Your Health Declaration: Turn This Into Your Visa Win

Look, I have seen applications fall apart over a single checkbox. One wrong answer on your health declaration, and suddenly you are facing refusal, delays, or costs you never saw coming.

The health requirement is not just another form to rush through. For most visa subclasses, it determines whether your application lives or dies.

What the Health Requirement Actually Does

Australia requires most visa applicants to satisfy the Health Requirement under Public Interest Criteria 4005 or 4007. This is not bureaucratic box-ticking. It serves two specific purposes.

First, it protects the community from serious communicable diseases. Tuberculosis is the only condition explicitly prescribed in migration law that automatically prevents visa grant if active. That is how seriously this is taken.

Second, it controls public expenditure. The government will not grant visas that result in substantial healthcare costs or prejudice access to services already stretched thin for Australian citizens and permanent residents.

Your Declaration Triggers Everything That Follows

The answers you provide in your health declaration directly determine which Immigration Medical Examinations you must complete. Get this wrong, and you are either over-examined (wasting time and money) or under-examined (triggering delays or adverse findings later).

Your required examinations depend on:

• Intended stay period: temporary stays under 6 months, 6 months or more, or permanent/provisional visas each have different requirements

• TB risk level: based on your citizenship, residence, or countries where you spent three or more consecutive months in the last five years

• Declared conditions: answering yes to any existing condition question automatically triggers at least a medical examination and serum creatinine/eGFR test

• Special significance activities: healthcare workers, aged care staff, and disability workers face mandatory HIV, Hepatitis B/C, and latent TB screening regardless of other factors

If you are applying for a skilled work visa in a healthcare field, expect additional scrutiny. This is non-negotiable.

The $86,000 Threshold You Need to Know

Here is where applications get refused. As of 1 July 2024, if a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth assesses your condition as likely to cost more than $86,000, you fail the Health Requirement.

That threshold applies to the estimated cost of healthcare and community services for a hypothetical person with your condition. For permanent residency applicants under 75, the assessment period is five years. For temporary visas, it is the duration of your visa.

Exceed that figure? You receive a Does Not Meet outcome. Application refused.

Prejudice to Access

Even if your costs fall below $86,000, you can still fail. If your condition would likely prejudice access to services in short supply for Australians, that is also a Does Not Meet outcome.

Currently, this includes:

• Organ transplants (including haemopoietic stem cell transplants)

• Dialysis

What Happens If You Get It Wrong

The consequences extend beyond your current application.

If you fail to disclose a condition, or your circumstances change after visa grant, adverse health information gets recorded by the Department. This follows you.

Here is a scenario I have seen: health examinations are skipped because no declaration was made. Later, a family member is found to have TB. The Department cannot compel the granted visa holder to undergo examination, but they flag every future application.

Worse still, if the Department suspects false or misleading information about your medical status, you are looking at integrity concerns under PIC 4020. That means potential refusal, cancellation, and a three-year exclusion period for future applications.

If you are already facing issues with a previous application, our team handles visa refusals and appeals regularly.

What Should You Do

Do not treat the health declaration as a formality. Review your circumstances before you apply. Understand which examinations your situation triggers. Know whether any conditions you have could approach that $86,000 threshold.

The migration health criteria rely on complex medical assessments, procedural guidelines, and policy interpretations that change. Getting it right the first time saves you months of delays and thousands in reapplication costs.

If you are unsure where you stand, or you have been asked to undergo further examinations, book a consultation and we will work through exactly what your health declaration requires.