see if the little blue birdy could peck through the wall of silence? I was surprised to receive an almost instant reply.
I followed up with a letter to ask the immigration minister when I could reasonably expect a decision to be made about my case. Three weeks later, we were granted permanent residency.
It was heart-warming to get all the messages of congratulations from friends and colleagues who had been asking for news on a daily basis. They made me feel so welcome after having to prove my worth and existence to a point where I was about to tell the authorities to shove their residency up their southern hemisphere.
But with that well and truly behind me, I’m already looking forward to the fresh start and the excitement of a new relationship - built this time on mutual appreciation. It’s been a rocky affair, but now it’s time for me to kiss, make up and enjoy falling back in love with Australia.
Tracey Croke is a Manchester-born, Australia-based freelance journalist and arthritic adventurer. Read her escapades on her blog (www.chronic-adventures.com) and follow her on Twitter (@TraceyCroke).
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