Photo by Daria Trofimova on Unsplash
The super visa is the only route that lets a parent or grandparent stay in Canada for years at a stretch without becoming a permanent resident. It is also the visitor application with the most moving parts, and two of them sit with somebody else: your child or grandchild in Canada has to write the invitation and prove their income.
Files usually come apart on the insurance policy or the host's income evidence, not on the relationship. Both are technical requirements with wording IRCC enforces, so read the wording rather than a summary.
What the super visa is
It is a visitor visa with an unusual shape. IRCC describes it as a visa that "provides multiple entries for a period of up to 10 years" and lets you visit "5 years at a time". A standard visitor visa normally gets you up to six months per entry. That difference is the whole point of the programme.
It remains temporary status, and it gives no access to provincial or territorial health coverage, which is why the insurance requirement exists. One structural limit also catches families: IRCC states that "You can't include dependants in this application." Each parent or grandparent applies for themselves.
Who can apply, and who counts as a host
You must be the parent or grandparent of the person hosting you, and IRCC requires you to be "outside Canada when you submit your application". You cannot become a super visa holder from inside the country.
The host side is narrower than people expect. IRCC requires the host to be your "biological or adopted child or grandchild", at least 18, living in Canada, a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident or a person registered in Canada under the Canadian Indian Act, and to meet or exceed the minimum necessary income.
- A son-in-law or daughter-in-law is not your child for this purpose. The invitation must come from your own child or grandchild.
- Someone in Canada on a work permit or a study permit cannot host. Status matters, not presence.
- A niece, nephew, sibling or cousin cannot host a super visa, however close the family is.
- The host writes and signs a letter of invitation, which IRCC treats as a required document.
The income test sits on your host, not on you
This requirement decides whether the application is possible at all, and it is measured against a published threshold. It moves with family size, and family size is counted in a way that surprises hosts. IRCC says to include you and any other super visa applicants the host will support, the host child or grandchild, their spouse or common-law partner, dependent children of the host and of their spouse, previously approved super visa applicants, and previously sponsored individuals whose undertaking is still in effect.
So a host with a spouse and two children who invites both parents is already counting six people. If they sponsored a sibling four years ago and that undertaking is still running, add another.
| Family size | Minimum income the host must show (Canadian dollars) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 30,526 |
| 2 | 38,002 |
| 3 | 46,720 |
| 4 | 56,724 |
| 5 | 64,336 |
| 6 | 72,560 |
| 7 | 80,784 |
| Each additional member beyond 7 | Add 8,224 |
There are two ways to meet it.
- The host shows that their total income, including a co-signer's where there is one, "meets or exceeds the minimum required amount in either of the 2 tax years before the application is submitted". Either year will do, which helps a host who had one weak year.
- The host shows that their total income "in the year before the application is submitted was at least 75% of the minimum required amount", and the applicant's own income is added to cover the remainder. IRCC says the combined amount must meet or exceed the minimum necessary income requirement.
The second route only opens once the host is at three quarters of the threshold on their own. It is not a way to build the requirement out of a parent's pension. But where a host falls a little short, a parent with documented income can close the gap.
On evidence, IRCC accepts a Canada Revenue Agency notice of assessment, T4 or T1 forms, twelve months of pay stubs, an employer letter setting out position and salary, bank statements, pension statements and rental property documentation. Assessed income from the tax authority is the strongest single document a host can file.
The medical insurance requirement, word for word
This is where applications fail on a technicality. IRCC requires medical insurance meeting all of the following.
- It must provide, in IRCC's words, "a minimum emergency coverage" of 100,000 Canadian dollars.
- It must "cover the applicant's health care, hospitalization and repatriation".
- It must "be valid for a minimum of 1 year from the date of entry".
- It must "be paid in full or in instalments with a deposit (quotes aren't accepted)".
- It must come from a Canadian insurance company, or from a foreign company authorised by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions under the Insurance Companies Act, on that regulator's list, and issued while the company was doing insurance business in Canada.
- It must "be available for review by the border services officers on request".
Keep the proof with your travel documents. IRCC tells super visa holders to "be prepared to show your proof of paid health insurance to a border services officer when you enter Canada."
The immigration medical exam
Every super visa applicant must take an immigration medical exam, performed by a panel physician approved by IRCC. Your own doctor cannot do it, and a private medical report will not substitute. It is a requirement of the programme itself, not something triggered by your country of residence, so build it into the sequence early.
How long you can actually stay
IRCC describes what happens at the port of entry: "If you pass the identity check and meet the entry requirements, the border services officer will stamp your passport, allowing you to stay in Canada for 5 years."
Two things follow. The stamp is the authority, so read it before you leave the airport. And the officer is making a fresh decision, because holding a super visa is not the same as being admitted on it. Staying past the date you are given requires a separate application from inside Canada, before your status expires.
Super visa or parent and grandparent sponsorship
These are not two versions of the same thing. One is a long visit. The other is permanent residence.
| Super visa | Parent and grandparent sponsorship | |
|---|---|---|
| What it gives | Temporary status, multiple entries over up to 10 years, up to 5 years per visit | Permanent residence |
| Who is assessed on income | The host child or grandchild, against the minimum necessary income | The sponsor, for each of the 3 tax years before they apply |
| How you get in the queue | You apply | IRCC invites sponsors from those who submitted an interest to sponsor form |
| Health coverage | Private insurance you buy and maintain | Provincial or territorial coverage once a permanent resident, subject to provincial rules |
| Insurance requirement | Yes, with a published minimum | No |
The practical difference is control. You can apply for a super visa whenever you and your host are ready. You cannot apply to sponsor a parent at will, because IRCC controls intake through the interest to sponsor form and then invites people to apply. When we checked that page on 18 September 2026, IRCC stated it was not accepting applications and that new interest to sponsor forms would not be accepted until further notice.
You still have to satisfy the officer that you will leave
The income and the insurance are thresholds, and meeting them does not conclude the application. IRCC states that an officer will assess whether you are a "genuine visitor to Canada who will leave by choice at the end of your visit", along with your ties to your home country and your family's finances.
That test is not softened by the fact that your child lives here. Property, a pension paid where you live, a spouse staying behind, your own medical care: these still matter. A file that documents the host perfectly and says nothing about your own life is an incomplete answer.
- Can my son-in-law be my host?
- No. IRCC requires the host to be your biological or adopted child or grandchild. The spouse of your child cannot invite you as the host, although their income can count as a co-signer.
- My child's income is slightly below the threshold. Is that the end of it?
- Not necessarily. IRCC allows the host to qualify on either of the two tax years before the application is submitted. There is also a second route where the host's income in the year before was at least 75 percent of the minimum and your own income makes up the difference.
- Can I buy the insurance after my super visa is approved?
- Proof of the policy is part of the application, and IRCC does not accept quotes. It must be paid in full, or in instalments with a deposit. Be ready to show that proof to a border services officer on arrival.
- Does the super visa let me stay 10 years straight?
- No. The visa can allow multiple entries over up to 10 years, but each visit is up to 5 years. The date you must leave by is the one recorded when you enter.
- Can I work in Canada on a super visa?
- No. A super visa holder is a visitor. Working without authorisation puts your status and any future application at risk.
- Will applying for a super visa hurt a future sponsorship application?
- The two programmes are assessed separately, and the super visa is the route IRCC itself points parents and grandparents towards. What matters in the visitor application is that you can satisfy an officer you will leave at the end of your authorised stay.
If the income calculation, the family size count or the insurance wording is where you are stuck, that is the part worth getting checked before you file. Book a consultation
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