Canada makes it easier to sponsor your parents/grandparents

Article By : Acme Immigrations

The supervisa is a multiple-entry visitor visa that allows parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to visit family members in Canada for a period of up to ten years, with a maximum stay of up to five years per visit.

Canada has made some changes to the way it calculates the minimum income requirement in the supervisa program. For many years, the supervisa has allowed Canadians and permanent residents to reunite with their parents and grandparents through a supervisa that is usually good for ten years. But with increasing cost of living, meeting the income threshold requirements has been difficult for some families that could benefit from the support of having family come and visit them.

Starting on March 31, 2026, hosts will have a lot more flexibility about how to meet the financial obligations for the supervisa, as announced by Canada. Traditionally, hosts had to meet the Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO) for their family size based on submission of a Notice of Assessment for the previous taxation year prior to submission of any application. Under the new rules, there will be two additional ways to meet the income requirements.

Two additional ways to meet income threshold

1. Income assessment period has been extended – Under this new more flexible option, Notices of Assessment (CRA) can be submitted for the last two years, and the Government of Canada will take the higher income threshold of the two years. Under this new approach, the host and their co-signer (if applicable), may qualify for the program whereas in the past, they would have been rejected or refused based on income for the previous year prior to submission of the application.

2. Allowing the income of the visiting parent to be added – Under this new more flexible option, so long as the host meets the required percentage of minimum income (TBA), income of the parent/grandparent can then be added to the application to help with qualifying and meeting the income requirement. Previously, parents and grandparents were not permitted to help with meeting the income threshold requirements. At the time of writing, IRCC has not clarified what the required percentage of minimum income will be. We will endeavor to update our clients as information becomes available.

What this means for you

Please note that as of March 31, 2026, all applications already submitted as well as new applications will be submitted under the new income rule calculations. However please note that families who were under the previous income calculations will remain eligible in the new system. If you would like to avail of the new income calculation rules, you will need to submit new documents to prove that you meet the new rules. For example, you could submit your Notice of Assessments from previous years should that income threshold be higher than the NOA submitted in the application.

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