Travel insurance, explained before you pay.
We structure your travel insurance the way a claims examiner will read it later. So the claim actually gets paid.
Prime Insurance writes travel coverage through TuGo, Pacific Blue Cross, and Travelance — three Canadian carriers, three direct contracts, one named senior advisor accountable for your file.
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The carrier writes the policy. The advisor decides whether it will actually pay.
ICBC Autoplan is the same everywhere. How it's handled is not.
Travel insurance works the same way.
Most Surrey travel insurance buyers find this out at the worst possible moment — at a hospital in Phoenix, or Cancun, or Punjab — when the claims examiner looks at the medical questionnaire and finds a reason to deny. A blood pressure reading that varied. A medication dose that changed 80 days ago instead of 90. A condition the buyer assumed was stable.
The denial is rarely the carrier being unfair. It is almost always the policy being structured wrong at the start.
Prime is the Surrey brokerage that fixes this before you pay. Our senior advisors read the medical questionnaire the way the claims examiner will read it later. We tell you which carrier's stability period works for your case. We tell you what conditions disqualify which product. And we tell you when the cheapest policy on the screen is the one most likely to deny the claim.
Four travel insurance situations come up most often in Surrey.
Each is a different conversation.
Super Visa Insurance
The Government of Canada requires a minimum of $100,000 in emergency medical coverage, valid for at least one year, for any parent or grandparent coming to Canada on a Super Visa. We write Super Visa policies that meet every IRCC requirement — and we screen for pre-existing conditions before you pay.
Super Visa Insurance SurreyVisitors to Canada Insurance
Family visiting for a few weeks or a few months without a Super Visa. Different product, different coverage windows, different rules about when coverage can start. The wrong product wastes money. The right product covers a hospital visit that would otherwise cost $5,000 a day.
Visitors to Canada Insurance SurreyPre-Existing Conditions
The reason most travel insurance claims get denied is the stability period. Most Surrey buyers do not know what a stability period is. Most websites do not explain it. We cover the rules carrier by carrier — diabetes, blood pressure, heart medication — so the policy is structured to pay.
Talk through your parent’s case →Snowbird & Annual Multi-Trip
Three months in Arizona. Six weeks in Florida. A wedding in India in March and another one in October. The math on annual multi-trip versus single-trip is rarely what buyers think it is. We do the math with you.
We’ll do the multi-trip math with you →Three Canadian carriers. Three direct brokerage contracts. No middleman.
Breadth
TuGo
Canada's category-known travel insurance brand. Strong on outbound Canadian travel, snowbird annual multi-trip, adventure, and family vacation policies. TuGo offers up to $10,000,000 in emergency medical coverage.
Authority
Pacific Blue Cross
BC's largest health benefits provider. Pacific Blue Cross travel insurance carries $10,000,000 in emergency medical coverage, with Direct Pay to hospitals where possible. Dependent children of all families are covered at no charge — not just families with two paying adults.
Super Visa specialist
Travelance
Underwritten by Old Republic. The Super Visa and Visitors-to-Canada specialist on our panel. Travelance offers monthly payment plans, 100% refund on visa denial, and a strong stability period structure for parents with controlled medical conditions.
We do not write through every carrier in Canada. We write through three carriers we trust, with three direct relationships, and we tell you honestly which one fits your situation. If none of the three is right for you, we will tell you that too.
Most travel insurance is sold in three clicks. We do it differently.
The certificate looks like coverage. At claim time it sometimes is not.
We ask about the medical history first.
Before we quote, we ask about medications, recent dose changes, recent doctor visits, and any conditions the carrier's questionnaire would flag. This takes ten minutes and saves the entire policy if you ever claim.
We match the carrier to the case.
TuGo handles most outbound Canadian travel. Pacific Blue Cross handles most BC-resident snowbird and family travel. Travelance handles most Super Visa and Visitors-to-Canada scenarios. But the right carrier depends on the buyer's age, the destination, the medical history, and the stability period rules each carrier uses. We pick the right one.
We explain what is not covered.
Every travel insurance policy has exclusions. We tell you what yours are before you pay — not after a claim is denied.
We give you the claim contact information up front.
When you buy a policy from Prime, you get the carrier's 24/7 emergency line, the policy number, and Kul's direct line in case the carrier process gets stuck. Save them in your phone before you fly.
We advocate for you if a claim hits friction.
Claims are adjudicated by the carrier, not by Prime. But when a claim runs into a stability-period dispute or a documentation problem, your assigned advisor calls the carrier on your behalf — by name, with your file in front of them.
Some sales we turn down on principle.
We will not sell you the cheapest policy on the screen.
The cheapest policy is almost always the one that delays underwriting until claim time. The buyer signs an attestation, the carrier collects the premium, and the medical history only gets investigated when someone files a claim. By then, a blood pressure reading from two years ago can be the reason the $40,000 hospital bill becomes your responsibility.
We will not issue a one-click online policy to a parent over 70 with medical history.
Even if it costs us the sale. A claim denial on a 72-year-old policy issued in two clicks costs Prime more in reputation than the lost premium is worth — and it costs the family more than the policy ever saved them.
We will not say things about competitors.
We name BCAA, Pacific Blue Cross, Punjab Insurance, AMC, Think, and PLAN when it is relevant to explain the market, but we do not write "better than" claims about any of them. Insurance Council of BC marketing rules are clear, and our 36 years in this market are worth more than a comparison line that triggers a complaint.
We have been writing insurance for Surrey families since 1994.
Kul Shergill is the senior advisor on every travel insurance file. B.Sc., Cert Ed., insurance-licensed in BC since 1990, life-licensed since 1988. Twelve licensed advisors on the team. English, Punjabi, and Hindi service across all of them.
When you call Prime, you talk to a licensed advisor. When you message us on WhatsApp, a licensed advisor answers. When you file a claim, a licensed advisor follows up with the carrier on your behalf.
This is what brokerage was supposed to mean.
Two rule changes most travel insurance websites have not updated yet.
Recent IRCC changes affecting Super Visa
IRCC now accepts policies from OSFI-approved foreign insurance companies in addition to Canadian insurers. This widens the pool of eligible insurance options. Most Surrey websites still say "must be a Canadian company." That is no longer the only rule.
IRCC introduced two new ways to meet the sponsor's income requirement. Sponsors can now use the better of the last two tax years, and the visiting parent or grandparent's own income (pension, rental, savings income) now counts toward the household LICO threshold. This change makes Super Visa accessible to thousands of Canadian families who did not previously qualify.
We track these changes because our clients ask us about them. If you are working on a Super Visa application and want to know how the new rules apply to your situation, call us at 604-582-0557.
Travel insurance for Surrey families — common questions answered honestly.
What is the minimum coverage required for a Super Visa?
Super Visa requires a minimum of $100,000 CAD in emergency medical coverage, valid for at least one year from the planned date of entry to Canada, covering health care, hospitalization, and repatriation. The policy must be from a Canadian insurer or an OSFI-approved foreign insurer.
Can I buy travel insurance if my parent has high blood pressure or diabetes?
In most cases, yes — but only if the condition meets the carrier's stability period rule. Each of our three carriers handles stability differently. Call us before you buy. We will tell you which carrier fits your case, and if none of them does, we will tell you that honestly.
What is a stability period?
A stability period is the length of time a pre-existing condition needs to have been unchanged before the policy starts. The most common rules are 90 days and 180 days. "Unchanged" usually means no new diagnosis, no new medication, no dose change, no new symptoms, and no new treatment. The exact definition varies by carrier — call us and we’ll walk you through each carrier’s rule for your parent’s specific conditions.
Do I need US coverage if I am only travelling to India?
No, and excluding the US can reduce the premium meaningfully. US healthcare is the most expensive in the world, and US-included policies price for that risk. If your trip does not include US travel — or only includes a short connection through a US airport — you can often choose a policy excluding US coverage. We default Surrey-to-India trip quotes to US-excluded and surface the saving for you.
Can I get a Super Visa policy refunded if the visa is denied?
Yes. All three of our carriers refund the premium in full if the Super Visa application is refused, provided the refusal letter from IRCC is supplied and the policy has not started. Travelance and TuGo both also offer pro-rated refunds if your parent returns home early, provided no claim has been filed.
Can I pay monthly for Super Visa insurance?
Yes. As of late 2022, IRCC accepts policies paid in monthly installments with an initial deposit. Travelance is our main monthly-payment Super Visa carrier. The monthly plan is usually paid in 12 installments; the first two months plus a one-time setup fee are paid at policy issue.
When does the coverage start for a visitor to Canada?
Coverage starts on the effective date you choose when you buy the policy. For visitor coverage, the effective date should be the day the visitor arrives in Canada. If the visitor is already in Canada when the policy is purchased, most carriers apply a 48-hour to 7-day waiting period for illness coverage — accident coverage starts immediately. Call us before the parent flies if there is any chance of an arrival-gap.
What if my parent's medication dose changes mid-trip?
This is one of the most misunderstood claim-denial triggers. If the medication change is initiated by a doctor in Canada during the visit — for example, the family doctor adjusting a blood pressure prescription — it can affect the stability period and create a claim risk if the change is then linked to a later hospital visit. Tell us if a medication change is being considered. We help structure how to manage it.
Do you speak Punjabi and Hindi?
Yes. Multiple advisors on our team are fluent in Punjabi and Hindi. Kul, Kuljeet, Kamal, Harman, Vir, Seema, and Amar all serve clients in Punjabi. Ask for the language you are most comfortable in when you call or message us.
What if the claim is denied?
Claims are adjudicated by the insurance carrier, not by Prime. If a claim is denied, we call the carrier on your behalf — by name, with your file in hand — and we help you understand the denial reason and your options. Sometimes a denial can be reversed with the right documentation. Sometimes it cannot. Either way, you have an advocate.
Talk to a senior advisor before you buy.
Travel insurance is one of the few products where the wrong policy is worse than no policy at all. The right product, structured the right way, pays a six-figure hospital bill in another country and gets your family home. The wrong product becomes a denial letter at the worst possible moment.
Ten minutes on the phone with a Prime advisor is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy.