Resettlement from Outside Canada: Arriving — Health Care
If you are a protected person in Canada who is not yet covered by provincial health care and if you do not have financial resources to pay for your health services, you are eligible to apply to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP). This Citizenship and Immigration Canada program provides temporary health care coverage while your claim is being assessed.
If you are accepted to be resettled in Canada, you are eligible for the IFHP. The IFHP is not meant to replace provincial health plans or give the same amount of coverage. As a refugee, you are eligible for full benefits until coverage begins under your provincial health plan.
Depending on the location of your residence, the waiting period for provincial or territorial health care coverage can be as long as 90 days after you arrive. Once your provincial health coverage has started, you will still be eligible for some benefits under the IFH program—for up to 12 months from the time you arrived in Canada.
Contact your local CIC office to apply for IFHP coverage. You can find a list of CIC offices in the I Need To… section on the right-hand side of this page.
Refugees who are able to pay for their own health care services or who are covered by a private health care plan are not eligible for IFHP coverage.
Benefits
The services covered by the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) include:
- basic coverage (i.e. treatments normally covered by provincial or territorial health insurance plans),
- supplemental coverage (i.e. health-care benefits similar to those provided by provincial social assistance plans to social service recipients, such as drugs, dental and vision care),
- the costs related to the Immigration Medical Examination (IME) for protected persons in Canada, who have applied for permanent resident status and who cannot pay for it. When such persons are issued medical instructions for the IME, the CIC will also issue special IFHP coverage for a four (4) month period that will entitle them only to the IME.