The Medical

Ugh - now I know why I hate doctors!  They can be so creepy!!

I got the train into the city - figured it would be much easier than taking the car in.  Thankfully, the doctor's office turned out to be in the same building as the train station, so very easy to find  :)

Now, all the forms I've been sent, the information on the Government website etc, all tells how these medicals are conducted under top notch security - passports, photos on everything etc etc etc.

I go in to register with reception - they tell me I'd need to provide a urine sample (I was expecting that) - hand me a pottle and direct me to the "nearest" toilets, which are in the hotel lobby 3 stories above the surgery! LMAO  So much for 'security' - I could have come back with any randomly obtained urine sample!!  But, alas, I'm a goodie goodie, and gave them my own.

Next, the doctor.  He reminded me of a skinny father christmas - all bushy beard, tiny wire rimmed glasses etc.  Just no pot belly.  So after all of two minutes of small talk, I'm instructed to strip down to bra and knickers and pop up on the table.  Ummm....are you serious??  What, no gown?  Or at least a sheet?  Geez!

So I'm lying there awkwardly - lets test the good old blood pressure first.  Oh GREAT idea - thats sure to be nice and low with me lying here part naked in front of a stranger!  So no surprise there that its just a tad high. Thankfully the rest of the exam went ok - and my blood pressure was "passable" by the end of it!

The best bit of the medical - I measured and whole ONE CENTIMETRE taller!!  WOOHOOO!!!!  I guess I finally had that final growth spurt (albiet a teeny tiny one!)  And I LOVED his scales - apparently I'm now 5kg lighter too!  hahaha

Next was a quick walk a few blocks to the pathology and radiology lab.  A quick blood test, my chest xray, and I was on my way home again!

Now apparently, according to the doctor - all the results get sent off to the head office in Singapore, and they take between 2 - 6 weeks to make a formal report which gets sent to the immigration office in Sydney. And from there, hopefully only another 2 - 4 weeks for them to make their final decision whether to grant me the work permit.  God, this is totally dragging now!  I knew there would be a bit of a delay because of getting the medical, but I thought the delay was getting the actual appointment! (there was a 2 week waiting list) Not in getting the report!! I'm getting too impatient!  I want to go NOW!!!   :)

Yeah yeah, I know - all good things come to those who wait, and all that stuff.....

So, here we are - back to the waiting.....

The endless waiting...

Well I posted most of the documents I've been asked for to support my work permit application today.  Hopefully they'll accept what I have. 

I'm still waiting for a letter from work detailing my employment there.  What a hassle *that* is.  I called HR - they said that Payroll have to do it.  Called Payroll, they told me to email my request to the 'generic' payroll email.  I replied that I needed the letter urgently, and it seems that noone ever gets to the emails using the generic email address (have had problems with that in the past), to which the *helpful* payroll employee replied, yes, they do seem to have a bit of a backlog with the emails.  UGH!! 

Why could they not just either (a) accept my request over the phone, or (b) give me the direct email address for the person who needs to complete my request!  So anyway - have been waiting over a week for that letter now...

On a positive note - I received my criminal record from the Australian Federal Police today.  Thankfully they (the police) agree I'm not a criminal!  <phew>  Now hopefully the New Zealand one isn't too far away so I am all set for my nursing registration!

The medical is less than a week away now - hopefully nervousness is still not a viable medical condition and I should be fine!

Labour Market Opinion report

Ok, so the biggest hurdle with getting the work permit has been gaining approval from the Canadian government 'allowing' the hospital to hire a foreign nurse.  Without this, I'm not eligible to get a work permit.  The hospital has been very slow in getting this report (called an LMO) sorted out.  Personally, if it was up to me - I would have organised the LMO before offering the job!  What's the point in making a job offer if you can't back it up with the appropriate documents??

Anyway, I have been waiting for a while for this report, and it has been one delay after another.  My 'glass half empty' persona keeps popping up her ugly head making me think that maybe the hospital already knows I'm not going to get the LMO and they're just stringing me along because they feel sorry for me.  I know - totally unreasonable and unfounded fear, but hey, I'm just odd like that!

So I get home from work this morning, quickly check my emails before heading off to bed.  Have an email from the HR department informing me that they have received verbal confirmation that the LMO has been approved, just waiting for the actual letter to be sent through!  BRILLIANT NEWS!!!!  And even better - they have given approval for 3 years, rather than the standard 2, so that should mean I'll be given a 3-year work permit.  This is a HUGE relief to know it is all finally falling into place nicely.

So now, its just that little matter of a Medical Clearance, and we should be clear to start our new lives in Canada!

Medical Exam

Just checked the mail - a letter from the Canadian Consulate!!!  WOOHOOO!!!!

Then I checked the medical form - they've stuck E's photo on in place of mine!  Are you kidding me????

Have emailed them for advice - hopefully this won't delay things even further.  Although I'm tempted to make E do the medical for me  :)

Have booked in - 2 week waiting list.  But I was expecting that.  So all booked for Wednesday 17th November.  Which is handy - because that is pay day, and I'll need a nice big pay packet up my sleeve for the $419 bill!!

How did this all start - part 2

So I get home, check my emails, and *finally* there is an email from the nursing manager - I GOT THE JOB!!!! 

Isn't that just the way - Murphy's Law I guess.  Purchase a large priced item and get a job in another country...  <sigh>

Now came the next stage - obtaining the work permit.  If I thought getting the job was hard - I had NO idea what was now ahead of me!

The HR guy recommended that I apply for Permanent Residency (PR). This would give us a bit more security, allow us to stay in the country indefinitely, and offer the perks of being a resident.  However, this would take at the very least, another 6 months for approval before we could even consider hopping on a plane to come over.

Now I know it appears that I'm a tad impatient about all this - but I honestly feel caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.  Yes, there are the advantages of having PR, however the cost of applying for PR is huge - around $1000 compared to only $150 for a work permit.  Plus with the PR application I would have the cost of a Medical Clearance for all of us, which would be over $1000 total - there is only ONE doctor in all of Queensland authorised to do the Medicals, so I guess he can charge whatever he likes! 

My other deciding factor was the girls, particularly my eldest. She is due to graduate high school this year, despite being only 16.  She isn't ready to go to Uni yet, and would prefer to re-do her senior year of high school in Canada. However, the powers that be state she can not graduate from high school twice.  So she has a choice.  Graduate here in Australia, and then she can go to high school in Canada as an 'extra' year.  Or leave Australia *now* so she doesn't graduate, and then finish high school in Canada meeting all their requirements for graduation.  She chose the latter option - she wants out now!

So after weighing up all the pros and cons of either option - I decided the work permit was the better option for us.  If we like it in Canada, I can then apply for PR and go from there.

So, after informing the HR guy that I wanted the work permit option, I was then told the hospital needs to obtain a Labour Market Opinion - this is basically the government giving them 'permission' to hire an international nurse because noone local wants the job!  And apparently this takes approx 2 weeks to come back.  Oh, and I need the LMO to apply for the work permit.  More delays!  Also, a work permit can only be authorised for the amount of time in your current passport.  A quick check - bugger.  I only had 6 months left on my passport!  Thats fine - I had the time to wait for the LMO, so was the perfect time to renew my passport.

So I waited, and I waited.....this is nuts.  Why can't anything happen quickly!  I still can't understand why the hospital didn't obtain the LMO *before* offering me the job! I knew the work permit can be approved relatively quickly - some people get it in only 2 weeks.  However I knew mine would be delayed because I would need to get my Medical Clearance first.  This gave me a flashing light bulb moment!

I quickly sent off an email to the immigration department - explained I had the job offer, was waiting for the LMO, however as I would be working in the health industry, I *knew* I would be needing the Medical Clearance - would it be ok to have this completed before putting in the application for the work permit, in an effort to save a little bit of time. 

I got a reply the next day - I could apply for the work permit now, and then forward the LMO on when I received it!  Excellent news - this would save a couple of weeks hopefully.  The only hiccup was I was still waiting for my new passport to arrive!  And I needed it to complete the forms!

My new passport finally arrived, I quickly printed off the completed forms and checked I had all the necessary documents.  I was quickly checking for the third and final time when I noticed I needed passport photos on the application for ALL of us, not just me.  I have no idea how I missed that tiny little detail! So it was a mad dash down to the post office for a quick photo session, paying over my $400 for the work permit and student visas for the girls - popped it all into a registered envelope and placed into the mail box literally 5 minutes before the deadline for next day delivery!

Last week I quickly sent an email to the HR guy, wondering why the LMO was still not through.  Was this bad news?  Should I be worried?  He emailed back saying they had only *just* put the paperwork in!  UGH UGH UGH!  Apparently, he decided to obtain a letter from the nurses union to support the LMO application, so that was the hold up there.  So thank goodness I applied for the work permit already or I would be even further behind schedule!

So where we stand now - back to waiting waiting waiting.......

The time taken so far?

Applied for job - 25 June 2010
Contacted for interview - 5 July 2010
Interview conducted - 18 August 2010
Letter of offer - 4 October 2010
Renewal of my passport - 5 October 2010
My passport arrived - 19 October 2010
Applied for work permit - 20 October 2010
Renewal of C's passport - 27 October 2010