Every year, hundreds of thousands of foreign people apply to Canada for study permits so they can continue their studies there.
Indeed, studying in Canada is so popular that, in an effort to manage the flood of foreign nationals, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recently imposed a two-year restriction on new international students.
Currently, an applicant has to complete three steps in order to be granted a study visa. This procedure entails requesting an attestation letter from the province or territory where the Canadian Designated Learning Institution (DLI) is situated, getting a Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from the DLI, and then submitting an application for a study visa to the IRCC.
However, foreign people going to study in Canada will additionally require a medical examination in the following four cases:
- If the student is traveling from a nation or territory where a visa is necessary
- Should the pupil spend more than six months in Canada
- If the person is a student of medicine
- Should the student want to pursue a career in healthcare or a related sector that requires them to have close interactions with youngsters or the elderly,
Temporary Public Health Policy for Examinations
The IRCC has put in place a policy on medical exams that will exclude some applicants—for both temporary and permanent residence—from taking another one if they have previously finished one within the previous five years, until October 6, 2024.
Applicants must fulfill each of the following four requirements in order to be qualified for this exemption:
- A study permit, for example, requires the candidate to have “applied, or [currently be] applying, for either permanent residence or temporary residence.”
- The candidate must be a resident of Canada already.
- The candidate has to have finished a medical examination within the last five years.
- It must have been “indicated… low risk or no risk to public health or public safety” in the applicant’s prior physical examination.
Comprehending Temporary Residents’ Medical Examinations
Depending on whether the applicant is requesting temporary residency* or permanent residence in Canada, separate procedures and guidelines are in place for medical examinations, according to the IRCC.
Click here to find out more about medical tests required of candidates for permanent residency in Canada.
Who need a medical examination?
The Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Commission (IRCC) states that the requirement for a medical examination varies depending on the applicant’s intended length of stay in Canada.
The IRCC specifically states that temporary residents “generally don’t need a medical exam unless [they] plan to work in certain jobs [where] public health must be protected” for stays of six months or less in Canada.
Examples of these positions that the IRCC offers are:
- Employees at medical facilities
- Attendants at nursing and assisted living facilities
- University of Medicine students accepted to Canada
- Employees in childcare facilities or elementary or secondary education
- Employees who provide children, the elderly, and the disabled with in-home care
Agricultural laborers who have spent six months or more in a single country in the year prior to arriving in Canada are also subject to this requirement.
However, temporary residents who want to remain in Canada for more than six months must get a medical examination if:
The applicant spent six months or more consecutively in one or more of these nations or territories in the year prior to arriving in Canada.
- They will be employed in a position in Canada where protecting public health is essential.
- They are requesting a super visa for parents and grandparents.
kinds of health examinations
A conventional medical exam or a streamlined medical exam, which the IRCC defines as “a simplified medical exam [for] urgent operational situations, like a humanitarian crisis, and in other exceptional situations as determined by IRCC,” may be required of candidates, according to the organization.
*Applicants cannot choose the kind of medical examination they would want to take; the IRCC will let them know which test is required.
Who may conduct a medical examination?
The medical examination necessary for applicants seeking temporary or permanent residency is only authorized to be performed by panel physicians recognized by the IRCC. To put it another way, applicants cannot just have their personal physician administer this test unless the IRCC has approved that individual.
Be aware that the IRCC, not the physician conducting the test, has the last say on a candidate’s medical examination.
