Inviting Your Parents to Canada: Visitor Visa, eTA or Super Visa

Your parents or grandparents live abroad and you want to welcome them in Quebec? The federal government offers two routes. For an ordinary visit, most visitors can stay up to 6 months in Canada. For a long stay, the super visa lets them stay 5 years at a time, with multiple entries for up to 10 years.

Both routes are handled by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the federal immigration department. Neither one gives permanent residence: your parents remain visitors, and IRCC checks that they will leave Canada at the end of their stay.

If you would rather have your parents settle in Canada for good, that is a different program: sponsorship, explained in our family sponsorship guide.

The entry document your parents need depends on their nationality, the country that issued their passport and how they travel. No need to hunt for a list of countries: IRCC's tool Find out if you need a visa or an eTA asks a few questions and gives the answer for their exact situation.

The electronic travel authorization (eTA) is for visa-exempt travellers arriving by air. It is linked electronically to the passport and stays valid for up to five years, or until the passport expires. By car, bus, train or boat, these travellers do not need one, and US citizens are exempt from it.

The eTA application is done online and costs $7. Most applications are approved within minutes; otherwise, an email with instructions arrives within 72 hours.

Other travellers need a visitor visa, also called a temporary resident visa, which is placed in the passport. The processing fee is $100 per person. The visa officer decides whether it is single-entry or multiple-entry and sets how long it is valid: generally up to 10 years, or until the passport or biometrics expire.

The super visa is reserved for parents and grandparents. You, the person welcoming them (IRCC calls you the “host”), must:

• be their child or grandchild, biological or adopted
• be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident or a registered Indian
• be at least 18 years old and live in Canada
• have an income at least equal to the minimum set by IRCC (section 4)
• write and sign an invitation letter (section 6)

For their part, your parents must apply from outside Canada, be admissible to Canada, take an immigration medical exam and prove they hold private health insurance valid for at least 1 year from their entry (section 5).

IRCC also checks that this is a genuine visit: ties to the home country, purpose of the trip, family and financial situation. Dependants cannot be included in the application.

Do your parents not need a visa because their passport is visa-exempt? They can still get a super visa to stay 5 years. IRCC then sends them a letter to show the border services officer and, if they fly, they may need to apply for an eTA separately.

Your income must reach the minimum necessary income, a threshold that depends on the size of your family. In this count, include your invited parents, yourself, your spouse or common-law partner and your dependent children, but also the super visa holders you already host and the people you have sponsored if your undertaking is still in effect, even if they are not in Canada right now. For example, if you live alone with no children and invite one parent, your family has 2 people.

Only your spouse or common-law partner can be a co-signer and add their income to yours; a brother or sister cannot.

There are two ways to prove it. First option: your total income, including the co-signer's if any, reaches the threshold in either of the 2 tax years before the application; the proof is the notice of assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Second option: if your income in the year before the application reaches at least 75% of the threshold, your parents can add their own income to make up the difference. They must then prove they will keep receiving that income during their stay.

Here is the minimum income published by IRCC, updated July 29, 2025:

Private health insurance is not a formality: your parents must show it each time they enter Canada, and renew it if it ends before they leave. It must come from a Canadian insurance company or from a foreign company authorized by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and on its public list. Note that an insurance broker is not an insurer.

The policy itself must:

• be valid for at least 1 year from the date of entry into Canada
• cover health care, hospitalization and repatriation
• provide emergency coverage of at least $100,000
• be paid in full, or in instalments with a deposit (a quote is not accepted)
• show the name of the insurance company that issued it

For the super visa, the invitation letter is mandatory. You write and sign it yourself: IRCC gives a list of items as a guide only. A letter does not guarantee a visa, and writing it does not make you legally responsible for your parents, but it must be written in good faith.

According to IRCC, the letter introduces your parents: full name, date of birth, address and phone number, relationship to you, purpose of the trip, planned length of stay, where they will stay, how they will pay their expenses, and planned departure date.

It also introduces you: full name, date of birth, address and phone number in Canada, job title, your status in Canada with a copy of the proof (permanent resident card, citizenship certificate…), and the names and dates of birth of your spouse or partner and of your dependants.

For a super visa, add your promise to support your parents financially for their whole stay, proof of your income, and the list of people counted in your family size, with each person's name and date of birth. Your spouse or common-law partner can co-sign the letter.

The super visa application is made online, in the IRCC portal, while your parents are outside Canada. The fees are paid at the end, by credit or debit card.

Biometrics are fingerprints and a photo. Unless they are exempt, your parents must provide them for a visa or super visa application. People applying only for an eTA are exempt, as are applicants aged 80 or older when they apply. Once given, biometrics stay valid for 10 years, and IRCC cannot issue a visa beyond their expiry date.

Visa-exempt people applying for a super visa pay neither the processing fee nor the biometrics fee. Processing times vary by country: check IRCC's processing times tool before booking plane tickets.

Fees published by IRCC:

On arrival, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer asks for the passport. Your parents keep with them, not in their checked bags, the documents from their application and proof of their insurance. A visa does not guarantee entry; if the officer lets them in, the passport is stamped for a stay of 5 years.

A super visa allows neither work nor study in Canada. Before their status ends, your parents must leave Canada or apply to extend their stay: the extension is called a visitor record, and keeping a valid status is their responsibility.

Follow these steps in order. Check each box as you go — your progress is saved if you're signed in.

The questions we hear most often: biometrics for older grandparents, a sponsorship application already filed, and processing times.

These related guides may be useful:

• Family sponsorship in Quebec — the program that leads to permanent residence, separate from the super visa.
• Tracking an IRCC application — follow your parents' file once it is submitted in the portal.
• Immigration lawyer or consultant — who can legally represent you if your situation is complex.
• Common scams in Quebec — recognize the frauds that target immigration steps.

For official, up-to-date information, see:

- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)