Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada resumed Express Entry all program draws on July 6th 2022. Later they sent out an email about an Upfront Immigration Medical Examination to all Express Entry applicants.
The text that was sent to the applicants was—
As of July 7, 2022, if you receive an invitation to apply (ITA), an upfront Immigration Medical Examination (IME) is required as part of your application, whether you are in Canada or outside of Canada. Your family members, must also have their IME results, even if they aren’t coming with you.
- This change applies to-
- Principal applicants
- Dependent spouses – accompanying or non-accompanying
- Any dependent children – accompanying or non-accompanying
So, before the email, only those applicants under the Express Entry, who were living in Canada had to do an Upfront Immigration Medical Examination. However, this is not the case now.
We can say previously it was an option to do upfront medical exam, but now it seems that IME is mandatory to submit complete application after ITA. Anyhow, it is also advisable to submit upfront medical exam after receiving the ITA and biometric fee to avoid delays in processing.
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What Is An Immigration Medical Exam
If you want to move to Canada you need to have an Immigration Medical Examination (IME). This is to make sure that you are not inadmissible to Canada for health reasons. An IME is conducted by a panel of physicians who are IRCC-licensed doctors.
There are two types of Immigration Medical Exams in Canada. One is the regular IME and other is an Upfront Immigration Medical Exam. An upfront medical exam is for people who do not have an application in the eMedical system.
Generally, you get an IME letter and then go to a panel physician for medical exam. However, sometimes, panel physicians can do an exam without an IME letter. Thus, this is basically what an upfront medical examination is.
How to book an Upfront Medical Exam?
To book an upfront medical exam you can get in touch with a panel physician directly. So, you will need to contact a panel physician for immigration medical exam. Also, you have to do the same tests- physical examination, x-rays and bloodwork. However, the only difference is that you will not receive the IMM 1017 Medical Report form from IRCC.
The upfront medical exam is also valid for only 12 months. And, if you do not come to Canada, within that time, you need to do another exam.
