Super visa for parents: count your family the way IRCC does before you check the income table

Say you open the government's income table, see $38,002 beside the number 2, and tell your mother to start the paperwork. You are counting yourself and her. But if you separated from your spouse last year and your daughter lives with that spouse, the line you read is the wrong one. Before you look at any dollar figure for a super visa, you have to work out your family size, and IRCC's count is wider than most hosts expect. The host is the child or grandchild in Canada who invites the parent. A super visa lets that parent stay up to 5 years at a time.

The people IRCC adds to your count

IRCC's proof of financial support page lists everyone who goes into the number. Go through it with a pen:

• you, the host;
• each parent or grandparent you are inviting now;
• your spouse or common-law partner;
• your dependent children and your spouse's, even if they live with the other parent and whatever the custody or support order says;
• parents or grandparents already approved under another super visa letter that you or your spouse signed, if that letter still applies, even when they have gone home for now;
• anyone you or your co-signer sponsored, while that sponsorship promise (called an undertaking) is still running.

A dependent child, in IRCC's glossary, is generally under 22 and has no spouse or common-law partner. The undertaking has a fixed length in section 132 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations: 3 years for a spouse, 20 years for a parent or grandparent, counted from the day that person became a permanent resident. So a mother who became a permanent resident through your sponsorship in 2019 is still in your count today, even if she has moved to your sister's home.

Separated is not the same as divorced

The super visa page says the count might include a separated spouse, and it links to IRCC's instructions to officers on sponsors. Those instructions say a sponsor's separated spouse who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident must be included. If that spouse now has a new common-law partner, the new partner is not counted, but the spouse still is. IRCC's own example of a divorced host, by contrast, leaves the former spouse out and keeps the children in.

The dollar effect is large. A separated host with one dependent child who invites a mother has a family of 4 and needs $56,724. The same person after a divorce has a family of 3 and needs $46,720, which is $10,004 less. Nobody should end a marriage for a visa, but if a divorce is already under way, the date it becomes final can matter to your application. If you married outside Canada, there is a separate page on getting a divorce in Ontario after marrying abroad.

Six households, counted and priced

Find the row nearest to your home. The minimums are from IRCC's table, updated July 29, 2025. The 75% line is that minimum multiplied by 0.75, rounded up to the next dollar. It matters for the second route below. For a family above 7, IRCC adds $8,224 per person. Rows 1, 2 and 4 follow IRCC's own examples; the others apply the same list.

Household and count	Minimum	75% line
1. Single, no children, inviting one parent: you + parent = 2	$38,002	$28,502
2. Divorced, two children in shared custody, inviting two parents: you + 2 parents + 2 children = 5	$64,336	$48,252
3. Single, sponsored your mother in 2019, now inviting your father: you + father + mother = 3	$46,720	$35,040
4. Married, two children, inviting two parents: you + spouse + 2 children + 2 parents = 6	$72,560	$54,420
5. Separated, spouse a permanent resident, one child, inviting your mother: you + spouse + child + mother = 4	$56,724	$42,543
6. Married, one child, your spouse's parents on a super visa letter that still applies, inviting your own two parents: you + spouse + child + 2 + 2 = 7	$80,784	$60,588

Your letter of invitation has to state this count. IRCC's document list asks for the number of people, plus the name and date of birth of each one, so the officer has your arithmetic on paper.

Two routes to the number, since 31 March 2026

IRCC's notice of March 20, 2026 added both of these. Your income always means yours plus your co-signer's. Only a spouse or common-law partner who is a citizen, permanent resident or registered Indian can co-sign. A brother or sister can't.

Your own income, in the stronger of two years

You reach the full minimum in either of the 2 tax years before the application goes in. The proof here is your Canada Revenue Agency notice of assessment. A host in household 3 who earned $48,000 in 2024 and $41,000 in 2025 can rely on 2024.

Your income plus your parent's

Your income in the year before the application has to reach the 75% line. After that, your parent's income can fill the gap up to the full minimum. Take household 3 again with a host income of $38,000. That clears $35,040, and the parent has to show at least $8,720 more. At $34,000 the host is under the line, so a pension of any size can't be added.

Pay stubs, an employer's letter, pension statements, rental leases or bank statements showing regular deposits can all show the parent's income. A pension or rent paid in Pakistan or India can go on that list, and the parent must also prove it will carry on during the stay. On that proof, IRCC says:

The document you use to prove this must include the currency you're paid in.

Two choices worth making before New Year

The words "the 2 tax years before the application is submitted" mean something different depending on the date. Sent this month, the application looks at 2024 and 2025. Read plainly, one sent in January 2027 looks at 2025 and 2026, and your 2026 notice of assessment will not exist yet. If 2024 is your strong year, November and December are the time to talk about it. IRCC can also change the table, so check the current figure on the day you file.

The second choice is which child hosts. Any adult child in Canada who meets the conditions can be the host, and the count and the income are then that child's alone. A family with one son who has three children and a daughter who has none may find very different numbers. Run the list for each of them before anyone signs.

If the officer says no

IRCC sends an explanation with a refusal. Income is only one ground: the officer also looks at insurance (at least $100,000 of emergency cover, valid one year from entry, paid in full or by instalments with a deposit), the medical exam, and whether the parent seems likely to go home when the visit is over. Read the letter, then work in this order:

1. Write down the date the refusal reached you. The clock for court starts then.
2. Fix the reason the officer gave, not the reason you assume. A second file with the same gap is likely to meet the same answer.
3. Decide about the Federal Court. The parent applied from outside Canada, so section 72(2)(b) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act gives 60 days to ask for leave, which means permission for a judge to hear the case. An inland spouse has only 15, as the article on inland and outland sponsorship refusals explains.
4. Think about reconsideration, an informal request to IRCC with no fee. A government report to Parliament warns that it does not pause the court deadline.
5. Or apply again. The same report says a person can reapply at any time, with a new $100 fee.

What to bring to Kennedy Road

Your last two notices of assessment, the names and birth dates of everyone on your list, any separation agreement or divorce order, any earlier sponsorship or super visa letter, and your parent's income papers if you plan to use them. Super visas and visitor visas are part of Muhammad Nadeem's immigration law services, and his Law Society of Ontario licence is on the about page. He offers a free 30-minute consultation in English, Urdu, Punjabi or Hindi.

This article is general information about Canadian immigration rules as of November 2026. It is not legal advice for your own case.