Recent Health Policy Changes by Australian Immigration

What has changed in Australian Immigration heath policy?

According to the recent changes in health policy, the native country of a candidate will have only 2 levels(higher and lower) of risk instead of 3 risk levels (high, medium and low) at present. For all the residents of high risk countries, the duration of stay has been increased to 6 months from earlier 3 months stay for which they need medical assessment. New policy will equally treat all the applicants of subclass 457 visas and the applicants of temporary visa. Earlier the applicants of subclass 457 visas were only subjected to X-ray examination of chest and were exempted from general medical examination in case of stay over 12 months.

Which countries do not undergo health examinations?

The applicants of temporary visas who belong to lower risk countries can be relaxed from health examinations. However, in case of permanent visas, the applicants have to bear health examination.

Which countries really require health examination?

There is no requirement of medical examination if you are going to stay for less than 6 months in Australia or applying for temporary visas in Australia. Even though if you are a candidate from higher risk countries or you have lived in higher risk countries during last 5 years, you do not need medical assessment, if you planning for less than 6 months stay or on temporary visa.
But if you are staying in Australia for more than six month or for 6 month, either on temporary or permanent visas, you have to go through medical assessment. It is essential for all the residents or nationals of higher risk countries to be examined properly and also a chest X-ray is required. If you belong to high risk country, who wish to move Australia for higher studies for more than 6 months, you need to go through the medical examination.

Other changes in Australian Immigration health policy:

TB Testing for Children: With the introduction of new health policy, children below the age of 11 years who are applying for temporary visa have to undergo TB test if there visa application or health declaration shows any family member’s contact with TB. Earlier, this was not under the health policy.

Additional health Examinations
Additional health examinations are required for both high and low risk countries in the following cases:

• Individuals, belong to another country, who wish to work as doctor,dentist, paramedic or nurse
• For those, who intended to work in Australia Childcare center
• Those, likely to enter in any healthcare or hospital environment
• Those, who are pregnant and going to give birth to a baby
• Those, who are 75 or 75+ years old.After 20th November, significance rule does not operate on any individual who have asked for student visas or who is likely to be in classroom for more than 3 months.

Case of Permanent or Provisional visas
For the applicants of permanent or provisional visas, all the current health requirements would be applicable with the exception of newly introduced TB test of the children belong to high-risk countries in the age group of 2-10 years.
Time to action
It is really important for all the students or other individuals who want to move abroad for higher studies or job or other purposes to check out whether they need to undergo medical assessment. They can also check out if their country lies under low or high risk category.
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