Looks like I better start on my diet - to gain some 80 kg before I can be remotely considered obese.
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SHE'S TOO SKINNY TO BE AUSSIE
April 24, 2006
SHE has an Australian husband, an Australian son and a home in Brisbane with
a barbecue in the backyard.
But Mrs Helen Evans has been told she cannot become an Aussie because she's
too skinny.
Worse, the 23-year-old Briton, who is 1.6m tall and weighs 43kg, risks being
deported, reported British newspapers.
Mrs Evans's application for Australian permanent residency was turned down
because her body mass index (BMI), which compares weight with height, placed
her in the 'extreme' range during a medical check in 2004.
She weighed 37kg at the time, but maintains she was healthy.
'It's just if you don't match their figures, you're out, basically,' Mrs
Evans told Australia's ABC news.
'Obviously they don't take into consideration anything else.
'I've always been small. It's just simple genetics.'
Soon after her application was knocked back, Australia was ranked the second
most obese country in the world after the US, noted the Mirror newspaper in
England.
Mrs Evans spent $1,300 on medical checks after the ruling and discovered she
was allergic to gluten. She has since gained 6kg.
An appeals tribunal overruled that decision and this week, Mrs Evans was
told that she can remain Down Under pending a review of her case.
A spokesman for Australia's Department of Immigration said the problem had
arisen because some information required to complete the health check had
not been supplied.
