You can learn whether you need to fulfill the medical exam requirement for studying in Canada through this blog. Countless foreign nationals submit their study permit applications as they seek to study in Canada. Education in Canada is so prominent and has a great reputation, so IRCC put a two-year cap on new international students. This initiative was implemented to control the admission of foreign nationals to Canada.
Medical exam requirement for studying in Canada
Typically, an applicant must follow these three steps to acquire a study permit. This process requires the following steps:
- Attaining a Letter of Acceptance from a Designated Learning Institution in Canada;
- Acquiring an attestation letter from the province or territory where the DLI is located.
- Submitting a study permit application to IRCC.
However, foreign nationals arriving in Canada for education will have to fulfill the requirement of a medical exam under the following four scenarios:
- If the student’s country or territory requires a visa.
- If they are going to reside in Canada for over six months.
- In the case of an individual being a medical student.
- If the student works in the healthcare sector or a different sector that connects them closely with older people or kids.
Medical Examinations and the Temporary Public Policy
IRCC even imposed a policy on medical examinations that exempts both PR and temporary residence applicants from undertaking another medical exam. However, this stands true if the applicants have already done so in the past five years. The department executed the policy on October 6, 2024.
In addition, to qualify for the above exemption, applicants must fulfill the following four requirements:
- The applicant must be in the process of applying or have already applied for either permanent residence or temporary residence. This could be a study permit.
- They must be residing in Canada already.
- The applicant must have undertaken a medical examination in the previous five years.
- The individual’s previous medical exam must imply a reduced threat to public health or safety.
An overview of medical examination for temporary residents
According to IRCC, several different procedures and policies are available for medical examinations. However, their availability will rely on the recipient applying for either temporary or permanent residence in Canada.
Medical exam requirement – Who must undertake it?
Regarding the temporary resident applicants, IRCC believes that the medical exam requirement will primarily rely on the duration of stay of the person who seeks to reside in Canada. IRCC notifies that temporary residents who aim to reside in the country for six months or below usually don’t need to undergo a medical exam. However, if they seek to take up a job in a country that needs them to protect their public health, they might need to undertake a medical exam.
IRCC provides the following instances of such types of jobs:
- Employers in the healthcare services;
- Attendants who look after patients in nursing and geriatric homes;
- Medical students who arrived in Canada to enroll in a university;
- Primary or secondary employers in the schools or workers in the childcare setting.
- Workers who look after children, the disabled, and the older people and provide them with in-home care.
In addition, agricultural workers are liable to adhere to this condition. These agricultural workers must have lived or visited any of the countries for six months or more continuously in a year before they arrived in Canada.
Conversely, temporary residents who plan to reside in Canada for more than a period of six months will need a medical examination based on the following conditions:
- The applicant spent over six months consecutively in one or more of the countries or territories, including Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, and Armenia, in the year prior to arriving in Canada.
- If they are in Canada, they will be employed in a job that demands them to protect their public health.
- In the case of applying for a Parent and Grandparent Super Visa.
Medical exams and their types
According to IRCC, the applicants must undertake a standard or a streamlined medical exam. In addition, the immigration department perceives it as a less complex medical exam for urgent practical circumstances, such as a humanitarian crisis or other unusual circumstances, according to the department.
In situations where the applicants can’t submit a specific type of medical exam, IRCC will provide them with the details of the kind of exam they must undertake.
Performing a medical exam- Who is responsible for it?
Applicants must not consult their family doctors to execute a medical exam for Canadian temporary residence or permanent residence. The one performing the medical exam is someone who has received a designation from IRCC to perform it. Therefore, only panel physicians with a proper license from IRCC can perform this medical exam.
Notably, IRCC finalizes the applicant’s medical exam, and this decision is not left to the doctor who performs the medical exam.
If you wish to know about the Canadian immigration process, connect with our immigration experts at MakeHomeCanada. Our considerable experience in the immigration field can help you. You may write to us [email protected]
