The Canadian government updated the rules for medical inadmissibility to make it more accessible to disabled people. Given that the existing medical inadmissibility rules were over 40 years old and not in line with the current Canadian values.
The government decided to raise the cost threshold for medical inadmissibility. This change is expected to reduce immigration refusals based on mental and physical disabilities.
Earlier, there were cases where foreign nationals with disabilities like Down syndrome were also rejected. However, this new rule is expected to do away with a significant amount of immigration refusals based on disabilities.
What Are the New Changes Being Introduced for Medical Inadmissibility?
The new definition for medical inadmissibility will remove references to special educational, social, and vocational rehabilitation services and personal support services. The government has also updated the cost threshold by three times. This means that foreign nationals with relatively minor health conditions that will put a low-cost effect on the health and social services of Canada will be eligible for permanent residence in Canada. This includes people with hearing or visual impairments.
According to the new changes, the cost threshold for a medical condition will be considered excessive if it is more than 3 times the average per capita expenditure of a Canadian on health and social services. The average per capita expenditure was estimated at $7,068 last year. This means that a medical condition must not cost the health and social services more than $21,000 annually to be considered admissible.
