Visitor visa or super visa: which one should your parents apply for?
Every week a family asks the same question in a different form. Mum wants to come for the baby. Dad wants to spend the winter. Both parents want to see the grandchildren without booking a flight every five months. The two answers are the visitor visa and the super visa, and the choice between them is not about which is better. It is about how long the stay is, whether the child in Canada earns enough to host it, and whether the family is willing to pay for a year of medical insurance up front.
- Open to anyone with a genuine reason to visit
- No host income test, no insurance requirement
- Staying longer means a second application from inside Canada
- Extend from inside Canada, two years at a time
- Host must meet the minimum necessary income
- $100,000 medical insurance, paid before you apply
How long one stay can last
The super visa stay can be extended from inside Canada by up to two years at a time, so one entry can run to seven years. Both are issued to match the passport, for up to ten years; the difference is how long each visit lasts before the parent has to leave or apply to extend.
The short version
| Visitor visa (TRV) | Super visa | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Anyone visiting Canada: tourists, family, business visitors | Parents and grandparents of a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or registered Indian only |
| Stay per entry | Usually up to 6 months; the border officer sets the period | Up to 5 years at a time, extendable by up to 2 years from inside Canada |
| Visa validity | Matched to the passport: up to 10 years, or until the passport expires, whichever comes first; single or multiple entry at the officer’s discretion | Matched to the passport: multiple entry, up to 10 years or until the passport expires |
| Host requirement | None. An invitation letter helps but is optional | Child or grandchild, 18 or over, living in Canada, meeting the minimum necessary income, with a signed letter of invitation |
| Income test | None | Yes, by household size (chart below) |
| Medical insurance | Not required | Required: $100,000 emergency coverage, valid 1 year from entry, paid or deposited |
| Medical exam | Only in some cases, such as a stay over 6 months after living in a designated country | Always |
| Where to apply | Usually from outside Canada; a parent already here with valid temporary status can apply for a new visa without leaving | Outside Canada; a parent already here cannot switch to it |
| Extending from inside | Visitor record before the stay ends | Extension of up to 2 years at a time |
| Government fee | $100, plus $85 biometrics where required | $100, plus $85 biometrics where required |
| Visa-exempt parents | eTA instead of a visa, same 6-month rule | Still apply; approved as a letter with an eTA rather than a visa sticker |
Visitor visa
- Application fee
- $100
- Biometrics, where required
- $85
- Medical exam
- Only in some cases
- Medical insurance
- Optional
- Government fees, with biometrics
- $185
Super visa
- Application fee
- $100
- Biometrics, where required
- $85
- Medical exam, panel physician
- Fee varies
- One year of $100,000 insurance
- Priced by age and health
- Government fees, with biometrics
- $185
The visitor visa: a short stay, no strings
A temporary resident visa is the ordinary way to visit. It does not ask who you are related to, what your child earns or whether you carry insurance. The officer looks at the purpose of the trip, your ties to the country you live in, your funds for the stay and whether you are likely to leave when it ends. Most visitors are admitted for up to six months, though the officer at the port of entry can write a shorter date in the passport or, less often, issue a visitor record for longer.
The visa’s validity is matched to the passport: up to ten years, or until the passport expires, whichever comes first, so a parent with three years left on a passport gets a three-year visa. Whether it is single-entry or multiple-entry is the officer’s decision. A parent from a visa-exempt country does not need the visa at all: an electronic travel authorization covers flights to Canada, and the same six-month rule applies on arrival.
A ten-year visa is not a ten-year stay
One multiple-entry visitor visa over its ten-year life: each trip is a separate visit of up to six months, and one visit is shown extended with a visitor record.
A parent who wants to stay past six months applies for a visitor record from inside Canada before the current period ends. That is an extension of status, not a new visa, and it has to be filed while the status is still valid.
The super visa: five years at a time, with conditions
The super visa exists for one relationship. The applicant must be the parent or grandparent of a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or registered Indian, and that child or grandchild becomes the host. The host must be at least 18, live in Canada, meet a minimum income set by household size and sign a letter of invitation promising support. In return, each entry can last up to five years, the visa is multiple-entry for up to ten years, and a parent already in Canada on it can apply to extend by up to two years at a time.
The application is made from outside Canada, and the visa is issued by a visa office outside Canada. That single rule decides a lot of cases: a parent who arrived as a visitor and now wants to stay cannot convert to a super visa from inside the country.
- In CanadaThe host qualifies
Child or grandchild, 18 or over, living in Canada, above the income line for the household, and signs the letter of invitation.
- Outside CanadaThe parent buys the insurance and books the medical exam
A paid $100,000 policy from an insurer on OSFI’s list, valid a year from entry, and an exam with a panel physician.
- Outside CanadaThe application goes in
Filed from outside Canada with the invitation letter, proof of relationship, the host’s income proof and the insurance certificate. Biometrics where required.
- Outside CanadaThe visa is issued
Multiple entry, valid for up to ten years, or until the passport expires. Visa-exempt parents receive a letter and an eTA instead.
- In CanadaThe parent enters for up to five years
The officer at the border confirms the period. The insurance has to be valid on every entry during the ten years.
- In CanadaExtend from inside, up to two years at a time
Applied for before the current period ends, with insurance still in force. Leaving and re-entering starts a fresh stay.
The host’s income
The income is measured against the minimum necessary income for the size of the household. The table in force since 29 July 2025:
Minimum necessary income, by household size
Gross annual income of the host, before tax. Table in force since 29 July 2025.
Household size is where applications are refused. It counts the host, the host’s spouse or partner and dependent children, the parent applying and any other super visa applicant the host is supporting, anyone the host has previously brought on a super visa, and anyone the host has sponsored whose undertaking is still in effect.
A couple with two children hosting both parents is a household of six, not four. On the table above that moves the line from $56,724 to $72,560.
Income is shown with a Canada Revenue Agency notice of assessment from either of the two tax years before the application. If a notice is not available, IRCC accepts T4 and T1 forms, twelve months of pay stubs, an employment letter, bank statements, pension statements or proof of rental income. The parent applying can add their own income to the total, with proof it will continue while they are in Canada.
The insurance
The policy is the part families underestimate. Every line below has to be true on the day the application is filed, and again on each entry, which matters for a parent who leaves and returns during the ten years.
- At least $100,000 of emergency coveragePrivate medical insurance covering health care, hospitalization and repatriation.
- Valid for at least one year from the date of entryNot from the date of purchase, and not from the date the visa is issued.
- Paid in full, or by instalments with a depositThe certificate goes in the file. A quote is not accepted.
- From a Canadian insurer, or a foreign insurer on OSFI’s listSince 28 January 2025 a foreign company qualifies if it is authorized by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions to sell accident and sickness insurance in Canada.
- Not a home-country policy off the listHowever good the coverage, an insurer that is not on OSFI’s list of federally regulated institutions is refused.
The rest of the file
An invitation letter from the host that promises financial support for the visit, lists every person counted in the household with their names and dates of birth, and attaches proof of the host’s status in Canada. Proof of the relationship: the host’s birth certificate, or another official document naming the applicant as parent or grandparent. An immigration medical exam, always. Biometrics, where they apply. The full list is on the super visa checklist.
Which one, then
The cards below run through the situations we see most often.
Six months covers it, and there is no income test or insurance to arrange.
Six months is not enough, and a visitor record extension is a second application with no guarantee.
Multiple entries for up to ten years, with five-year stays; the visitor visa resets to six months each time.
The super visa is refused on income alone; the visitor visa has no income test.
A super visa cannot be applied for from inside Canada. Extend now; apply for the super visa later, from outside.
It bridges the wait and does not affect the later sponsorship.
The super visa’s medical exam and insurance pricing both turn on health; a shorter visitor stay may be the practical route.
Six mistakes that get parents refused
- Applying for the super visa from inside Canada.It is not available from within the country, and the file is refused without assessment of anything else.
- Sending an insurance quote.The policy has to be purchased: paid in full or a deposit with an instalment plan, with the certificate in the file.
- Counting the household wrong.Leaving out a sponsored relative under an undertaking, or a previously hosted parent, puts the host under the income line on paper.
- Using the wrong tax year.The notice of assessment has to be from one of the two tax years before the application date. An older year is not accepted, and a return that has not yet been assessed does not count.
- Treating a visitor visa as a year-long permit.The stay is what the officer grants at the border, usually six months, and staying past it without a visitor record is a status breach that follows the parent into every later application.
- Thin ties on the visitor visa.With no host income and no insurance to weigh, the visitor visa officer looks harder at the parent’s own reasons to go home: property, pension, other family, a return ticket. A file that reads as a plan to stay is refused.
What a consultant actually does with this
The choice is usually clear once three facts are on the table: how long the stay really needs to be, what the host’s notice of assessment says against the household count, and whether the parent’s health makes the insurance affordable. The work is in the file: an invitation letter that says exactly what IRCC asks for, an insurance certificate from an insurer that is on the list, income proof that matches the right year, and, for a visitor visa, a set of ties that an officer reading quickly will find convincing. That is where refusals are avoided, not in the choice of form.
If you are weighing the two for your own parents, each route is set out in full on its own page, and a licensed RCIC can read your host income and household count against the table before anything is filed.
Sources: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Super visa: who can apply; Super visa: forms and documents; Proof of financial support, table updated 29 July 2025; Change to the health insurance requirement, 28 January 2025; About the visitor visa. Checked 24 September 2026. General information, not legal advice.
