2022 Medical Examination Guide for Partner Visa 820 Australia
A medical examination is part of the application for your partner visa 820 Australia and is essential to get your visa approved. In this blog I explain how you can book your medical, what you need to keep in mind, how much it will cost, what to expect etc… But first I want to share a little bit about our story since I haven’t had the chance yet in previous Partner Visa 820 blog posts.
Our story
My plan originally was to be in Australia for 1 year while being on my Work and Holiday Visa. However plans changed, COVID-19 hit and I got stuck. I stayed with friends at that time and it was really hard to actually meet people with lockdowns etc. I downloaded Tinder out of boredom and one day I matched with Mark. We started texting on Instagram and it took us about 2 months to actually meet up. One evening we grabbed drinks and basically hit it off right away. From then on we saw each other regularly till we eventually made our relationship official in September 2020. I also moved in with him around the same time.
Due to my visa conditions I wasn’t allowed to work but Mark was understanding and supported me from the very beginning. I obviously tried to help him where ever I could: if its renovating his house or helping him out with his Airbnb’s. I also did most of the housework as I was home a lot more than Mark.
Mark and his friends welcomed me in the friend group and we did a lot together: camping, going to the beach, jetskiing etc… Marks family was also very supporting. And even though we have only been together for a little over 1 year, we still decided to go ahead with the visa application, as my visitor visa was about to expire.
The application process was very stressful as I didn’t want anything to go wrong and get the visa approved, duh. At the end everything worked out well and I am so glad I don’t have to stress about it anymore. Now I wish everyone that is going through the same thing GOOD LUCK, your effort will be worth it!
Visa time line
June 2020: Met on Tinder
September 2020: Made relationship official and moved in together
August 2021: Started collecting and organizing proof + started online visa application
16th of September 2021: Applied for Registration of Relationship
16th of October 2021: Registration of Relationship completed
19th of October 2021: Submitted our visa application
29th of November 2021: s56 Request for more information (AFP and medical examination only)
01st of February: Medical Examination (earliest appointment possible)
15th of February: Partner Visa 820 granted
But lets talk about the topic you are actually here about.
Things to keep in mind
- If you are about to apply for your Partner Visa 820, check out my Step by Step Guide how to apply online here.
- If you are unsure what documents to attach to your visa, in order to “proof” your relationship, check out my blog How and What to attach as proof here.
- Once you submitted your visa online, you get the chance to create an eMedical referral letter. This means you need to fill out information such as name, date of birth, passport details etc.. Plus you need to answer some health related questions. Once that’s all done, print out the referral letter and keep it in a safe place, you will need it again! The referral letter will also include your HAP-ID.
- A medical examination is only valid for 18 months. With the processing time of 25+ months, you won’t need to apply for your medical straight after you submit the visa. Either wait till your case officer reaches out to you, or wait an appropriate time (6-9 months) to book your medical appointment.
How to book your appointment
You will get notified by your case officer once you are required to undergo the medical examination. I however booked my appointment before I got notified to undergo. Due to COVID-19, they didn’t have many appointments available and many Bupa clinics were temporary closed as well. So I booked my appointment only 4 weeks after I submitted the visa. I booked myself in for the earliest appointment possible which was Feb 1st 2022. I was looking regularly on the Bupa website and some days there wasn’t even 1 single appointment available in ANY of the centres nearby. So I thought I book an appointment once it’s available before it would delay the process even more.
Please note: Home Affairs is aware of the limited availability in the centres and that appointments may exceed the 28-day time frame given. Between the s56 Request for more Information and my actual examination appointment 64 days have passed and I still got my visa approved only days later.
You can book your appointment on the official Bupa Visa Medical website. You can choose to make an Individual Booking or a Family Booking. Then you get to select the assessment centre near you in your state/territory. Once you have the location, you need to select which examinations (full list down below) you need to undergo. Then you get to choose a date, fill in your personal information and finalize your booking. Depending on the location, but some clinics require a down-payment. If not, you just pay on the day of your appointment.
Things to keep in mind (for women and kids)
Pregnancy
If you are pregnant under 14 weeks to term, you cannot make a booking. If you are over 14 weeks pregnant, you will need to call the contact centre as this may affect you being able to proceed with the examination.
Menstruation
You will need to reschedule your appointment if you are menstruating on the day of your appointment. The new appointment should fall 4-6 days after you have finished menstruating.
Children under 6 months
Children under 6 months old and born in Australia do not need to complete a visa medical in person. Your visa processing officer is required to submit a paper request on your behalf. For more information please speak to your processing officer.
Children 2 to 11 years old
Children aged from 2 to 11 years migrating from specific countries are required to undergo a blood test for TB when they visit a Bupa clinic.
What you need
For your medical examination appointment you will need to bring and provide following things:
- Your valid Passport
- HAP-ID or e-Medical Referral letter
- Prescription glasses or contact lenses
- Specialist report/s about any medical condition
Depending on you and on the examination you will need to get done, you might have to bring more things such as:
- any previous chest x-rays
However, the eMedical referral letter will tell you what exactly you will need to bring.
List of examinations
It will depend on you, where you are from and if you have any medical conditions what examination you will need to undergo. Here is a list of all the examinations:
- Medical Examination (501)
- Chest X-Ray (502)
- Serum Creatinine (704)
- HIV test (707)
- Hepatitis B test (708)
- Syphilis test (712)
- Liver Function test (715)
- Hepatitis C test (716)
- TB Screening Test (IGRA/TST) (719)
Down below is a screenshot of which examinations I needed to undergo listed on my referral letter.
Fees
Fees of each examination will depend on your location and in which clinic you get it done. There are 4 different categories
- Metro A Centres
- City B Centres
- Regional C Centres
- Regional D Centres
I got my 3 examinations done in a City B Centre and paid AUD411.11. Just to show how much the price difference can be, in Metro A Centre I would have only paid AUD385.10 but in a Regional D Centre I would have paid AUD486.20.
For a full list of fees click here.
What to expect from the Bupa Medical Examination
I was actually very surprised. The medical examination is a very well organized process and even though they say “takes up to 2h” I was out of there within 30 minutes. This will probably depend on how many different examinations you need to get done.
Once I got there and went to the receptionist, I had to show my passport and my HAP-ID which was on my referral letter. They also asked if I had a covid vaccination certificate.They scanned my passport and vaccination certificate while I had to fill out a form and sign a declaration.
They also took a picture of me and then I had to pay. You get your passport and referral letter back and the receptionist will point you in the direction for your first examination, in my case the chest x-ray.
Chest X-Ray (502)
At the x-ray reception you have to hand over your referral letter and then wait until they call you out to get the x-ray done. Only about 2 minutes later I got called in. They explain to you what is going to happen but basically you need to take off your shirt and bra, put on a gown, stand in front of the x-ray machine, inhale deeply and the whole fun is over in 10 seconds and you can get dressed again.
Medical Examination (501)
Right after the x-ray you get walked into a room where a nurse measures your height and weight, gets you to do a urine sample, tests your eyes and measures your blood pressure. My blood pressure was a little high but they said that me being nervous is probably the reason for it – which yeah I was very nervous.
Then a doctor will ask you a few questions and he measures your blood pressure again. You get to lay down and the doctor will touch your abdomen and listens to you breathing on the chest and back.
HIV test (707)
Last station of the day: HIV blood test. A nurse will draw your blood and then you will be done for the day. As I said above, the medical examination process was very well organized and I barely had to wait.
Bupa will upload your results for you, so there is nothing you have to do. You can request a copy of all your results but in my case I simply didn’t need them. If there was anything wrong with any of your results, the doctor will call you to get another examination done. It didn’t happen to me so I cannot tell you how the process goes if your results were not satisfying.
I hope this blog was helpful for you and it gave you an idea what the medical examination looks like. Leave a comment down below if you wanna share your partner visa experiences, I’d love to hear it.
For now, stay tuned and until next time.
Hi! I’m from germany and am going to move to australia on a WHV late summer this year, I am sooo nervous and scared of the process of the partner visa after living with my boyfriend for awhile. Your blog helps me so so much to ease my worries a bit. Thank you for posting these!