6.2 Health Criteria (PIC 4005/4007) and Character (PIC 4001)

6.2 Health Criteria (PIC 4005/4007) and Character (PIC 4001)

Health and character are not free-standing labels. The agent must begin with the current Schedule 2 criteria for the visa subclass, identify which PIC applies, and list every applicant and non-applicant family member whom the subclass requires to be assessed. Only then can the effect of an adverse result be stated.

PIC 4005 and PIC 4007

Both criteria address three broad health issues:

1. tuberculosis and any threat to public health in Australia;
2. a disease or condition likely to require health care or community services whose provision would result in significant cost; and
3. a disease or condition likely to prejudice Australians’ access to health care or community services in short supply.

Regulation 2.25A governs obtaining a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth opinion. The migration decision-maker must use the legally required MOC assessment for the medical propositions; the agent cannot replace it with a treating doctor’s conclusion. Treating evidence remains important to correct diagnosis, prognosis, service assumptions, and factual errors through the health-review process.

The cost inquiry uses the hypothetical-person approach associated with cases including Robinson: it asks about a person with the same form and severity of condition, not whether this applicant promises to avoid public services or can pay privately. The current Home Affairs policy threshold for significant cost is AUD 86,000.

Assessment period

Apply the current policy period to the actual visa and applicant:

• for a temporary visa, the period of intended stay;
• for a permanent or provisional visa, ordinarily five years;
• for a permanent or provisional applicant aged 75 or older, ordinarily three years; and
• for an ongoing and reasonably predictable condition, the applicant’s remaining life expectancy, capped at ten years.

Do not describe every permanent condition as a lifetime calculation or carry an earlier threshold forward. Record the assessment date, visa type, age, period, service quantities, unit costs, and whether an access-prejudice finding is independent of the monetary estimate.

Waiver and family effects

PIC 4005 has no internal health-waiver provision. If the applicable subclass requires PIC 4005 and the criterion is not met, section 65 does not allow a general compassionate override. PIC 4007(2), by contrast, permits the Minister to waive the cost and access requirements if satisfied that granting the visa would be unlikely to result in undue cost or undue prejudice to access. It does not waive the tuberculosis requirement.

For an undue assessment, present particularised evidence about likely service use, prognosis, insurance and lawful private arrangements, employability, skills, tax contribution, family care, available supports, affected children, and other compassionate or community factors. A promise to pay is not conclusive, and a waiver is not automatic merely because the applicant is employed.

Family-unit effects must be read from the relevant subclass. Some criteria require migrating and non-migrating family members to satisfy the health requirement and can prevent grant to the application group; other subclasses are framed differently or contain special rules. Create a person-by-person table showing who must be examined, the applicable PIC, the MOC result, waiver availability, and the downstream effect.

PIC 4001 and section 501

PIC 4001 requires the applicant to satisfy the character test in section 501. A person fails the test on several statutory grounds, including a substantial criminal record, certain association or conduct findings, and specified future-risk grounds. Under section 501(7), a substantial criminal record includes death or life sentence, imprisonment for 12 months or more, or two or more terms whose total is 12 months or more. Concurrent terms are counted under section 501(7A) in the statutory manner.

Failure of the character test does not mean every person is automatically refused or cancelled under section 501(3A). Delegate refusal under section 501(1) and cancellation under section 501(2) involve statutory discretion. Different personal ministerial powers have their own procedures. Section 501(3A) is a specific mandatory-cancellation provision: it applies where a visa holder is serving a sentence of imprisonment on a full-time basis in a custodial institution and the specified substantial-criminal-record or sexually based child-offence condition is met. Section 501CA then provides the prescribed revocation-representation mechanism.

Direction No. 110 governs specified section 501 and revocation decisions made by delegates or the ART. The agent must confirm that the direction applies to the actual decision and address its current primary and other considerations. PIC 4001 assessment in a visa application, a delegate’s section 501 discretion, and mandatory cancellation followed by section 501CA are related but distinct legal tasks.

File method

For health, obtain the MOC assessment and costing, verify the diagnosis and assessment period, and separate medical correction from waiver evidence. For character, obtain complete police and court records, sentencing remarks, custody dates, rehabilitation evidence, risk material, family evidence, and the exact notice. Never advise from an offence label alone. Identify section, paragraph, decision-maker, natural-justice process, direction, deadline, reviewability, and present visa status before preparing submissions.