If you want your parents or grandparents to be able to visit you in Canada for more than six months at a time then a Super Visa Canada might be what you need.
In this article I’ll explain exactly what the parent and grandparent Super Visa is, the requirements you and your family must meet to be approved and how to apply for one.
So let’s jump in…
What is a Super Visa Canada?
A Super Visa Canada allows parents or grandparents of Canadian citizens or permanent residents to stay in Canada for more than the standard six months per trip. The visa is also known as a parent and grandparent visa Canada.
The Super Visa for Canada allows parents or grandparents to stay in Canada for up to five years at a time.
But a Super Visa is valid for 10 years, so the parent or grandparent can visit at many times as they want within those 10 years as long as each trip is less than five years. That means that a Super Visa is a multi-entry visa.
But, people who already have a Super Visa and are in Canada are able to request to extend their stay by up to two years. So in effect you’ll be able to stay for up to seven years at a time. More on this later in the article.
If the visit to Canada is less than six months at a time then you don’t need a Super Visa. All you would need is a standard visitor visa or Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) if you’re from a visa-exempt country. You can check out which one you’ll need here.
Just to reiterate – a Super Visa for Canada is only available to parents or grandparents of Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
Super Visa Canada requirements
Eligibility for Super Visa Canada
There are some basic eligibility criteria that you need to meet to qualify for a Super Visa Canada. The parent and grandparent Super Visa requirements are:
- You have to be the parent or grandparent of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
- Your child or grandchild is inviting you to come to Canada.
- Your child or grandchild meets a minimum income threshold.
- You must buy medical insurance from a Canadian insurance company or designated foreign provider valid for at least one year.
- You have to undergo an immigration medical exam. You can either get this done upfront before you apply or after you apply. Get more details on the process for medical exams here.
You have to apply for a Super Visa from outside Canada and you must be allowed to enter Canada (get more details here).
Super Visa income requirements 2024
There is a minimum income that your child or grandchild must meet for the Super Visa to be approved. This is called the low income cut-off (LICO) threshold.
Your child or grandchild’s spouse or common-law partner’s income can also be included to meet the Super Visa income requirement; not just the income of your child or grandchild.
The minimum income required is a factor of how many people are in the family unit of your child or grandchild.
To calculate the family size, include all the people listed below:
- The host (i.e. the child or grandchild)
- Host’s spouse or common-law partner
- Host’s dependent children
- Anyone the host may have previously sponsored for which the sponsorship agreement is still in effect
- The parent or grandparent applying for the Super Visa
- The spouse or common-law partner of the parent or grandparent if they have one
Once you’ve added together the above to get the family size, use the table below to find the Super Visa income requirements for 2024. The table is as of January 2024. You can check the most recent version here.
| Size of Family Unit | Minimum necessary gross income (CAD) |
|---|---|
| 1 person (your child or grandchild) | $27,514 |
| 2 people | $34,254 |
| 3 people | $42,100 |
| 4 people | $51,128 |
| 5 people | $57,988 |
| 6 people | $65,400 |
| 7 people | $72,814 |
| More than 7 people, for each additional person, add | $7,412 |
Medical insurance requirements for Super Visa
As mentioned in requirement 4 above, you must have medical insurance to cover your trip to Canada that’s valid for at least a year. You will need to have bought this BEFORE you apply for the Super Visa. i.e. a valid policy document is one piece of evidence you will need to submit for with your application.
This insurance is referred to as Super Visa insurance and there’s a whole market that caters towards it. You can read the full requirements for the Super Visa insurance including how much it will cost and how to go about getting it here.
But if you’re just looking for a good place to get your Super Visa insurance from then I’d recommend a price comparison website which will search across a whole range of providers to find the best deal for your circumstances. The one I like is BestQuote – it’s most often had the best deals when I’ve been looking. You can check them out here. *
Other requirements
Along with the concrete requirements outlined above, Immigration, Refuges and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will also consider your application to ensure that you’re a genuine visitor and will leave Canada at the end of your visit.
IRCC don’t publish the exact things the will assess you on but the sort of things they’ll consider here are your ties to your home country, family and finances and overall stability of your home country.
What supporting documents you need for Super Visa
As evidence for the above Super Visa requirements, you’ll need to submit some supporting documents.
The supporting document you will need for a parent and grandparent Super Visa include:
- Document to show you being the parent or grandparent of the Canadian citizen or permanent resident such as birth certificate, baptismal certificate or other documents naming you as the parent or grandparent.
- A signed letter from your child or grandchild inviting you to come to Canada.
If your child or grandchild’s spouse or common-law partner’s income is needed to meet the low income cut-off (LICO) threshold then then an invitation letter is also needed from them.
The letter has to include:- A promise of financial support for the full length of your visit
- A list showing your child or grandchild’s family composition (dependents including spouse, children or other relatives that are financially dependent)
- A copy of your child or grandchild’s Canadian citizenship or permanent resident document. You can get more information about how to write the letter here.
- One of the following documents to prove that your child or grandchild meets the Super Visa income requirement as outlined above. If you need to include the income of your child or grandchild’s spouse or common-law partner to meet the minimum threshold you will need to include one of these documents for them too.
- Most recent copy of their federal income tax Notice of Assessment (NOA). They can access this at the Canada Revenue Agency’s online service here.
- Most recent copy of their T4 or T1 documents.
- A letter from their employer stating job title, job description, date of hiring and salary.
- Their employment insurance pay stubs
- A letter from an accountant confirming annual income if they are self-employed.
- Proof of other sources of income such as pension statement or investments.
- Proof that you have medical insurance in place for one year from your date of arrival in Canada and for coverage of at least $100,000. Get the full details on this here.
- If you took the medical exam upfront then you must include a copy of the IMM 1017B Upfront Medical Report in your online application. If you took it after you submitted your application you don’t need to do anything more – the results will be sent through to IRCC. Get more details on the process for medical exams here.
* The numbers in this list correspond to the numbered eligibility requirements listed in the section above.
The exact documents you will need will vary depending on your situation but in general the above is the minimum supporting evidence you will need.
There will likely be other documents you require as supporting evidence.
For example you may need to submit biometric data (fingerprints) if you’re not from a visa-exempt country. The application process (see section below) will confirm if you need to submit biometric or not.
The supporting documents should be in French or English. If they are not then you’ll need to have the documents translated before you submit them. There’s details of what’s accepted as an official translation at the link below.
You should review the IRCC instruction guide for more information on all the documentation you might need.
How to apply for a Super Visa
You can either apply online or on paper for a parent and grandparent Super Visa. Online is the easiest and quickest way.
You need to start pulling together the core supporting documentation you’ll need as outlined in the section above.
If you’re applying online you’ll need a scanner or camera to convert any hard copy documents to electronic.
On top of the supporting documentation there are number of forms you’ll need to fill out for the application. These will be explained online when you start the application process.
You need to create an account and start the application here.
Cost of Super Visa Canada
The Super Visa Canada application fee is $100 (Canadian dollars) per person.
On top of this you might have to give biometrics in which case this will cost $85 per person; $170 for a family of two or more people.
You may also have to pay the fee for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) which is $7 per person. See the section below for more details.
The biggest cost you will likely face with getting a Super Visa however is the cost of your Super Visa medical insurance. Costs for this vary greatly but at a minimum you’re looking at $800 for one person in their mid-40s.
You can check out all the details on Super Visa insurance including what to look for in the cheapest policies here.
Do you need an eTA as well as a Super Visa?
If you are from a visa-exempt country and you plan on entering Canada by air, you will need to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) after your Super Visa application is approved. IRCC will provide you with a letter confirming your Super Visa approval for you to show the border agent when you arrive in Canada.
The eTA will be linked to your passport so you need to travel with the passport you used to apply for your eTA and the letter of approval.
You can check out if you’re from a visa exempt country here.
What is the difference between a Super Visa and a regular visitor visa?
The key difference between a parent and grandparent Super Visa and a visitor visa is how long you can remain in Canada for per trip.
On a visitor visa the maximum amount of time you can spend in Canada per trip is six months. With a Super Visa you can stay for up to five years per trip.
The same difference applies if you are from a visa exempt country and only need an eTA to enter Canada – i.e. you can only stay for up to six months per trip.
Both the Super Visa and visitor visa are multi-entry visas valid for 10 years. So that means you can visit Canada as many times as you want within those 10 years.
What is the difference between a Super Visa and parent/grandparent sponsorship?
A parent and grandparent Super Visa is a visitor visa which means the parent or grandparent will not be able to stay in Canada indefinitely. They will not be a Permanent Resident or have any other automatic right to enter the country.
Parent and grandparent sponsorship is the process by which Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents can apply for Permanent Residency for their relatives. This means that the relative would be able to remain in Canada indefinitely and enjoy all the benefits of any other Permanent Resident (such as getting a job and being covered by provincial healthcare).
This sponsorship program does not only apply to parents or grandparents; it also applies to dependent children, spouses and certain other relatives.
You can find out more about family sponsorship here.
Extending a Super Visa
If you want to extend your stay in Canada on a Super Visa then you need to apply for a visitor record. It is this that will allow you to stay longer than the expiry date on your current status.
The cost to apply to extend your stay is $100 per person.
You must apply at least 30 days before your current status expires.
You can learn more about the process and how to apply here.
Changes to Super Visa
Canada made the following changes, which came into effect on July 4th, 2022, to the parents and grandparents Super Visa:
- The length of stay in Canada increased to a maximum of 5 years per trip. Up from the previous 2 year maximum.
- Applicants are able to buy Super Visa insurance from designated non-Canadian insurance companies rather than only from Canadian insurers.
- People with a Super Visa are able to request to extend their stay for up to two years while in Canada already.
If you applied for the Super Visa before July 4th, 2022 you will still be able to stay for the 5 years per trip if either:
- your application was approved before July 4th, 2022 but you enter Canada after July 4th, 2022, or
- your application was approved after July 4th, 2022.
Being able to extend your Super Visa for another two years while already in Canada effectively means that each trip to Canada could be up to 7 years.
And while the changes allow designated non-Canadian insurers to be used for medical insurance, currently there are no designated medical insurers located outside Canada that can be used for medical insurance.
IRCC have said designated non-Canadian insurers will be communicated “at a later date” on their website. It will be the Minister of Immigration who will designate international medical insurance companies that can be used.
* All of the products and services I recommend on Canada for Newbies are independently selected based upon what I’ve personally found to be useful. If you buy insurance through BestQuote using one of the links in this article, I might earn a small affiliate commission. It won’t cost you anything at all and I would never recommend something I don’t believe in or use myself.
And that’s it – I hope you found the information in the article useful. Please let me know if there’s anything I’ve not covered that you need information on in the comments below.
I think the super visa is a really helpful way to make sure you can spend time with your family members. What’s you experience of it been? I’d love to hear – please drop me a comment below.
Hi
Is there a time limit that you need to be outside of Canada after staying for the initial first two year period, before you are allowed re-entry?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Al, the super visa allows you to enter as many times as you want within the 10 years (as long as you meet the requirements) and there’s no set minimum period you need to be outside the country between each trip. Thanks for the comment! 🙂
Hi Andrew
Thanks for your reply. So technically you can do two years, Cross the border for a day and go back in and do a further two years, five times lol? Or would that be at the border control discretion if they felt that was taking advantage of the system?
Like you say that would be totally down to the CBSA agent you get at the border. You could be fine or they could only authorise re-entry for a short amount of time for example. If it were me and I was just looking for a way to extend my parents’ stay, I’d go through the proper process of applying to extend as per the link above.
Definitely!
Do we need to show any funds from Parents end? If I am sponsoring my parents and have sufficient funds and income to support their visit and stay, Do I need to show any financial statements from parents end? You mentioned other supporting documentation could be required (Any specific examples other than what you listed above). I have all of the docs you mentioned above, just trying to understand if anything else is required.
Hi there. There’s no blanket requirement to evidence funds from you parents end, only from the sponsor (i.e. you). If you have all the docs mentioned then you’re good to start the application – just follow what your application asks for. Each application is different and the exact documents can vary depending on your specifics like the visa office you’re applying to so just provide whatever documentation it asks for.
Should we have certain funds in our Savings account while applying? If i don’t have any money currently in my savings account but i provide bank statements and T4 showing i get steady salary that exceeds the minimum required gross income yearly, can i still apply?
Hello there. Yes you can still apply. The evidence that you need for the income requirement is one of the documents listed in point 3 in the “What supporting documents you need for super visa” section above. You can also check out the IRCC instructions guide using the link at the bottom of that section for more details.
Hi there! Thank you for the article, it’s very informative. Is there a set timeline by which one needs to make first entry into Canada after the supervisa is issued?
Thank you!
You’re welcome – glad you found it useful! No – there’s no fixed timeline for the first entry.
Greetings from Pennsylvania,
Medical insurance-wise for US grandparents – we have Medicare coverage here in the US. Does that qualify for the insurance required by the super visa? Or does it need to be specifically issued by a Canadian insurance provider?
Hi Bill,
It needs to be insurance from a Canadian insurer that covers medical expenses in Canada. So Medicare wouldn’t be acceptable.
Hi Andrew! I plan to settle down with my Canada PR daughter in August 2023. When is a good time to start applying for my supervisa? And when do I actually buy the insurance, before I apply for the supervisa or before I take my flight inti Canada? Thanks Andrew!
Hi Rachel,
You need to have the super visa insurance purchased before you apply for your super visa – you will need to include evidence of the purchased policy as part of the application.
Hope this helps and good luck!