Canada: Express Entry applicants are no longer required to provide medical reports upfront

In a relief to many, Canada has scrapped the mandatory need for Express Entry PR applicants to provide medical examination results.

Instead, applicants are advised to await instructions before proceeding with a medical examination. Once notified, applicants will have 30 days to complete the medical examination.

If you have already completed an IME as part of a previous application (for example, to work or study) and are currently living in Canada, you may not need to complete another one when you apply for permanent residence, the IRCC has said.


If you completed an IME within 5 years of submitting your new application, include the IME number (or the unique medical identifier number) from your previous exam in your current application.

You may be exempt from completing another IME if you meet all of these conditions

• You applied, or are applying, for either permanent residence or temporary residence
• You already live in Canada
• You completed your previous IME in the last 5 years
• Your previous IME indicated a low risk or no risk to public health or public safety

If your old results cannot be used, IRCC will send you instructions on how to get your medical exam done after you submit your application.

This modification aims to simplify the application process and ensure that medical examinations are carried out at the appropriate time.

IRCC won’t approve your permanent resident application if your health

• is a danger to Canada’s public health or safety
• would cause too much demand on health or social services in Canada

An immigration medical exam (IME) from a panel physician is a requirement for permanent residence. Your family members must also have a medical exam, even if they aren’t moving with you.

There are 2 types of immigration medical exams:

• the standard medical exam
• the streamlined medical exam

The streamlined medical exam is a simplified medical exam that IRCC can request during certain urgent operational situations, like a humanitarian crisis, and in other exceptional situations.

Who can do the tests?
You must see a doctor on IRCC's list of panel physicians. Your own doctor can’t do the medical exam. The panel physician doesn’t make the final decision about your medical exam.