On Dec 24, IRCC extended the temporary public policy exempting some foreign nationals in-Canada from completing an additional medical exam as part of their application for permanent program.
This is only applicable to PR applicants in-Canada, if they already recently completed an Immigration Medical Exam (IME) and were found to pose no risk to public health. As a refresher, this policy applies to applicants who:
- have submitted a new application for permanent residence or for a permanent resident visa or have a pending application for permanent residence and have not yet completed a new immigration medical exam
- have completed an immigration medical exam within the last 5 years and were found to pose no risk to public health or safety, or complied with a requirement to report to public health authorities for monitoring, and
- have not left Canada for more than 6 months in the last year to live in a country that has a higher incidence of a serious communicable disease than Canada, as outlined in the list of countries requiring an immigration medical exam
Furthermore, this policy also exempts family members of a foreign national living in Canada, if they meet the criteria listed above. This extension came in after Immigration Minister, Sean Fraser in an interview on Dec 23 indicated that temporary measures in 2021 may continue post-pandemic.
As per IRCC, this temporary measure helps in streamlining and faster application processing for low-risk in-Canada applicants ensuring that foreign nationals can more quickly receive permanent resident status.
Initially, this temporary measure was announced on June 30, 2021 and was applicable until December 28, 2021. However, IRCC posted a notice on their official website and renewed this policy until March 31, 2022.
How to Benefit From This Temporary Policy of IRCC:
In-Canada PR applicants will need to provide an immigration medical exam or a unique medical identifier number from their previous medical exam while applying for permanent residence or for a permanent resident visa. If your previous IME results cannot be used, then IRCC will contact you to discuss next steps.
