Australia has the world’s best health standards. In order to maintain them, visa applicants are required to fulfill minimum health standards to be successful. This is what is referred to as ‘meeting the health requirement.’ The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) assesses your health during your visa application process.
Why Must Applicants Meet The Health Requirement?
That’s right; the majority of visa applicants are required to meet the health requirement.
Plus, your family members might be asked to do the same even if they are not visiting Australia. It all depends on the visa you choose for Australian immigration.
Moving on, you might need to go through various health examinations to confirm you meet the health requirement. Consequently, a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth (MOC) will assess the results of your examinations. Suppose you have a critical medical condition. In that case, the MOC will guide the DHA by seeing if your health condition;
- Poses a threat to public health;
- Leads to massive healthcare and community service costs;
- Contributes to an increase in demand for healthcare or community services facing a shortage in supply.
In case you are wondering, the MOC considers the services a person with the same health condition would need and advise the DHA accordingly.
It should be noted that MOC advises DHA solely on the basis of your medical condition without considering your other circumstances. For instance, the MOC wouldn’t consider if you will avail of public services through your private health insurance or pay for the treatment yourself.
Moreover, the MOC can recommend DHA to have you sign a health undertaking.
Healthcare And Community Service Costs
A Medical Officer of the Commonwealth (MOC) evaluates if your health condition will cause the Australian community to incur significant costs in terms of the community or healthcare services to take care of your condition. This is how the authorities determine if you meet the health requirement.
Interestingly, DHA looks at per capita data regarding health and community service costs to estimate the costs of your condition over a period of time. Your total period of stay is considered if you are a temporary visa applicant.
On the other hand, the period of stay is 5 years for permanent visa applicants or 3 years for applicants aged 75 years or above. Similarly, the MOC estimates the costs of your condition for the community based on your life expectancy of up to 10 years if you have a permanent health condition with a predictable course.
It should be noted that it doesn’t mean you will be unable to meet the health requirement because of the significant costs resulting from your disease or health condition. The costs depend on the severity and the type of your health condition or disease.
However, DHA will not issue a visa if you fail to meet the health requirement since your disease is expected to lead to a significant cost unless there is an exercised health waiver.
The Department of Home Affairs deems costs of AU$ 51,000 or more significant.
How Australia Safeguards Access To Healthcare & Community Services?
The MOC also sees if your health condition will cause hindrance for Australian citizens and permanent residents in accessing community or healthcare services already in short supply while determining if you meet the health requirement. DHA names this ‘prejudicing access’ to healthcare or community services.
DHA seeks advice from the Australian Department of Health on healthcare or community services, such as organ transplants and dialysis.
Don’t forget the immigration department can choose to exercise a health waiver for specific visas where it believes that issuing the visa wouldn’t lead to significant costs to the Australian community or prevent Australian citizens or permanent residents from accessing healthcare or community services in short supply.
We hope you found this information helpful. Follow our blogs for the latest updates and informative content on Australian immigration.
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One thought on “Meeting The Health Requirement For Australian Immigration”
Hello
I would like to get some information on health requirements for Australia visa