A discharge letter from Madrid lists paracetamol 1 g cada 8 horas. In Canada the same drug is sold as acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, and a patient who does not know that can end up taking both. A medical translation that writes "paracetamol [acetaminophen]" is accurate and safe. One that writes "paracetamol" alone is accurate and still leaves the risk in place.
That is what sets medical records apart. The reader is often a clinician or a medical officer making a decision, and the formal rules depend entirely on who that reader is: a panel physician, an IRCC officer, a tribunal, a court, an insurer or your new family doctor.
This guide covers each of them, what a medical translation must show and how to avoid translating more than you need.
Do I need a certified translation of medical records in Canada?
Sometimes, and the recipient decides:
| Who reads the records | Translation rule | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| IRCC panel physician (medical exam) | The physician must submit specialist reports in English or French and have other-language reports translated | Bring existing reports; ask the clinic how it handles them |
| IRCC directly (fairness letter, mitigation plan, humanitarian case) | Translation plus the translator's affidavit, unless the translator is certified | Fairness letters give 90 days to respond |
| Refugee Protection Division | English or French translation plus a declaration signed by the translator | Documents due 10 days before the hearing |
| Ontario courts | Translation "certified by affidavit of the translator" | Courts of Justice Act, s. 125(2)(b) |
| OHIP out-of-country claims | A detailed statement "in English or French" | Insurers set their own claim rules |
| Your new doctor | No certification rule | Clinical accuracy is what matters |
What happens with medical records at the IRCC medical exam?
You take the immigration medical exam (IME) with a panel physician, a doctor IRCC has approved for the purpose. IRCC tells you to bring "any medical reports or test results that you have for any previous or existing medical conditions" and "a list of your current medications." Results are "valid for 12 months", and you "may be referred to a specialist for more testing."
The language duty sits with the physician. IRCC's Panel Member Guide tells panel physicians: "When you submit reports from specialists as part of an IME, you must do so in one of Canada's official languages," and "If a specialist submits a report in another language, you must have it translated." It also requires that "All existing lab results and/or any specialist reports from previous specialist consultations must be attached to the IME." If IRCC's regional medical officer (RMO) later asks for more, "The applicant's previous medical records may be provided along with the additional reports requested by the RMO."
What if IRCC raises a medical concern?
IRCC can find a person medically inadmissible on three grounds: "Danger to public health", "Danger to public safety" and "Excessive demand on health or social services." For 2026, the excessive demand cost threshold is "$144,390 over 5 years (or $28,878 per year)." The excessive demand rules do not apply to refugees and their dependants, protected persons, and "certain people being sponsored by their family, such as dependant children, spouses and common-law partners."
Before refusing, IRCC sends a procedural fairness letter, and "All additional information must be sent within 90 days from the date of the letter." You can send evidence about your diagnosis, treatment, medication and services needs and their cost, and IRCC may invite a mitigation plan, signed on its Declaration of Ability and Willingness form, showing how services will be provided and paid for.
This is where translations get urgent. Foreign specialist reports, test results, prescriptions and cost evidence that you send IRCC directly follow its general rule: a complete English or French translation and, if the translator is not certified, the translator's sworn affidavit. A file returned for a missing affidavit is a poor use of a 90-day window. See our guide to IRCC translation requirements.
What must a medical translation show?
Everything on the page, in clinical English or French that a Canadian doctor or medical officer can act on:
- Patient identifiers: name as in the passport, date of birth, record or case number.
- Facility and clinicians: hospital, department, doctors' names, titles and licence numbers as printed.
- Every date: admission, discharge, tests, procedures.
- Diagnoses as written, with any ICD codes exactly as printed.
- Medications: the name as printed with the international non-proprietary name or Canadian name in brackets where they differ, plus dose, unit, route and frequency.
- Lab results: each value with its unit, reference range and any high or low flag.
- Imaging and pathology conclusions in full, not summarized.
- Abbreviations expanded, so ОАК becomes "complete blood count" and УЗИ "ultrasound".
- Stamps, signatures and handwriting, with unreadable words marked [illegible], never guessed.
Units are never converted. Canadian labs report glucose in mmol/L, while records from countries that use mg/dL keep mg/dL; the doctor converts, not the translator. Decimal commas need care: 7,8 is seven point eight, not seventy-eight.
What do refugee hearings, courts and insurers require?
Refugee claims. Medical and psychological reports are common evidence before the Immigration and Refugee Board. Rule 32 of the Refugee Protection Division Rules requires documents in another language to come "together with an English or French translation and a declaration signed by the translator", and the declaration must include the "translator's name, the language and dialect, if any, translated and a statement that the translation is accurate." Documents must reach the Division and the other party no later than "10 days before the date fixed for the hearing", or five days before when responding to another document. More in refugee claims and IRB translation.
Courts. In Ontario, documents filed in court "shall be in the English language or shall be accompanied by a translation of the document into the English language certified by affidavit of the translator." Foreign records in personal injury, disability and family cases follow that rule. See certified translations for Canadian courts.
OHIP and insurers. For an out-of-country claim, OHIP asks you to "Attach a detailed statement in English or French" with admission and discharge dates, services, tests, treatments, diagnosis and itemized fees. Private insurers set their own claim rules. See insurance claims with foreign medical records.
Bringing your medical history to a new doctor
No rule requires a certified translation for your own care, so translate what a clinician will use, not the whole archive:
- Discharge summaries and specialist letters from the last few years.
- Your current medication list, with doses.
- Recent lab and imaging reports, especially for chronic conditions.
- Allergies, surgeries and operative reports.
- Immunization records, which schools and public health may also ask for (see vaccination records).
A ten-page selection your doctor reads is worth more than two hundred pages nobody opens. More in health cards and continuing care.
Why medical translations go wrong
- Brand names left unexplained, so a patient doubles up on the same drug.
- Units converted or dropped, or a decimal comma read as a thousands separator.
- Abbreviations left in the original script, meaningless to a Canadian reader.
- Handwriting guessed instead of marked illegible.
- A summary where a full translation was needed, for IRCC, a court or the Board.
- No affidavit or declaration for IRCC, an Ontario court or the Refugee Protection Division.
- Ordered too late for a 90-day fairness letter or the Board's 10-day deadline.
Checklist: before you order a medical translation
Questions people ask
Do I need to translate my medical records for the IRCC medical exam?
Not necessarily. Bring your existing reports and test results, and the panel physician attaches them to the exam; IRCC's guide for panel physicians requires specialist reports in English or French and tells physicians to have other-language reports translated. Ask the clinic how it handles foreign records before you order a translation.
Do medical records sent to IRCC need a certified translation?
Yes, when you send them yourself, for example in reply to a procedural fairness letter or in a humanitarian application. IRCC needs a complete English or French translation and, unless the translator is a certified member of a translators' association, the translator's sworn affidavit.
Does my new family doctor need a certified translation?
No rule requires one for your own care. What matters is clinical accuracy: drug names, doses, units and diagnoses exactly as written. A professional translation of the key documents is far more useful than an informal summary.
How are drug names and units handled in a medical translation?
The drug name stays as printed, with the international or Canadian name in brackets where it differs, such as paracetamol [acetaminophen]. Units and values are never converted; a result in mg/dL stays in mg/dL, and the Canadian clinician converts.
What translation does the Refugee Protection Division need for a medical report?
An English or French translation with a declaration signed by the translator, giving the translator's name, the language and any dialect, and a statement that the translation is accurate. Documents must reach the Division no later than 10 days before the hearing.
Do Ontario courts accept translated medical records?
Yes, when the translation is certified by the translator's affidavit, as section 125(2)(b) of the Courts of Justice Act requires for documents filed in court that are not in English, subject to the rules on French. The affidavit is sworn before a notary public or commissioner of oaths.
Do I need to translate my whole medical file?
Rarely. IRCC and the courts need complete translations of the documents you submit, but you choose which documents to submit. For a new doctor, start with discharge summaries, specialist letters, recent results and your medication list.
How much does a medical records translation cost and how long does it take?
Official Translations charges CA$39.95 per page, a page being up to 300 words, plus CA$24.95 per document when IRCC or a court needs the sworn affidavit. A one-page report is usually delivered as a signed PDF within 24 hours, and longer records take one to three business days.
