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Medical surveillance

Medical surveillance is a medical check-up for a person who is newly arrived in Canada, to check that their inactive tuberculosis hasn’t progressed to active tuberculosis disease. Medical surveillance is required for anyone who was assessed as having inactive tuberculosis on their immigration medical examination (IME). Medical surveillance ensures that proper treatment can be provided, which in turn helps protect the health and safety of people in Canada.

Inactive tuberculosis is the only medical condition for which medical surveillance is currently required.

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Find out if you need medical surveillance

What is tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria. Someone with active TB in the lungs and throat can spread it to others through coughing and sneezing. TB is treatable.

You may not know if you have TB. You may not have any TB symptoms, since inactive TB doesn’t make you feel sick. While you may not have active TB now, you may still get it at some time in your life.

Signs and symptoms of active TB may include

  • prolonged fever
  • prolonged cough
  • coughing up blood
  • sweats at night or afternoon
  • constant tiredness
  • loss of weight and loss of appetite

You need medical surveillance if

  • on your immigration medical exam, an IRCC physician assessed that you have inactive tuberculosis and you’re already in Canada, or
  • you’ve been contacted and informed you need medical surveillance by the Public Health Liaison Unit of IRCC

An assessment of inactive tuberculosis means you may

  • have had tuberculosis in the past
  • have a latent tuberculosis infection
  • have been exposed to tuberculosis bacteria

Medical surveillance is important to

  • ensure that your inactive tuberculosis hasn’t progressed to active tuberculosis
  • help connect you to the health care you may require to manage your inactive tuberculosis
  • ensure you receive proper treatment should you develop active tuberculosis in the future

The medical surveillance process

If you were given a document at the port of entry telling you to report to your provincial or territorial public health authority in Canada within 7 or 30 days after arriving in Canada, you can disregard it. You only need to provide IRCC with your contact information when you have a home address and phone number in Canada.

Medical surveillance depends on the results of your immigration medical examination (IME), which may have been a requirement for your immigration application process. If the results of your IME indicated you have inactive tuberculosis, you will need a medical check-up with a physician once you arrive in Canada. This is called medical surveillance.

Make sure IRCC has your contact information in Canada

IRCC needs your contact information in Canada to start the medical surveillance process. It’s possible you didn’t have that information when you submitted your application. Once you have your contact information, email it to the Public Health Liaison Unit at IRCC at IRCC.MHBSurveillance-SurveillanceDGMS.IRCC@cic.gc.ca. Include the following information:

  • full name
  • unique client identifier (UCI) number
  • phone number in Canada
  • email address
  • home address in Canada
    • apartment number (if applicable)
    • house number
    • street name
    • city
    • province
    • postal code

    For example:

    John Jones
    10-123 Main Street NW
    Montreal QC H32 2YZ

The Public Health Liaison Unit will give the provincial or territorial public health authority your contact information. The public health authority will get in touch with you for an appointment.

Keep your information up to date

Contact the Public Health Liaison Unit at IRCC.MHBSurveillance-SurveillanceDGMS.IRCC@cic.gc.ca if you’ve changed your Canadian home address, phone number or email address. Make sure you provide your full name and unique client identifier (UCI) number in your email.

Wait for the public health authority to contact you

The Public Health Liaison Unit at IRCC will tell the provincial or territorial public health authority nearest to you that you’ve arrived in Canada.

The public health authority is responsible for arranging your medical surveillance appointment. Each public health authority has its own procedure and timeline for managing these appointments. It’s possible that it may take months for them to contact you. Please be patient and know that they have your information and will contact you.

If you are experiencing any signs or symptoms of active tuberculosis, please see a doctor as soon as possible.

Attend your medical surveillance appointment

Once the provincial or territorial public health authority contacts you for a medical surveillance appointment, make sure you attend. Once you’ve had your appointment, the public health authority will inform the Public Health Liaison Unit at IRCC that you’re in compliance with your medical surveillance requirement. The Public Health Liaison Unit will email you within 2 months to confirm this.

If you had an immigration medical examination inside Canada and were seen by a tuberculosis clinic, you may not need medical surveillance and may not be contacted by the public health authority. If this is the case, the public health authority will notify the Public Health Liaison Unit at IRCC that you’re in compliance with your medical surveillance requirement. The Public Health Liaison Unit will email you within 2 months to confirm this.

If you received a notice of non-compliance with medical surveillance

If you received an email notifying you of non-compliance, this means that you haven’t complied with the medical surveillance requirement associated with your immigration or visa application.

Medical surveillance is a condition of your status in Canada. You must complete your medical surveillance requirement as soon as possible. If you don’t, it may have a negative impact on any current or new immigration applications to Canada. For example, your Canadian citizenship application could be delayed until the provincial or territorial public health authority confirms with IRCC that you’ve complied with the conditions of your medical surveillance.

If you’re having trouble completing your medical surveillance requirement, or believe you’ve completed it, email the Public Health Liaison Unit at IRCC.MHBSurveillance-SurveillanceDGMS.IRCC@cic.gc.ca. Include your full name and unique client identifier (UCI) number in your email.

How you know you’ve completed medical surveillance

You will know that you’ve completed your medical surveillance if

Note: Your public health authority may continue to follow up with you about your health condition. You must follow their instructions as you are also required to reach compliance in their records.

If you leave Canada

If you leave Canada, and you haven’t been contacted by the provincial or territorial public health authority yet, or you haven’t completed medical surveillance, here are the things you should do:

If you have questions about medical surveillance

If you have questions about medical surveillance, you can

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