Super Visa

The super visa is a visitor visa for one specific relationship: the parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents. It exists because an ordinary visitor visa is a poor fit for a parent coming to stay with family — that one is written around short trips, and this one is not.

How it differs from an ordinary visitor visa

Two differences matter, and they are the reason to apply for this rather than a visitor visa.

Length of stay. A visitor is normally admitted for six months at a time. A super visa holder can be admitted for up to five years in one go, and can apply from inside Canada to extend by a further two.

Length of validity. It is issued as a multiple-entry visa valid for up to ten years, or until the passport expires. Within that, they can come and go.

The trade for that is a heavier application: medical insurance, a medical examination, and proof that the family in Canada can support the visit.

It is still a visit

This is the point most often misread. A super visa is not permanent residence, it is not a step towards it, and it gives no right to work. The holder remains a visitor — a long-staying one, with a visa that keeps being usable. Families hoping for something more settled are usually looking at the Parents and Grandparents sponsorship programme, which is a different application, opens only in limited intakes, and takes years rather than months.

Dependants cannot be included either. A super visa covers the parent or grandparent, and a spouse who is also a parent or grandparent of the same person in Canada may be included — but children under 22 travelling with them need their own visitor visas.

Who has to do the work

The parent or grandparent is the applicant, but a good deal of the file comes from the child or grandchild in Canada: the invitation, the income evidence, and the commitment to support them financially for the visit. If you are the one in Canada reading this, most of what follows is about documents you will be gathering, not your parent.

How long it takes

Processing times vary by the country the application is made from, and they are not the same as the ordinary visitor visa times — a country that is quick for one can be slow for the other. The lookup further down this page gives IRCC's current figure for the super visa specifically, updated daily from the department's published data.

Where Skylam comes in

Super visa applications are usually refused for one of two reasons: the income evidence did not clearly meet the threshold, or the insurance policy did not meet the conditions. Both are avoidable, and both are easier to get right before filing than to argue about afterwards. The income threshold in particular is set annually and depends on family size counted a specific way — including the visiting parents — which is where families most often come up short without realising it.