2016-Aug 05: Update on medical referrals and actions underway

Visa Pak 271: Information for staff when referring medicals and actions to cut down on delays.

Visa Paks

05 August 2016

Update on medical referrals and actions underway 

Below is an update on current waiting times for medical assessments received for the month of July 2016.

The update

  • There were 17,077 health cases submitted through eMedical during July.
  • The auto-clear rate for the month was 71.2%. This means 12,159 people had a health outcome within minutes.
  • The Health Assessment Team (HAT) cleared an additional 2,016 medicals within 3 days.
  • The wait time for priority visa types (Student, Work [with job offer] and Skilled Migrant Category) was on target of <10 days.
  • The wait time for Non Priority Visa types was not on target of <30 days.

The number of health cases waiting to be referred to a Medical Assessor dropped by 24% during July. The Immigration Health Team has increased Medical Assessor Capacity from July.

The Immigration Health Team would encourage you to make the HAT aware of any time-critical cases using the usual process so they can be handled with urgency.

The wait times for the queues do not include times with the Medical Assessor. The wait times are specified as calendar days, rather than working days.

HAT will not refer a health case to a Medical Assessor until the visa application is confirmed. If you see a warning in AMS or a note in IHS saying contact HAT, please do so as soon as possible to avoid delays in your client’s application.