- A panel physician is a doctor specifically designated by IRCC to conduct immigration medical exams.
- Panel physicians follow a standardized federal protocol and specific reporting obligations that ordinary physicians aren't set up for.
- Use IRCC's online panel physician locator tool.
Once you're instructed to complete an immigration medical exam, the next question is usually: which doctor can actually do this? The answer is narrower than most applicants expect — it has to be a specific type of physician, designated by IRCC, using government forms and reporting the results directly to the government rather than to you.
Here's how to find one and what to expect once you've booked.
What a Panel Physician Is (and Isn't)
A panel physician is a doctor specifically designated by IRCC to conduct immigration medical exams. They're trained on IRCC's forms and reporting requirements and submit results directly to the government through an approved system.
A panel physician is not:
- Your regular family doctor, unless that doctor also happens to be separately designated
- A walk-in clinic physician chosen at random
- Someone who can complete the exam retroactively based on your existing medical records
If your exam is completed by a doctor who isn't an approved panel physician, IRCC generally won't accept it — meaning you'd need to redo it with a designated physician, at additional cost and delay.
Why You Can't Use Your Family Doctor
Panel physicians follow a standardized federal protocol and specific reporting obligations that ordinary physicians aren't set up for. This ensures consistency across thousands of exams conducted worldwide, regardless of where an applicant happens to live. Even an excellent, trusted family doctor isn't authorized to complete an immigration medical exam unless they've separately been designated as a panel physician.
This distinction trips up a lot of applicants who assume that "doctor" means any licensed physician. If you book with the wrong provider, the results simply won't be accepted by IRCC — there's no partial credit for having seen a qualified doctor who isn't on the panel.
How to Find an IRCC Panel Physician
- Use IRCC's online panel physician locator tool. This is the authoritative source — it lets you search by location (city, province, or country) for currently designated physicians.
- Confirm the listing is current before booking. Panel physician status can change, so a listing from an old bookmark or a third-party website isn't reliable — always check the live tool.
- Call ahead. Confirm the clinic still conducts immigration medical exams, ask about appointment availability, and ask what documents and forms to bring.
- Check whether you need to bring specific IRCC-issued forms. Some exams require you to arrive with a form linked to your specific application.
- Book with enough lead time. If your application has a medical exam deadline, don't leave booking to the last minute — availability varies by clinic and location.
What to Bring to Your Appointment
- [ ] Government-issued photo ID (passport is standard)
- [ ] Any IRCC-issued medical exam form or instruction letter tied to your application
- [ ] A list of current medications and relevant medical history
- [ ] Glasses or contact lens information, if relevant to vision screening
- [ ] Payment method — you pay the panel physician's clinic directly for the exam, separately from any IRCC fees
- [ ] Any prior medical records the physician's office has asked you to bring
What Happens After the Exam
The panel physician submits your results electronically to IRCC. You typically won't receive a "pass/fail" result yourself — IRCC's own medical officers review the findings as part of your overall application. If something needs follow-up (further testing, a specialist opinion), the panel physician's office or IRCC will let you know what's required next.
If You're Applying From Outside Canada
Applicants living abroad go through the same basic process — find a designated panel physician in their country of residence using IRCC's locator tool, since panel physicians are appointed on a country-by-country basis rather than globally. Availability, appointment wait times, and clinic fees can vary significantly from one country to another, so it's worth starting the search as soon as you know an exam will be required rather than waiting until close to a deadline.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a panel physician in every city?
No — coverage varies by location, and in some areas you may need to travel to the nearest designated clinic. Use IRCC's locator tool to check availability near you before assuming there's a local option.
Can I choose any panel physician, or am I assigned one?
You generally choose which designated panel physician to see, subject to availability. There's no requirement to use a specific clinic unless your application instructions say otherwise.
Does the panel physician decide if I'm admissible?
No. They record and report findings — IRCC, together with its own medical officers, makes the actual admissibility determination based on the physician's report and any other relevant information.
What if the panel physician's office is fully booked before my deadline?
Contact other designated clinics in your area as soon as possible, and if a deadline genuinely can't be met despite reasonable effort, check your application's instructions for how to communicate that to IRCC rather than simply missing it.
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