Changes to the medical inadmissibility provision of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act announced Monday:
Increasing the cost threshold for medical inadmissibility to three times the previous level, allowing into Canada immigrants with health conditions that typically require a limited range of health and social services and have relatively low health and social services costs. This will facilitate immigration for applicants with health conditions that typically require a limited range of health and social services and have relatively low health and social services costs. It is expected that this would dispense with a majority of the medical inadmissibility cases seen in Canada today.
The definition of social services is being changed by removing references to special education, social and vocational rehabilitation services and personal support services. The goal is to be more in sync with Canadian values that support the participation of persons with disabilities in society, while protecting publicly-funded health and social services. This would also benefit applicants with intellectual disabilities, applicants with hearing or visual impairments, and others.
The government has been reviewing all elements of the medical inadmissibility provisions since 2016. This included meetings with provincial and territorial governments, and discussions with stakeholders. The issue was studied by the standing committee on citizenship and immigration in 2017 which recommended eliminating the policy. Going forward, the government agrees with the standing committee’s recommendation to eliminate the policy and will collaborate with provinces and territories towards its full elimination.
Every year, approximately 1,000 permanent and temporary resident applicants receive a medical inadmissibility finding. This is 0.2 per cent of applicants who undergo medical screening.
In 2015, the savings to provinces and territories due to the medical inadmissibility policy represented just 0.1 per cent of all publicly funded health spending in Canada.
Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada