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Parents and Grandparents Program or PGP is a great way to sponsor your parents and grandparents for permanent residence in Canada. However, before applying for the Program, you need to keep in mind that certain medical admissibility rules of Canada may affect your sponsorship application.
Generally any foreign national who intend to stay in Canada for more than six months needs to submit an immigration medical exam. It is based on this medical exam, Canada determines whether the applicant is medically admissible. The examination has to be performed by a designated panel physician.
Medical inadmissibility is determined on the basis of three considerations, which are danger to public health, danger to public safety or excessive demand on health or social services. Being a danger of public health means having an infectious disease like tuberculosis, or having been in close contact with people who have an infectious disease. A danger to public safety means someone who could be a risk of suddenly becoming incapacitated, physically or mentally. This is also applicable to those who have violent or unpredictable behaviour.
The final consideration is whether their health condition would cause an “excessive demand” on health or social services. It is determined on the basis of the following:
- The applicant’s health or social services for treatment would affect wait times for these services in Canada
- The cost for the treatment of their health condition would exceed the excessive demand cost threshold.
Procedural fairness letter
If IRCC determines a person to be medically inadmissible, the concerned officer sends them a procedural fairness letter explaining why. The applicants may respond to this letter before the IRCC makes a final decision. Along with the response, they may submit evidence of receiving treatment to cure the health condition, required medication and services, especially if the prescription has been changed and the cost of medication and services. The new information may be submitted to the IRCC within 90 days of receiving the letter. If they cannot respond before that, they may even request an extension from the IRCC.
Those who were found to be inadmissible under the “excessive demand” category may include a mitigation plan in the response to the procedural fairness letter. In that, the applicant may demonstrate that they can support their medical expenses such as employer-based medical insurance plan or a private long-term care facility.
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