Super visa for parents and grandparents

Conditions you must meet

• HOST: must be your biological or adopted child or grandchildThe first of five conditions that bind the host, not the applicant. No document the applicant supplies can substitute for a host who does not qualify.
• HOST: Canadian citizen, permanent resident or registered Indian, at least 18, living in Canada
• HOST: meets or exceeds the minimum necessary incomeThe figure depends on family size and is published on IRCC's proof-of-financial-support page — see the income entries below.
• You must be outside Canada when you apply, and the visa is printed abroad
• Private health insurance valid at least 1 year from the date of entryFrom a Canadian insurer, or a foreign one approved by the Minister — see the policy conditions entry for what that approval means in practice.
• Take an immigration medical exam
• You must satisfy IRCC that you are a genuine visitor who will leave by choiceNot a document but a judgement, and IRCC names what it weighs: ties to the home country, purpose of visit, family and finances. Worth stating because an application can be complete and still fail here.
• The policy must cover health care, hospitalisation and repatriation, with at least $100,000 emergency coverCAD 100,000 minimum emergency coverIRCC states a quote is not accepted — the policy must be paid in full or on instalments with a deposit — and it must be valid for EACH entry, not once. A foreign insurer's policy must carry a statement that it was issued while the company was doing insurance business in Canada.
• A non-Canadian insurer must be OSFI-authorised and on OSFI's public listIRCC adds the trap explicitly: OSFI keeps no list of foreign insurers unless they are registered as Canadian branches or subsidiaries, and brokers and claims administrators are not insurers and will not appear.
• Family size counts previously approved super visa holders and previously sponsored peopleTHE COUNTER-INTUITIVE PART OF THE INCOME TEST. The count includes people who are not in Canada and may never have been — anyone on a still-applicable invitation, and anyone the host or co-signer sponsored whose undertaking is still in effect. IRCC gives four worked examples for exactly this reason.
• Dependent children count regardless of custody or child-support arrangements
• Minimum necessary income by family size, from CAD 30,526 for one to CAD 80,784 for sevenCAD 30,526 family of 1 · CAD 38,002 family of 2 · CAD 46,720 family of 3 · CAD 56,724 family of 4 · CAD 64,336 family of 5 · CAD 72,560 family of 6 · CAD 80,784 family of 7 · CAD 8,224 each additional memberEach additional member beyond seven adds CAD 8,224. IRCC stamps the table 'updated july 29, 2025' — the date the figures took effect, stored as in_force_since rather than read as the page's age.

Documents you must provide

• HOST: writes and signs a letter of invitationA spouse or common-law partner who is a citizen, PR or registered Indian may co-sign. IRCC excludes other relatives by name — a sibling cannot.
• Proof of a medical exam with an approved panel physician
• Proof of the host's status: citizenship, PR document, or status cardAnd of the host's spouse or common-law partner where one is involved.
• Proof you are the host's parent or grandparentIRCC accepts the HOST's birth or baptismal certificate — the document names the applicant as parent, which is the reverse of what most applicants expect to be asked for.
• The invitation letter must state the family-size list, with each person's name and date of birthNot a free-form letter: it must show the same family-size count used to derive the income floor, person by person.
• Option 1: host meets the full amount in either of the two tax years before applyingTwo tax years, not one — a host whose income dipped last year may still qualify on the year before.

Also stated by the authority

Not requirements in themselves. These are alternatives, exemptions, rights and warnings the authority publishes alongside the requirements — quoted here because they can change what applies to you.

• Visa-exempt applicants still get a super visa — and still need an eTA to flyTwo facts that are easy to miss together: the route is open to visa-exempt nationals, and the eTA is a SEPARATE application linked to the passport used for it.
• A pending sponsorship application does not block a super visaRecorded because families in the parent-and-grandparent sponsorship queue routinely assume they must choose. IRCC says they may do both.
• Five years per entry, since 22 June 2023 — with or without a passport stampAn outcome, and the reason this route exists. IRCC adds the detail that matters at the border: the five years apply even if the officer does not stamp the passport.
• Only the host's spouse or common-law partner may co-sign — not a sibling
• Your local visa office may require additional documentsIRCC serves those requirements from a per-country picker covering ~200 territories. The obligation to check is recorded; no country's list is quoted, because there is no general statement to quote.
• Option 2: host reaches 75% of the amount and the applicant's own income covers the restThe applicant's income can count — and if it does, IRCC requires proof it will CONTINUE while they are in Canada, stated in the currency it is paid in.
• If your income is counted, prove it continues while you are in Canada