The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has issued new guidelines for permanent residence applicants residing in Canada. These applicants may no longer have to complete a medical examination as a part of their immigration application.
Typically, immigrants are required to complete a medical examination or submit a unique medical identifier number from a previous medical examination to overcome Medical Inadmissibility. However, the IRCC has recently issued a new public policy to introduce new changes to this procedure.
What New Public Policy Has been Issued for Immigration Applicants?
The new public policy will apply to foreign nationals under the following circumstances:
- They have applied for permanent residency in Canada and have not completed a new medical exam
- They have taken a medical examination in the last 5 years and were cleared for medical inadmissibility
- They have not left Canada for more than 6 months in the last year to live in a country that is listed on the federal government’s list of countries that require a completed medical examination
Accompanying family members of immigrants will also be eligible for the exemption if they meet the above-mentioned criteria. This public policy will remain in effect until December 28, 2021.
Why Was This New Public Policy Introduced?
According to the IRCC, the new public policy was required to speed up the processing of immigration applications to allow the maximum number of temporary residents to transition to permanent residency. This policy was introduced to help the Canadian government achieve its Immigration Levels Target for 2021 to invite almost 401,000 new immigrants. As of April, Canada was officially falling short of this target.
Thousands of temporary residents are waiting for their chance to apply for permanent residency in Canada. Therefore, Canada is focusing entirely on providing temporary residents new pathways to permanent residency. Since the ongoing travel restrictions imposed worldwide due to the Covid-19 pandemic have hampered overseas immigration, the government is looking at temporary residents who are already in the country to help them meet most of the immigration targets.
