July 2022 Update: As of July 4, 2022, the length of stay for Super Visa holders in Canada will be expanded to five years per entrance. Learn more here.
Super Visa Applications for Parents and Grandparents
Today is the day that Canadian immigration gets “Super”. Super Visas for Parents and Grandparents are now effective. Super Visas are Visas for Parents and Grandparents of Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents who wish to come to Canada on a temporary basis. Super Visas will be issued for up to 10 years and allow applicants to remain in Canada for up to 24 months at a time. This program will serve to alleviate the backlog of Parental Sponsorships currently in process which in some cases can take 7 years to process.
CIC promises that Super Visas will be processed on an expedited basis. That will remain to be seen. There is also a 2-year moratorium on Parental and Grandparent Sponsorships in place to clear the backlog. This means that no permanent resident applications will be accepted for at least a 2 year period. However, it is expected that more parents and grandparents of Canadians will be coming to Canada under the Super Visas program.
Super Visas to be processed quickly
There are obvious pros and cons to the Super Visa Application but generally, I see this as a positive development in that it will bring families together, provided CIC keeps its promises. I would hope that these Super Visas will be issued frequently and in a timely manner despite the fact that many applicants do indeed wish to ultimately settle in Canada on a permanent basis. And in two years’ time, once the backlog is cleared, I would hope that CIC would re-institute the Parental and Grandparent sponsorships for Permanent Residence once again. After all family reunification is a fundamental principle of Canada’s Immigration policy.
UPDATE: The above is an archived article. Learn more about the newest information regarding the Super Visa.
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
