Super Visa insurance for your parents — chosen carefully, explained clearly, ready before they board.

IRCC requires a minimum of $100,000 in emergency medical coverage, valid for at least one year from the date of entry, and issued by a Canadian insurance company OR by an OSFI-approved foreign insurer on OSFI's federally regulated financial institutions list.

IRCC accepted OSFI-approved foreign insurers starting January 2025 — but the rule is precise: brokerages and third-party administrators are not insurance companies for OSFI list purposes. We have seen Surrey applications flagged for uploading broker letterhead instead of a carrier-issued certificate. We issue policies on the carrier’s certificate template — the format IRCC expects to see.

Many Surrey families choose $150,000 to $300,000 in coverage because the premium difference is small and the margin of safety is meaningful for a one-year stay.

All three carriers on Prime's panel honour visa-denial refunds with the IRCC refusal letter — the specifics differ by carrier and by timing:

Pacific Blue Cross: 100% premium refund, provided no claims have been filed against the policy.

TuGo: 100% refund, no administration fee, with the IRCC refusal letter — provided the request is made before the policy effective date. If the denial arrives after the policy has activated, TuGo treats it under their early-return mechanics instead.

Travelance: No setup fee, no upfront deposit; a flat administration fee applies on cancellation.

All three carriers apply administration fees or short-rate penalties on mid-policy cancellations (not denial-related). We walk through the exact refund math for your specific carrier and scenario at quote time — so you know what you would get back if life changes mid-stay.

A stability period is the window of time, prior to the policy effective date, during which a pre-existing medical condition must be unchanged. "Unchanged" means no new diagnosis, no new prescribed medication, no dosage change, no new symptom in chart notes, no specialist referral, and no test ordered (CT, MRI, biopsy, blood work outside routine).

Routine follow-ups for stable conditions do not count as "changes." A new prescription, even at a low dose, does. A dose change on an existing prescription does — this is the most commonly missed detail. A specialist referral for an existing condition does.

If a condition fails the stability test on the policy effective date and the parent later submits a claim for that condition, the carrier can deny the claim. Stability matters because it determines whether the policy will actually pay when called upon.

Often, yes — through carrier selection. The forensic pre-screening approach is not about avoiding parents with medical changes; it is about matching the parent to the carrier whose stability rules they actually meet.

A parent stable 180+ days with a chronic but managed condition is often a Pacific Blue Cross or TuGo base policy. A parent with a medication change 90 days ago may not meet the Pacific Blue Cross 180-day window but may qualify under TuGo with the Unstable Pre-Existing Condition rider (7-day window). A parent with a very recent change may be a candidate for Travelance Essential at a higher premium with broader exclusions, or for TuGo's Ultimate Trip Guard premium product subject to medical clearance.

We do this matching at the quote stage — before you pay, not after a claim.

As of March 31, 2026, IRCC sponsors can:

(a) Use the better of their two most recent tax years for the LICO (Low Income Cut-Off) threshold, instead of being locked to current-year income only.

(b) Add the visiting parent's own income — pension, rental, savings — toward the household total.

Both flexibilities apply together. This is not an either/or choice. The change is especially meaningful for Surrey families where the sponsor became a permanent resident in the last 18 to 30 months (and is just below current-year LICO), or works seasonal trades like long-haul trucking where annual income varies significantly between years. Many competitor pages still display the pre-2026 rule.

Global processing in 2026 averages 132 days from submission. Specific country processing times vary — some are faster, some slower. Plan the insurance effective date to align with a realistic arrival window. Buying the policy too early means part of the 12-month coverage is consumed before the parent lands. Buying too late risks submitting the application without a valid certificate attached. We help time the effective date with you, and adjust if processing runs longer than expected.

Yes — with carrier-specific rules.

Travelance: At least 50% of the policy duration must be physically spent in Canada. Side trips to other countries (US, UK, Europe) are covered as long as that aggregate is met. There is no separate per-trip cap stated.

TuGo (home-country visit): Coverage is suspended during visits to the country of origin — no medical coverage during those days. The policy itself does not void no matter how long the home-country trip lasts. Coverage automatically reinstates on return to Canada (Trip-Break Benefit). The original 1-year policy term does not extend; days spent outside Canada are not refunded. Side trips to other countries (not the country of origin) are covered, provided the majority of the period is in Canada. Always notify Prime before your parent leaves Canada so we can document the trip-break.

Pacific Blue Cross: Carrier-specific side-trip rules — we confirm at quote time.

Age at the policy effective date determines the rate band and stability window. If your parent crosses an age boundary during the months between application submission and effective date, plan ahead. TuGo, for example, tightens the stability window from 180 days at ages 60 to 74 up to 365 days at ages 75 and over.

Buying before the birthday locks in the lower-age underwriting. Buying after captures the new band — usually at a higher premium and possibly a tighter stability window. We model both scenarios at quote time and recommend the right structure based on your parent's specific medical timeline.

Post-surgery cases are a common forensic pre-screening scenario. A hip replacement 120 days post-op, with stable recovery and no complications in chart notes, may meet a 90-day stability rider on TuGo — but not the 180-day base window on Pacific Blue Cross. We review the post-op chart notes, surgical follow-up history, and current functional status, then match to the carrier whose stability rule actually fits the timeline.

We never recommend "answering no" on a Section 13 medical question to make a policy fit. A claim later attributed to the replaced joint will pull the chart, and an inaccurate Section 13 answer will void the claim entirely.

Name mismatches between IRCC documents, the insurance certificate, and Indian medical records are common — and they matter at claim time. A claim filed under "Harjit Kaur" against a policy issued to "Harjit Kaur Sandhu" can be flagged by the carrier for verification, delaying authorization.

We standardize the name on the insurance certificate to match the IRCC documents exactly — the application name, the passport name, and the certificate name should all align. If your parent's medical records use a different short form or a different surname (very common across UK, India, and Canada documents), we note the alternate names in the file and provide a name-correspondence letter on Prime letterhead at the time of any claim.

This is routine — we structure this several times a week.

Arranging Canadian-dollar payment from India can be difficult, especially through smaller or rural bank branches. Many Surrey sponsors pay for the policy directly from a Canadian bank account or credit card. The policy is issued in the parent's name with valid Canadian payment proof. IRCC accepts this structure.

Bring your Visa, Mastercard, or Interac to the appointment, or send payment details over WhatsApp. The transaction is handled inside the standard insurance application process.

This is one of the most common reasons for an early return. Under TuGo's Trip-Break Benefit, coverage is suspended during the home-country visit but the policy does not void; coverage automatically reinstates when your parent returns to Canada. Notify Prime before your parent leaves — we document the trip-break with the carrier so there is no question on later claims.

If the parent decides to remain in their country of origin and not return to Canada, the policy moves into early-return refund territory. Each carrier handles this differently — typically prorated refund for unused days with a flat administration fee, sometimes with a short-rate penalty depending on policy in force. We walk through the specific refund math with you at the time.

Travelance offers two Super Visa plans — Essential (without pre-existing condition coverage) and Premier (with stable pre-existing coverage). Premier has a specific list of disqualifying conditions; some chronic conditions and combinations of conditions are not eligible for Premier coverage.

The list is reviewed periodically by Travelance, so the current eligibility rules are confirmed with us at quote time rather than published on a public page. If your parent has been declined under Travelance Premier in the past — call us. We frequently place parents on TuGo's rider product or Pacific Blue Cross who were not eligible under Travelance Premier.