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  • Visas eligible for Medicare

    Medicare eligibility for visa holders

What Visas are eligible for Medicare?

Services Australia decides whether you are eligible for Medicare. You might be eligible for Medicare if you are living in Australia and you are:

  • an Australian citizen or a permanent visa holder (including returning residents)
  • a New Zealand citizen living in Australia
  • a holder of a regional provisional visa, the 491 visa or 494 visa
  • an applicant for a permanent visa (other than a parent visa) who holds a valid temporary visa, including a bridging visa, and who either has permission to work or has a parent, spouse or child who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand citizen living in Australia
  • an applicant for a permanent protection visa
  • a holder of certain temporary visas covered by a Ministerial Order (see the list below)
  • a temporary visa holder from a country that has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement with Australia

Reciprocal Health Care Agreement countries

Australia has Reciprocal Health Care Agreements with 11 countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden. If you are visiting from one of these countries you may get limited cover for medically necessary treatment. Some agreements require you to be a resident and a citizen of that country, and the cover does not usually meet the health insurance condition (8501) on most temporary visas.

What you should bring to Medicare

To help ensure a streamlined enrolment, you can enrol online through myGov or bring the following to a Services Australia service centre:

  • a completed Medicare enrolment application form
  • identity documents (such as a birth certificate or driver licence) for all applicants
  • travel documents (such as passports or an ImmiCard) for all applicants
  • evidence of your current visa status, for example:
    • a copy of your acknowledgement of application received for a permanent visa application, including the names of all the applicants
    • a visa grant notification that confirms the grant of a particular visa, including the names of all the applicants
    • a printout from VEVO of your current visa and its conditions

A person is entitled to a Medicare card if:

  1. they meet the definition of “Australian resident” in section 3 of the Health Insurance Act 1973, or
  2. they come within reciprocal health care arrangements.

People (excluding applicants for parent or contributory parent visas) will meet the definition of “Australian resident” if:

  1. they have applied in Australia for a permanent visa, and
  2. they hold a temporary visa (including a bridging visa), and
  3. (a) their spouse or de facto partner, parent or child is an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident, or (b) they have permission to work.

See Section 3 of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

If you’ve applied for permanent residency

You can enrol in Medicare if you live in Australia and have applied for either:

  • a permanent residency visa, except for a parent visa
  • a permanent protection visa.

You must also be any of the following:

  • on a visa allowing you to work
  • able to prove your parent, spouse or child is an Australian citizen
  • able to prove your parent, spouse or child is a permanent resident
  • able to prove your parent, spouse or child is a New Zealand citizen living in Australia.

This includes if you’ve applied for a combined partner visa 309/100 or 820/801.

You can enrol in Medicare from either:

  • the date you applied for permanent residency
  • the date you arrived here to live if you applied outside Australia.

The date you apply for permanent residency may be different to the date you got your temporary 309 or 820 visa.

If your permanent resident application fails

If you lodge an appeal, you can apply to stay enrolled in Medicare.

If you haven’t lodged an appeal, you’re not eligible for Medicare. You may have some cover under a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement.

If you’ve applied for a parent visa

You can’t enrol in Medicare if you’ve applied for an 804 or 103 parent visa. You may have some cover under a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement.

You can enrol if either:

You may be able to enrol if you have a temporary contributory parent visa.

If you’re a temporary resident covered by a Ministerial Order

You can enrol in Medicare if you have a valid temporary visa covered by one of these Ministerial Orders:

Related guides

Book a video consultation with our Registered Migration Agents to find out more about your visa options.