Hi All,
Just wanted to share my timeline and story for our Express Entry FSW application. My son has mild hemiplegic cerebral palsy (rigt side) and we really struggled to find any information on how our application would be handled, timelines, etc. so wanted to share our experience with everyone.
We got our ITA April 2017 and submitted AOR 14th July 2017. Medicals taken 26th May 2017. Our file went into processing in about a week and then everything went silent. For a very long time. As soon as our 6 months had elapsed, I raised a CSE and got a very frustrating generic response of ‘you can check your application status online at any time’. So I raised another asking different questions and got exactly the same response.
I ordered our GCMS notes beginning of February 2018 and they arrived beginning of March 2018. Just before our notes arrived, our additional documents status changed to ‘We do not need additional documents’ and background check status changed to ‘we are processing your background check’ so everything looked like we were in IP2. Notes confirmed medical pass for myself and spouse, in progress for our son. Eligibility passed and security passed.
What I’ve subsequently found out is that all medicals that throw up a flag go to the Centralised Medical Office for review. A medical offer then looks at the file and calculates the cost of supporting that individual and puts forward a recommendation as to whether that individual should be approved or rejected on medical grounds. The file is then sent back to the visa officer who can decide whether to agree or disagree with the findings of the medical officer.
So the best I can figure, our son had his medicals recommended approved during February 2018. They weren’t approved on the notes we got, dated 2nd February 2018 - 7 months after AOR submission. They then started processing the final checks on the file to finish the application, meanwhile the medicals still show as not approved. I emailed my visa office (CPC-Ottawa) on the advice of the wonderful Bill Hyatt and requested to extend our medicals. They confirmed that the medicals for myself and my spouse were extended to end of February 2019. I asked them to clarify regarding the validity of my son’s medicals and they came back to say that our file was ‘pending review with a medical officer’. A quick google found this on the canada.ca website. “When the final decision to land an applicant is pending only due to the expiration of the medical certificate and the client is unable to land before it expires, an immigration officer can request a reassessment of an applicants medical file by a medical officer. Such request may result in the issuance of a new medical certificate.”
So it looks like our file is complete and our application is approved. They seem to have requested an extension of my son’s medical certificate so we are waiting to see if this will be approved or if we need to redo his medical. I’m hoping that they will agree to extend given my son has a disability that will improve with age, as he gains more control of his muscles. And with the new guidelines on not being able to include special educational needs in the calculation and tripled medical spending threshold for immigrants ($18k per person, per year as of 1st June 2018), asking him to redo would purely be a formality. I’m hoping they won’t go down that route and extend my son’s medicals to match ours and issue our PPR.
I’ll update this post later once I know whether they approve the extension or request a medical redo, along with complete timelines. In the meantime, I hope this post helps someone in a similar situation!
Just wanted to share my timeline and story for our Express Entry FSW application. My son has mild hemiplegic cerebral palsy (rigt side) and we really struggled to find any information on how our application would be handled, timelines, etc. so wanted to share our experience with everyone.
We got our ITA April 2017 and submitted AOR 14th July 2017. Medicals taken 26th May 2017. Our file went into processing in about a week and then everything went silent. For a very long time. As soon as our 6 months had elapsed, I raised a CSE and got a very frustrating generic response of ‘you can check your application status online at any time’. So I raised another asking different questions and got exactly the same response.
I ordered our GCMS notes beginning of February 2018 and they arrived beginning of March 2018. Just before our notes arrived, our additional documents status changed to ‘We do not need additional documents’ and background check status changed to ‘we are processing your background check’ so everything looked like we were in IP2. Notes confirmed medical pass for myself and spouse, in progress for our son. Eligibility passed and security passed.
What I’ve subsequently found out is that all medicals that throw up a flag go to the Centralised Medical Office for review. A medical offer then looks at the file and calculates the cost of supporting that individual and puts forward a recommendation as to whether that individual should be approved or rejected on medical grounds. The file is then sent back to the visa officer who can decide whether to agree or disagree with the findings of the medical officer.
So the best I can figure, our son had his medicals recommended approved during February 2018. They weren’t approved on the notes we got, dated 2nd February 2018 - 7 months after AOR submission. They then started processing the final checks on the file to finish the application, meanwhile the medicals still show as not approved. I emailed my visa office (CPC-Ottawa) on the advice of the wonderful Bill Hyatt and requested to extend our medicals. They confirmed that the medicals for myself and my spouse were extended to end of February 2019. I asked them to clarify regarding the validity of my son’s medicals and they came back to say that our file was ‘pending review with a medical officer’. A quick google found this on the canada.ca website. “When the final decision to land an applicant is pending only due to the expiration of the medical certificate and the client is unable to land before it expires, an immigration officer can request a reassessment of an applicants medical file by a medical officer. Such request may result in the issuance of a new medical certificate.”
So it looks like our file is complete and our application is approved. They seem to have requested an extension of my son’s medical certificate so we are waiting to see if this will be approved or if we need to redo his medical. I’m hoping that they will agree to extend given my son has a disability that will improve with age, as he gains more control of his muscles. And with the new guidelines on not being able to include special educational needs in the calculation and tripled medical spending threshold for immigrants ($18k per person, per year as of 1st June 2018), asking him to redo would purely be a formality. I’m hoping they won’t go down that route and extend my son’s medicals to match ours and issue our PPR.
I’ll update this post later once I know whether they approve the extension or request a medical redo, along with complete timelines. In the meantime, I hope this post helps someone in a similar situation!