Working visa's and medicals

[aetchell]

Hi all

I have been given a job offer by a company based in Wellington (I am in the UK). ME my wife and children are applying for work and student visas using an immigration service.

We have completed the medicals but I am concerned that the panel doctor has flagged up my Platelet count as being low and is putting together a letter to my doctor to investigate it further, I also have a higher BMI than required (37).

The platelet count is 127 (150 - 400 being the tolerance range). Having investigated this I do not and have never suffered from any symptoms of low platelet count (easy bruising, nose bleeds, bleeding gums etc). Im pretty sure that I don't have any of the problems which can manifest a low platelet count. in fact the only thing I can attribute it to is maybe a viral infection which I started to suffer from a couple of days after the blood tests where performed.

I'm really concerned that our requests for visa's will be denied based on my medical results. MY wife has handed her notice in at work and our house is up for sale. I don't want to have to perform a lot of running around for weeks dealing with immigration and submitting further test results as I've heard that once a medical assessor gets involved things can take weeks or months to complete. I cant expect my new employer to wait for too long before they are forced to revoke the job offer.

This is turning into a very stressful time and any help or information on how the work visa process works or how strict they are would be greatly appreciated.

kind regards
Ash

[MotherBear]

Hi Ash,

Sorry to hear your medical has thrown up some hitherto unknown problems. Unfortunately, this is a fairly common occurence as the medicals are pretty thorough and quite a few people have had an unpleasant surprise.

Before your application would be turned down, I imagine there would be a round of further tests before any conclusion was reached. It would depend on what condition the doctor thinks you might be suffering from, what the prognosis for the future is and how well it can be either treated or kept under control. Have you discussed the findings with your own doctor? He/she may be able to talk you through the options on a more personal level than the panel doctor would. Annoyingly sorting this out will have the effect of delaying your application but for how long depends on what the further tests reveal, if anything.

[aetchell]

Thanks for replying, I have been to see the nurse and had another blood test done in preperation for seeing the doctor next week. Im hoping the low platelet count was due to me coming down with a virus a couple of days after the medical was completed. The doctors have also confirmed that a blood test from late last year produced a placelet count of 161, still low but within normal limits.

secondly, my colestarol was rather high at 6.6 which shocked me as last time it was 5.8. I just hope I dont loose the job offer.

kind regards
ash

[MotherBear]

I don't think the cholesterol level will be a problem as long as it doesn't go any higher. That can, hopefully, be controlled simply by changes to your diet i.e. cutting down on fatty foods and eating more oats, foods rich in Omega 3 fish oil or taking codliver oil capsules. Taking some exercise is also helpful. If you need extra help to reduce the level there are tablets available, so I really don't think this will be an issue. Cholesterol levels go up and down on a daily basis, depending on what is going on in your life (stress makes it worse) and what you have eaten in the last day or so.

Let's hope your new blood test will show your platelet count restored to nearer normal levels when the results come through. Sometimes the stress of going through the medical can affect the results or maybe it was just a bad time to have the test. My results showed high blood sugar, high enough to be considered diabetic. Fortunately, a second test came back normal. Good luck and keep us informed.

[aetchell]

Thanks for the encouraging words, i feel a lot better about things today and have already investigated ways of managing cholesterol levels

kind regards
Ash