Maple News reports that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has extended its temporary medical exam exemption policy for certain immigration applicants already inside Canada. Initially introduced in June, the policy was due to expire on December 28, 2021, but has now been continued until March 31, 2022.
This renewed public policy means that eligible individuals applying for permanent residence from within Canada may not need to undergo a new immigration medical exam. The exemption applies to foreign nationals who have undergone a medical examination within the past five years and were deemed to pose no risk to public health or safety, or were compliant with any public health follow-up requirements.
To qualify, applicants must also not have lived in a designated high-risk country—requiring a medical exam—for more than six months in the past year. The exemption applies to the principal applicants as well as eligible family members who are also residing in Canada.
This move is part of IRCC’s broader efforts to streamline the application process for low-risk applicants and help reduce delays caused by an ongoing backlog. While Canada reached its historic goal of welcoming over 401,000 new permanent residents in 2021, IRCC is currently working through a queue of nearly 1.8 million immigration applications.
The exemption not only supports faster processing times for certain permanent residence applications but also helps manage public health efficiently by focusing resources on higher-risk cases.
IRCC will assess each application individually and contact those who do not meet the criteria for the exemption to guide them through the next steps, ensuring transparency and continuity in case processing.
By focusing on in-Canada applicants who fall into the low-risk category, this temporary policy reflects Canada’s ongoing emphasis on maintaining public safety while boosting immigration throughput amid high demand.