[Pete & Sheila]

After waiting for what seemed liked for ever waiting for an anwser to our application for PR. I received a letter from immigration London the other day saying there medical officer has delayed making a decision until November to allow myself to reduce my BMI to 35 i am currently around 39 .That means i will have take a crash diet & exercise scheme to shape up.(i am already fit and active)plus also take glucose tolerance test and creatinine microalbumin ratio.Which i think are cholesterol and diabitas tests of which my GP has already wrote a report saying all was fine.
Has any body else out there who has been down this road that can tell me if they are likley to reject me if i fall short on the BMI but the tests are ok.

[colindp]

Sparticus,
you have exactly the same issues as I went through, I had a BMI of 39 and my case was referred to a consultant physician in NZ. I managed to get my BMI down to 36.5 when they gave me clearance, even though the tests showed that I was glucose intolerant and cloe to type 2 diabetes, strangely enough though my cholesterol was OK. I admit that I have continued my efforts and have since lost 4 stones got rid of my glucose intolerance my cholesterol is even better (although as I said it was not an issue anyway) and I aslo got my blood pressure back to normal...So for me it was a good wake up call!!!

All the best with your application.....Good luck. :nice1

[Caroline and Dave]

Sparticus,check this thread out which is running the same time as yours
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12914
Welcome to the forum

Dave and Caroline

[duckdodgers]

Sparticus , I was in the same boat, I had a job etc.. waiting for me then told at the last minute about my BMI when I'd already passed everything else. :mad:
After panicing because I was now out of work in the UK, I did a Google search for Lipotrim :nice1 (bit like simfast but monitored by the chemist) this works took 2weeks lost 2.5 stone just made it under the BMI. :raebanana

I used this as a last resort, I'm now in Auckland arrived in Sept 07 my wife is having the same problem and hopefully should be here soon.

I spoke to a team manager in London about the holiday thing (6 months on a holiday visa etc.. ) He told me if we did that they would stop working on our case and we would have to apply again, But never said that wasn't an option.

hope this helps
if your coming to Auckland look me up :cheers and we'll have a beer

Regards
Duck


[

[Pete & Sheila]

Between May & Mid October i managed to loose 43lb in weight due only to cutting out eating lots of bread, drinking beer and going 4 times a week to the gym for an hours work out at a time.
I now have my application approved and am waiting for the blue stickers.

[Lara Croft]

Well done Sparticus! That's nearly 4 stone - very impressive!!!! :clap

I know how tough it is, I worked hard to lose 2.5 stone between Jan and June this year. So far, it has all stayed off, and I intend to make sure it always does :)

Regards,
Jane

[Pete & Sheila]

I hope i can keep it all off and loose some more as well.I feel much better for it.
Hope i can find a gym to use when i get to New Plymouth.

[aggelon]

http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/NationalNews/EnglishcouplejudgedtoofatbyImmigrationService/tabid/423/articleID/39352/Default.aspx?ArticleID=39352



English couple judged too fat by Immigration Service
Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:51p.m.


An English couple trying to work in New Zealand has had trouble getting here because the Immigration Service says they are too fat.

Richie Trezise, who is a submarine cable specialist, has been headhunted by Telecom but was told his Body Mass Index of 42 meant he was morbidly obese.

The Immigration Service told Mr Trezise, he would have to trim down before he would be granted a work visa.

He went on a crash died to lose the weight and pass the test, and he has subsequently been here since September.

But his wife Rowan is still in Britain trying to lose her extra kilos and Mr Trezise says if she does not make it here by Christmas he will return home for good.

[Nathan]

And her4e's the Stuff link to the same story.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4275561a10.html

[macuser]

From reading previous posts I thought that as long as the extra blood tests were clear then a BMI greater than 35 would not be an obstacle to getting PR. Now I'm wondering if its even worth submitting ITA or will I just be wasting my money? A lot of money!

I am doing all I can to reduce weight before medicals, my BMI is 37 at the moment and I will put off medical as long as poss to give me time to do this. If I don't get under 35 is it even worth applying?

What do you think?

I feel as if our dreams have been shattered before they've begun ............ really down today, can't manage a smile at the moment.

Helen

[Pete & Sheila]

My BMI when i had my medical was around 39.It took alot of hard work to get it down but was possible.
I hope you don't give in just have determination and you will get there.

[Leccy-Lee]

Hey i am here now and need to lose about another 10 from my BMI before i even get to 35! (yup ashamed to admit i at 45 right now). Even worse as i lost 6st a year ago and its all piled back on since arriving in NZ which was the exact opposite of what i had planned to happen!

My Work permit runs out in 6mths from now and i was hoping to apply for PR clearly before that ran out, but wondering if i can again lose enough to get through medicals. Just been looking at restarting the "Cambridge Diet" over here as it worked so well for me last time, just got to keep at it..

Anyone know in event i dont make it in time, if i can get another permit or an extension to my current permit before i go down PR? My current permit is 12mths, and will run out in June 11th 08..

[Tay]

Between May & Mid October i managed to loose 43lb in weight due only to cutting out eating lots of bread, drinking beer and going 4 times a week to the gym for an hours work out at a time.
I now have my application approved and am waiting for the blue stickers.

COngratulations, what a great effort, especially the part about wanting to keep it up in NZ. Two thumbs up!

[duckdodgers]

Helen,

Its best to get the weight down before the medical as we had the extra blood tests which we had to pay extra for but it wasn't enough.

We then lost the weight but a normal GP report isn't good enough as they want a Specialist report and that was 150 pounds each!!

do a google on lipotrim it really works quicky I lost a stone in a week!

Good luck i hope this helps


Richie

[macuser]

wow Ritchie, 1 stone in a week, well done. You have really done well and presumably feel great for it and very proud of yourself as you should. Has your wife joined you yet? I wish you luck with with it all.

I am counting cals and exercising like a mad woman and my BMI is coming down each week, 37 now, was 39.

I shall look into Lipotrim, thanks for that.

It just seems conflicting that some applicants are refused with a BMI over 35 because they have the potential for future health issuse and others are accepted with a BMI over 35 and the same potential for health probs.

Does it depend which medical assessor you are assigned? Or which panel doctor you've seen? It seems pretty arbitrary.

Thanks for the advice and support.

Helen

[Indigoazure]

This is interesting. On other posts one can feel the dark cloud of the weight Nazis as they bring down their judgmental hands upon you. :)

But seriously, so to calculate your BMI you put in your height and weight and get the BMI (using a BMI calculator). So if you are short and stocky (hmm like a lot of Pacific Islanders are) and even pretty muscular, you can still have a high BMI. But this is all pretty obvious. Just as it is obvious that this BMI deal has nothing to do with a potential strain on the health care system. If they were really concerned about that, it would actually be based on something real (i.e. as it is, all the acceptable BMI folks are good even if they are prone to sickness. :)) Lovely.

But what it comes down to for me are the skills I bring. And after reading this board I've been seriously asking myself if I should take my skills and go to a country with a better outlook on what it's trying to do for itself. As some would say, rules are rules and immigration is a privilege not a right. Sure thing. And I have enough of a self esteem to realize my skills are of worth and I can take them were myself and my skills will be appreciated in their totality.

Sorry for the rant, but I don't like for hate to be disguised as a "health precaution".

[tomo1340]

I have spent a lot of my adult life in the gym and as such my bmi seems high although most of the last 12 years I have been in decent shape. Not buffed up or anything but bigger than average chest and arms. I am also a part time pro wrestler and part of the job means you could do with looking a bit bigger and stockier than the average bear. I have always tried to keep about 10 inches more circumference on my chest than on my waist. At one point I had a 42 inch waist and 54 inch chest, but on a 6 foot frame that makes me obese. These days I am a biut trimmer but look fatter and I am probably about 32 on the bmi scale. Interesting you should mention pacific islanders as all the Samoans and Tongans I have wrestled might look a little chubby, and often have a trunk that is the same girth at the chest as at the waist, but guess what, they will wipe the floor with you in the gym, set the pace in the ring and clear the dinner table afterward. You can still be healthy with a bit of weight on you.

I know when I left the army I was about 17 stone and was told by my new GP that I needed to shed at least 5 stone even though I didn't look fat. I moved GP's and mentioned to her that the previous one told me to lose 5 stone, she told me that as long as I get my heart pumping for 30 mins a day, 3 times a week and eat properly, not over eating, just until I am satisfied then if the weight comes off then it is needed. If I stay the same shape/weight/size then I must be about right. Since then I have gained a bit on the old belly due to injury but I still do the cardio and the 3 times a week on the weights and it wont shift. Not everybody conforms to certain standards, you could be over the BMI, have a large waist and still have no underlying medical problems.

[dilanium]

Just as it is obvious that this BMI deal has nothing to do with a potential strain on the health care system.

Can you show some evidence of this? I'm curious about this. As far as I have seen, they selected the BMI of 35 because that was the point at which higher rates of diabetes, heart problems, etc could be seen. Also that you can get a medical waiver even if you over a 35 BMI if you can show that your other levels are normal. (Not for a BMI too high, but still).

If you think it's discrimination, they may also be discriminating against the majority of people from the US as well.

*shrug* my waist is probably going to be above the minimum for required tests (88cm), I'm honestly not all that concerned. Yes, women with waists greater than 88cm have an increased risk for disease, which is why I assumed they put the restriction in place, yet I am completely healthy and my blood tests will be fine.

I may have it all wrong. Maybe it's not for health concerns, which is why I would like to see some information to back up your hypothesis.

Thanks!