Bring Parents to Canada as Visitors (TRV/Super Visa)

This document is originally written by Dr. Md. Golam Kibria, Assistant Professor (University of Calgary).

Year of Publication: 2019

©PBSCU Any unauthorized use of this article, including copying or editing is prohibited. If you want to use the article, you need to take permission from us: pbscuadm@gmail.com or from the author and you must mention the author's name and the group's name in all cases.

I am sure all of us living in Canada have a fervent desire to bring our parents at some point of your life either to show this beautiful country or for any specific cause (e.g., during pregnancy or to take care of your kids). Since I have gone through this process, I will try to write some keys notes to make you understand the whole process easily.

1. Types of visitor visas:

There are two types of visas to bring your parents as visitor: Temporary resident Visa (TRV) and Supervisa. Depending on your situation you can apply for TRV or may be eligible (explained hereafter) to apply for Supervisa. You can apply for TRV/Supervisa for your parent-in-law as well.

2. First you need to know the key difference between TRV and Supervisa status:

• With TRV, your parents can visit for up to six months when they first enter Canada. If they wish to stay longer they have to apply for an extension, and pay a new fee. Alternatively, they need to leave Canada and re-enter. In this case, they can stay for six more months. For example, if your parents get 5 years multiple entry TRV and they want to accompany you for 2 years consecutively, they need to either renew their status 3 times (at 6 months, 12 months and 18 months) or they need to leave and re-enter Canada three times (at 6 months, 12 months and 18 months). If you like the second option and you don’t want them to go all the way back to Bangladesh, there is an alternate option for you. You can let them visit Maxico, as Canadian visa holders can now visit Maxico without requiring a visa.

• On the other hand, with Supervisa your parents can stay in Canada for up to two years without the need to renew their status.

• While TRV period varies from few days up to the expiry period of the passport, Supervisa is a multiple-entry visa typically provided for up to 10 years.

3. Which one to choose between TRV and Supervisa?

• Before choosing between these two visas, you need to see if your parents are eligible to apply for them or not. The key eligibility criteria are your status and your income. As for your status, you need to have PR or citizenship status in Canada to apply for Supervisa. While there is no minimum income threshold to apply for TRV, there is minimum income threshold (also called Low Income Cut-Off or LICO) to apply for your parents’ Supervisa.

• To check if your income meets the minimum income requirement (or LICO), you need to refer to the LICO table (check application guide) which shows minimum necessary income against family size.

• How to calculate your family size:

Use simple math:

Family size = your total family member (you, your spouse, your dependent children) + your parent/s who will be visiting you. For example, if you are single and you are applying for your father and mother, your family size will be 3. Accordingly, if you are married and have one child, and you are applying for your father and mother, your family side will be 5. Now check the LICO table to see if you meet the minimum income requirement to apply for your parents Supervisa. If your income if below the LICO threshold, go for TRV.

4. Difference between required documents: TRV vs Supervisa:

For Supervisa application, your parents must need to go through medical exam to enter Canada, which is not the case for TRV. You must need to provide four additional documents to apply for Supervisa on top of the documents that you need for TRV (see point number 6). These are listed here:

• To demonstrate that you meet the minimum income requirement, you need to include one of the documents listed in the Document Checklist IMM 5484.

• Invitation Letter from you (Note: Although it is not mandatory, but always good to provide this letter for TRV as well)

• Proof of your relation with your parents (i.e., birth certificate, graduation certificate etc.)

• Proof of private medical insurance (coverage at least $100,000 CAD) for a minimum of one year with a Canadian insurance company, and is valid for each entry into Canada. Depending on your parents’ health condition and age, the cost may vary between $3,000-$4,000 CAD (for two persons) to purchase this insurance.

5. How to submit TRV/Supervisa application?

You can either apply online from Canada or send all the documents to your parents to submit paper based application at the VFS center. To avoid hassle for your parents with all those documents, it is better that you submit online application and pay the fee ($185 CAD per person) on their behalf. With online application, your parents do not need to worry about application and biometris fees, taking photos etc. Once you submit the online application, you will immediately receive a “Biometrics Collection Letter” in your cic account used for online application submission, which basically asks that your parents are required to have their fingerprints scanned and photograph taken at the VFS center. You need to send this letter to your parents and ask them to go to the VFS center with their passport. They don’t need to pay anything at VFS as you will be paid the biometric fee ($85 CAD) during your online application submission. Once this process is done and if everything goes well, you will get “Original Passport Submission” request in your cic account in approximately 2 weeks. Your parents need to visit VFS center again with their passports and a copy of these letters. Upon passport submission, it may take approximately one week to get passport collection request from VFS.

6. All the following documents from your parents are required both for TRV and Supervisa:

• Document Checklist (IMM5484)

• Application for Temporary Resident Visa (IMM5257)

• Family Information Form (IMM5707)

• Pay application fee (can be done online)

• Copy of passport/s

• Two photos (for online application not required)

• Proof of financial support (liquid money in Bank or property valuation would work)

• Photocopy of marriage certificate

• Purpose of travel

• A letter from your parents explaining the purpose of their visit, their tie to Bangladesh (i.e., reasons like job, taking care of the family property, all other family members are in BD etc.) and to explain that they are financially well off to bear their travel, living and all other expenses for their visit to Canada. To make their application even stronger, I bought round trip tickets and medical insurance for 3 months. Again, this is not mandatory for TRV.