maplegal86 said:
Oh dear! I thought that the VOs could extend the medical if the decision was pending only due to medical expiry?
What did you complain and how (if I may ask)?
We all think that because that is what we learn from the CIC Call Centre. That info is not completely correct.
"As you have noted, normally medical extensions can only be made within 15 months of the commencement of the original examination."
"Please be aware that visa officers have no authority to extend medicals on their own. The chest x-ray and visit to the panel physician are required for our medical officer to evaluate the current health of the applicant. Only medical officers may determine medical admissibility. As you are likely aware, tuberculosis is endemic in the Philippines."
These are quotes cut directly from an email I received from the Unit Manager in the Manila VO.
My application process has met delay after delay due to documents lost by CIC so by the time they arrived in Manila there was only 2 months left before the medicals expired. I made it clear to CIC that because their policy to send all required documents at the very beginning of the process unnecessarily exhausted 5 months from the one year validity of the medical. They should extend it or cover the cost for the new one. The response I got was that they would require only a partial remed to test for TB. Not what I wanted but I will keep complaining.