Advice on immediate relative outside Canada permanently

[fishnchips]

Female, 24, no dependents
No criminal record, perfect credit history (paying back school loans)
Relatively fit, no health issues (mild nearsightedness)
3.6 GPA from academically rigorous problem, good GRE/MCAT scores
Perfect Persian/English; spoken fluency in French; basic competency in Arabic/Spanish

Interested in Medical Officer Training Plan
GPA on edge for medical school (i.e. not a sure thing)
Interested in MOTP specifically because would like to serve + feel will give me a higher sense of purpose + the program fits with my personal career goals

However, I have a parent (separated, but in touch) living in Iran. Given the current poor relations... does this essentially cut me out of the running right off the bat? Any thoughts on how I should proceed? Thanks.

 

[Pusser]

Your best bet is to go to a recruiting centre and ask.  If you've been accepted to medical school, they will definitely be interested in you (we're always looking for doctors).  Your language skills will also be a tremendous asset.  The only way that your parent in Iran will be a problem will be if that is assessed as a security risk and your ability to get a security clearance.  Much of that, however, will also depend on your background (e.g. have you ever lived in Iran?).

 

[mariomike]

However, I have a parent (separated, but in touch) living in Iran. Given the current poor relations... does this essentially cut me out of the running right off the bat? Any thoughts on how I should proceed?

This may help.

The Security Check/ Level Superthread- Check Here First
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/12875.0

 

[The_Falcon]

Female, 24, no dependents...snip

However, I have a parent (separated, but in touch) living in Iran. Given the current poor relations... does this essentially cut me out of the running right off the bat? Any thoughts on how I should proceed? Thanks.

Where you born in Canada or Iran?
If you were born in Iran, did you come to Canada as a child or an adult.
Have you every visited Iran and if so for how long and when.

These are a few questions that will determine how long your clearance will take (and no one here can or will give you a timeline, even the recruiting centre won't be able to accurately give you an estimate). 

Bottom line, you won't be automatically screened out (again no one here or the RC will know for sure), but you can potentially face some very very long delays, since Canada has no diplomatic connections to Iran at the present time.

 

[Nudibranch]

If you're interested in medicine, with or without the military, your first step is getting into med school. Your security question will be moot if you don't get in. MOTP does not help you get into med school; you don't apply to the program until you have secured med school admission, on your own. Since I assume that you'd try to get into med school anyway, pursue that and then apply for MOTP, understandig that your security clearance might take longer than normal.

The military-entry medical plan is MMTP, but it's not for recruits. It's for people already in the military, interested in becoming Medical Officers.

 

[fishnchips]

Thank you for your feedback, very helpful, I guess at this point I'll focus on the first step of securing med school first and then figure things out from there.