News

Canada revises list of countries requiring immigration medical exams for temporary residence applicants

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has updated the countries and territories that require an Immigration Medical Exam (IME) for temporary residence applicants, adding four new regions, and removing six.

As a result, temporary residence applicants from the four newly-added countries will be required to complete an IME while those from the removed countries will no longer need to do so.

These changes come into effect on November 3, 2025 and impact anyone who has lived in or travelled to these countries for six consecutive months in the year prior to their arrival in Canada.

Any application submitted prior to November 3 will be unaffected.

The newly-added countries join a long-standing list that already includes 100+ countries including Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, China, and India, among others.

What changes have been made?

These are the countries added to or removed from IRCC’s IME list (effective November 3).

IME now neededIME no longer needed
Argentina Armenia
ColumbiaBosnia and Herzegovina
UruguayIraq
VenezuelaLatvia
Lithuania
Taiwan

Who needs an IME?

If you are applying to come to Canada as a temporary resident, you must undergo an IME if any of the following apply:

You plan to stay in Canada for more than six months and have lived in or travelled to certain countries or territories for six consecutive months or longer within the year before your arrival;
You are applying for a parent or grandparent super visa; or
You intend to work in a field that requires the protection of public health.

If your intended occupation involves protecting public health, an IME is required regardless of where you’ve travelled or how long you intend to stay.

Jobs which meet this requirement include, but are not limited to:

Positions involving close personal contact with others, such as:
Health care professionals and clinical laboratory workers;
Patient attendants in nursing or geriatric homes.
Medical students, medical electives, and physicians on short-term locums.
Workers in primary or secondary school settings (or child-care settings).
Domestic workers and in-home caregivers for children, the elderly, or persons with disabilities.
Day nursery employees and other comparable occupations.

Agricultural workers who have resided in or travelled to select countries for a period of six consecutive months or more within the year preceding their entry to Canada.

If you intend to remain in Canada for less than six months and will not be working in a public-facing job, you are generally not required to complete an IME.

To see which countries and territories are on the immigration department’s list of IME-required countries, you can check this webpage.

About Immigration Medical Exams

There are two types of IMEs:

The Standard medical exam; and
The streamlined medical exam.

To schedule an IME, you can review the immigration department’s list of panel physicians, select the applicable country of territory, and then directly contact the panel physician to book your appointment time.

Once you submit your application, IRCC will send you instructions on how to complete your IME, including when to book your appointment and the type of IME you will need to get.

As per the temporary public policy currently in place until October 5, 2029, you may be exempt from needing an IME, provided you meet all of the following criteria:

You are applying, or have applied, for permanent residence or temporary residence;
You currently reside in Canada;
You completed an IME within the past five years (e.g., for a work permit or study permit); and
Your previous IME results showed they posed little to no risk to public health or safety.