The medical examination: why you shouldn't do it too early
The examination for your Australian visa is valid for twelve months, must be done by a designated panel physician, and applies to the whole family, sometimes even to whoever isn't coming. The art is not passing it — the art is doing it at the right moment, with the HAP ID from your referral letter.
4 min read
Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
Don't do the medical examination for Australia too early. Of all the steps in the Australian journey, this is the one most often done at the wrong moment, and then almost always too early.
That feels counter-intuitive: whoever is keen wants to tick things off. But with this step patience is literally worth money.
What the health requirement actually tests
Home Affairs calls it meeting the health requirement. The measure isn't whether you're healthy, but what you would cost. You must be free from a disease or condition that:
- would be a significant healthcare or community service cost to the Australian community;
- or would limit Australians' access to services in short supply. Home Affairs calls that prejudicing access.
A Medical Officer of the Commonwealth, a doctor who assesses on behalf of the Australian government, reviews your results. They advise whether a condition is likely to threaten public health, result in significant costs or place a demand on services in short supply. In doing so they consider what a hypothetical person with the same kind and severity of condition would need, not your personal circumstances.
The rule that determines the timing
The result of your examination is valid for twelve months. Within that period your application must not only be submitted but also assessed. And between submission and decision there are easily months. Whoever does the examination "because it's on the list anyway", while the invitation is still far off, pays for it a second time later. Per person.
| Moment | What happens |
|---|---|
| Invitation via SkillSelect | from now you have 60 calendar days to lodge the application; no extension |
| Referral letter from your case officer | contains your HAP ID, the number with which you book the examination |
| Examination at the panel physician | result goes digitally to your application; valid 12 months |
| Examination already done in the last 12 months | then you may not need everything again; the referral letter says what is still needed |
The same twelve-month clock applies to police certificates, and the answer is the same in both cases: the right moment is after your invitation, in the sixty days in which you complete your application. Everything before that is taking stock, not carrying out.
Not your GP, but a panel physician
The examination may only be done by a doctor Australia has designated for it: a panel physician. Your own GP may not, however thorough they are. An examination report from a non-designated doctor is simply not accepted.
Which doctors in the Netherlands are designated is on the panel physicians list of Home Affairs (see the sources). The number of locations is limited. So when planning, allow for travel time and for the waiting time for an appointment, certainly if the whole family wants to go on the same day. Your case officer contacts you if you need to be examined, and sends a referral letter with a HAP ID. Without that number you can't book the examination.
The result doesn't go via you: the panel physician links the results digitally straight to your application in ImmiAccount, your online account with Home Affairs. So you don't have to send anything, and you can't "improve" anything about it either.
The whole family, including whoever isn't coming
The health requirement applies to all family members in the application, children too. And here is a detail that surprises people: Home Affairs can also ask for an examination of family members who aren't emigrating with you. Whether that happens depends on the visa you apply for. So don't count on a family member staying behind remaining out of the picture. Look at what is asked in your situation as soon as the invitation is there. If you come from or through a country with a public health risk such as polio, extra examinations may be added.
Be honest, also about what is sensitive. The examination isn't an exam you pass by leaving things out. A concealed condition that surfaces later is an integrity problem, and in this system that weighs more heavily than the condition itself. Most conditions are moreover not grounds for refusal; Australia is concerned with the expected healthcare costs, not with perfection.
What you can do now
Three things, all free:
- Find out which panel physicians are reachable for you.
- Request medical records in advance from your GP and specialists. That sometimes takes weeks, and at the examination a complete file is worth its weight in gold when questions arise.
- Include the costs per person in your budget. You pay for the examination yourself, at the panel physician's rate.
After that: deliberately wait. The step sits in your plan under "ready for later", and that is exactly where it belongs.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 2 of 5 of the journey, step 2.6: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Australia or go straight to step 2.6 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Home Affairs — health requirements, what the requirement involves and who judges it — immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
- Home Affairs — who needs health examinations, the HAP ID and examinations from the last twelve months — immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
- Home Affairs — subclass 190, the invitation and the sixty days in which the application has to be complete — immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
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