New Zealand Working Holiday Visa application – Medical certificate & chest x-ray
So you have already done all the application steps before – checked the requirements for New Zealand Working Holiday Visa, prepared for application and successfully filled it in? The last remaining step is to complete your medical assessment and chest x-ray should it be needed.
Our experience with chest x-ray
Since Lithuania is a TB risk country, we were required to provide chest x-ray assessed by New Zealand Immigration approved panel physician. If you are a citizen of a country that doesn’t have a low incidence of TB or you’ve spent more than 3 months in the last 5 years in a country that doesn’t have a low incidence of TB, chances are you will have to provide it too!
I guess the process may vary a bit from person to person and may have changed since 2016 when we applied, but I will share the process from our experience.
Within a day of making the payment, we received an email with a request for a chest x-ray. We were given 15 consecutive days within which the medical examination had to be passed and documents had to be received by the Immigration New Zealand.
Since there is only one panel approved physician in Lithuania, we didn’t have much choice and registered the same day to make sure we make it within 15 days. It is important to indicate you are registering for New Zealand Working Holiday Visa examination when calling.
The price for medical examination will vary from country to country, so you’ll have to do your own research. As for Lithuanians, it cost us 50 € back in 2016, while nowadays (2018) the price is 75 € to my knowledge.
The process was rather simple to be fair. Even though Lithuania is an eMedical country, we still each had to bring a print out of Chest X-Ray Certificate form, our passports (they made a copy of it to attach to the examination) and a recent passport-size colour photo to be attached to the form. That is because the panel physician himself did not perform the x-ray, he just processed the documentation and general health assessment. Afterwards, we were sent to a public clinic, where the x-ray was actually performed. Later we returned to the panel physician with the results and were done! From there he uploaded the results through eMedical and our Working Holiday Visas were approved within a week.
What to bring to your doctor’s appointment?
- An identity document (it is highly recommended to use a passport);
- One recent passport-size colour photograph of yourself in the space provided. The photograph must be no more than six months old.
- Glasses or contact lenses, if prescribed;
- A list and dosage of any medication you are taking;
- Any relevant medical reports or x-rays;
- If you’re using an immigration adviser, a completed ‘Immigration Adviser Details’ form;
- If required, a print out of the Certificate required (Chest x-ray Certificate or/and General Medical Certificate).
You are in a country where eMedical is available
If you are currently in a country where eMedical is available, your panel physician will electronically complete and send your medical information directly to Immigration New Zealand. You are not required to do anything unless requested to print out and bring a form when registering.
- Check the list and find the nearest approved panel physician.
- Once you have completed your medical assessment, your panel physician will submit the results directly to Immigration New Zealand. Please do not email your NZER unless requested by your case officer.
- Due date for your medical information is 15 consecutive days from the date you submitted your application. It must be received by Immigration New Zealand within this period.
If you’re not from an eMedical country
If you’re not from an eMedical country, you’ll also need to bring the following items to your medical appointment:
- 3 recent passport-sized photos, or only one if you’re having a chest x-ray and not a medical examination – photos must be less than 6 months old
- printed medical certificates for the examining physician to complete – you’ll need to include the completed certificates with your visa application.
- All x-ray and medical certificates must be completed in English.
Once the medical certificate/chest x-ray certificate is provided, you’ll just have to wait for an email response from the assigned immigration officer, that can take up to 30 days, though usually shouldn’t take longer than few weeks. Good luck and I hope you’ll have fun in New Zealand!
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Riley
Interesting, I never knew that they sometimes required this! Seems like it would be super expensive. Good to know! Thanks for the post.