Thalassaemia & Immigration

Good day friends,

To explore better life opportunities, and because healthcare conditions are deteriorating in the country I live in, I am looking for possible immigration choices and I need your help.

Please share with me all your experiences/grievances/successful stories about getting visa of a developed country.

Please advise the best places to get residence visa easily for a thalassaemia major. Or please tell me whatever you know about getting residence/work visas in these countries

Canada (I qualify to apply but not clear to me whether I'll be accepted/rejected on medical grounds)

Australia (I qualify but not clear whether I;ll be accepted rejected. I read a case about bangladeshi thal child who was denied visa and it was a big uproar there, but still not sure about the final decision)

New Zealand  (I qualify, there is a clear clause that tells Thalassemia will make a person to be considered not healthy BUT medical waiver can be granted if candidate meets other requirement. Not sure whether I'll be granted or not)

I am a Financial Analyst, adequately educated and experienced to apply in these countries.

can we have the specific link related to the visa discrimination regarding thalassemia.
If anyone knows of the official cause or link to the such clause which may intend to discriminate with thal please share.

Waleed,

I just read your post. If you are choosing to emigrate (where are you currently based?) then Thal unfortunately plays a big part in the choices that are available to you.

Australia and Canada reject people with Thal, even if you qualify for emigration based on points - this is due to their universal medical care system. They do not want to take on board anyone who will put an additional, recurring cost on their health systems. Especially, since this immigration process is without the benefit of a job - you land up in these countries and then you are expected to search for a job.

OTOH, the H1B program or the F1 (education) visa program of the USA has no such issues - if you qualify for a paying job in the US, and the company is willing to sponsor your H1 visa, then you will be covered by the insurance offered by the company, which will cover your transfusion and allied costs. It is extremely expensive to get a transfusion in the US, if you are not covered by insurance - if I remember correctly, Eilieen from CAF told me that it would cost $2,500-4,000 each time, based on where you were located.  In general, though, it is easier to get a H1 visa if you are a techie, than a financial analyst.

If you are rich enough or if your family is rich enough, then you could look at the route of an Entrepreneur or Investor residency visa - many countries, including US, Ireland, UAE offer this option - however, you would still be on your own as far as Insurance goes to pay for transfusion costs.

Hope this helps.

Poirot

Waleed,

I reside in Canada - I know of several people who have moved here from other countries that actually have thal.  In fact, a brother and sister both having thal moved from Bangladesh to Toronto, Canada.  I am not sure how their treatments work.  It is true, we have a universal health care system.  We we pay into the health care system - which provides health care and transfusions to everyone, rich or poor.  The rich pay more and the poor pay less but everyone is covered.  The cost of medications however is not covered.  individual insurance sometimes pay - we had a very difficult time getting exjade covered - the medication is $2000. a month canadian.  Fortunately, I wrote several letters and spoke with several people - and now exjade is covered for all of the patients in my city. 

Do not give up brother,

Sharmin

Sharmin,

That is interesting data. This brother-sister duo - do you know if they emigrated by themselves, or they moved with their parents, who were the ones accepted into Canada? Also, does Canada have an immigration diversity lottery, like the US?

Thanks

Poirot

Poirot,

I will find out for you.  I don't know them personally but they are family of
someone I know.

Do you have any family in Canada?  I know that it's possible to get a student or work Visa. 
Have you read up on the Canadian immigration page?

I will let you know what else I learn 

Best

Thanks, Sharmin.

It would be good to know - for those who are younger, and may be considering emigrating.

I have done a fair amount of research on this - on and off - although I only seriously considered emigration back in the 90's, when I was much younger. In the end, I didn't file because India was a happening place those days, the financial markets had opened up, foreign firms were flooding in and I was making more money here (at a net savings level) than I would have made in Canada or Australia or in most firms in the US.

And, no, I don't have any family in Canada. Also, I figured that if you wanted to emigrate you were better off being a nurse, teacher, electrician or accountant than a financial analyst - the former were the professions in demand. No one wanted bankers! And, for the US, you needed to be a techie - although, Infosys did offer me a job in the US (New York) in 2006 as part of their finance team. Again, I turned it down after much consideration for various reasons.

Now, I am focused on getting my girls to the US and/or Australia - the only thing I have really regretted was not studying in an US college - they are the best in the world, by far. Maybe, Melbourne in Oz, and Oxford/Cambridge/Imperial in UK and Gill/Toronto in Canada compare - but, that's about it. On the other hand, the top-50 colleges in the US stand head and shoulders above anything else in the world - for the overall experience and quality.

Cheers

Poirot

  thats just difficult.

Ray of hope for those seeking Canadian PR.

http://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/CIMM/report-15/

Recently, the parliamentary committee proposed that the 'excessive demand' clause of medical inadmissibility law shall be repealed. Does anyone know how significant such recommendation is and how long it may take to bring that into effect?

Hi, im at my joniuor year. One year is left to get my bachelor degree in electrical engineering.
Im currently in Saudi Arabia, but thing gets worse and worse.
So im considering to seek a new country that would hopfully value me.
Which country would recommend? Like listing them.
Which country to try miggrating to it first?
US? Canada? Australia? Ect

Thanks

I don't know about Canada, but the US is not easy to emigrate to. Australia makes it very difficult for anyone with chronic health problems like thal major to be accepted. Some European countries may be easier to get into and they offer universal health care.

Well, i don't think getting into America it self is difficult, but the problem is in the treatments cost. That's what im concerned more.
+ Hearing you say that there may be euorpean countries that are easier to get into it and have a universal health care has given me hope.
Can you mention some examples?
Or how can i find them ?

Countries within the EU all have universal health care that is transferable within the EU.