Super visa insurance for parents from China

Parents applying from China need a super visa (超级签证) policy with at least $100,000 of emergency medical coverage, valid one year from the date of entry, from a Canadian insurer, paid before the file is submitted. China supplied 11% of all super visas issued between 2011 and 2023, second only to India, and IRCC’s processing tool showed 85 days for China on 14 October 2026. At age 65, $100,000 of cover with stable pre-existing conditions runs about $2,051 to $3,095 a year, or roughly ¥9,600 to ¥14,500.

Who buys the insurance: the parent in Guangzhou or the child in Markham?

The child in Canada should buy it. Your parent is the insured person and must be named on the certificate, but the purchaser and payer can be you. That keeps the premium in Canadian dollars, avoids declined UnionPay cards and annual foreign-exchange limits, and puts the refund paperwork in your hands if the visa is refused.

In practice the search starts on WeChat. A parent in Guangdong, Fujian or Shanghai sees a post about 超级签证保险 in a family group, finds a Ping An or China Life overseas travel plan at a fraction of the price, and buys it. That policy is then uploaded to the application, and the file is refused. The section below explains why.

If you are the parent reading this, stop before paying anything in yuan. Send this page to your son or daughter in Canada on WeChat. They can get a quote, pay in dollars, and send you the certificate as a PDF to upload. Payment on our quoter is by credit card in Canadian dollars; WeChat Pay and Alipay are not options.

Why Ping An, China Life and PICC policies are refused

IRCC accepts two kinds of insurer only: a Canadian insurance company, or a foreign company authorized by OSFI to sell accident and sickness insurance in Canada and listed on OSFI’s public register. No Chinese domestic insurer meets that test. There is no “IRCC-approved list” of foreign insurers; the register is the test.

The officer instructions are specific. A foreign insurer’s policy must have been issued “in the course of its insurance business in Canada” and must carry a statement saying so. Brokers and claims administrators are not insurers and will not appear on the OSFI list. Quotes are not accepted; the policy must be paid in full or by instalments with a deposit.

We checked OSFI’s register on 18 October 2026; none of the four appears, and none operates a Canadian branch authorized for accident and sickness insurance. A refused application forfeits the $100 visa fee and the $85 biometrics fee, and the medical exam fee is not refunded either. Read the requirements in full before buying anything.

What does super visa insurance cost in yuan?

At age 60, rates seen in October 2026 run $1,621 to $2,741 a year for $100,000 of cover with stable pre-existing conditions. At 65 the range is $2,051 to $3,095, and at 70 it is $3,380 to $4,683. Converted at about 4.67 yuan to the dollar, that is roughly ¥7,600 to ¥21,900 depending on age and carrier.

Annual premium, $100,000 coverage, $0 deductible, stable pre-existing conditions covered, rates seen Oct 2026 — verify at quote time. Yuan figures are approximate conversions at 1 CAD = 4.67 CNY (OFX, 15 Oct 2026), labelled “approximate, Oct 2026”.

Source tables: BestQuote and PolicyAdvisor. A $500 deductible cuts the premium by roughly 15% at Manulife, and a $5,000 deductible by roughly 35%. Plans that exclude pre-existing conditions are cheaper, but a parent on blood pressure or diabetes medication needs the stable-condition cover. If a lump sum is hard, IRCC accepts monthly instalments with a deposit.

The visa fee of $100 plus $85 for biometrics is about ¥860 at the same rate. Lowest of the six carriers compared on 18 October 2026 for a 65-year-old with stable pre-existing conditions: Secure Travel at $2,051.

How long does a super visa take from China, and when should the policy start?

IRCC’s processing-times tool showed 85 days for China when its data was updated on 14 October 2026. Immigration.ca’s snapshot of 22 September 2026 had 77 days. IRCC says its estimate includes biometrics time and is not a guarantee.

Every carrier in the table above lets you change the effective date before coverage begins, usually at no charge. Set the start date to the planned flight, and move it when the passport comes back from the Beijing visa office. The parent then has the full 365 days from the date of entry that the officer instructions require.

The IRCC service standard is 112 days. Do not book a non-refundable flight until the passport is back.

Timing tips for Guangdong, Fujian, Beijing and Shanghai applicants

Book the medical exam and biometrics as soon as the application is submitted, and avoid the weeks around Spring Festival and National Day, when clinics and visa centres close or fill up. The insurance certificate must already be in the file at submission. The medical exam result is valid for 12 months, so do not do it months early.

Immigration medical exam. Only an IRCC panel physician can do it. A check-up at a local hospital, however thorough, is not accepted. Panel clinics are listed for the major Chinese cities; search by city on the IRCC tool and phone to confirm fees, which the clinic sets. Bring the passport and the medical request letter with the IME number.

Biometrics. Canada’s visa application centres in China are in Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Jinan, Kunming, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Wuhan, per IRCC’s VAC finder. Parents in Guangdong usually use Guangzhou; Fujian often uses Guangzhou or Hangzhou; the northeast uses Shenyang. Wait for the biometric instruction letter before booking.

Documents in Chinese. Every document not in English or French needs a translation, per IRCC’s document page. A certified translator’s seal is accepted; otherwise the translator must swear an affidavit and cannot be a relative. Many Chinese families use a notarial certificate of kinship (亲属关系公证) for proof of relationship, because older hukou records do not name the parent in a form an officer can read; check the Beijing visa office’s country-specific instructions on the same page.

Share this with your son or daughter in Canada. They need to do three things: confirm their income against the LICO table for their family size, sign the letter of invitation, and buy the insurance in Canadian dollars. Send them this link on WeChat and ask them to get a quote before you book anything in China.

The exact IRCC document checklist

IRCC’s document list is short, but each item is checked. The insurance certificate must name the insurer, the insured parent, the coverage amount, the start and end dates, and show that it is paid. Missing any one of these turns an 85-day file into a refusal or a request for more documents.

1. The online super visa application and the $100 fee plus $85 biometrics fee (family cap $170).
2. A letter of invitation signed by the host child or grandchild in Canada, listing every person in the household with name and date of birth, and showing the host meets the minimum necessary income. A spouse or common-law partner may co-sign; a sibling cannot.
3. Proof of the host’s income (notice of assessment, pay stubs or T4s).
4. Proof of the host’s status: Canadian citizenship document, permanent resident card, or Certificate of Indian Status.
5. Proof of relationship: the host’s birth certificate, notarial birth or kinship certificate, or another official document naming the applicant as parent or grandparent.
6. Proof of paid medical insurance: $100,000 minimum, health care, hospitalization and repatriation, valid one year from the date of entry, from a Canadian insurer or an OSFI-listed foreign insurer. Quotes are not accepted.
7. Proof of a completed immigration medical exam with a panel physician.
8. Form IMM 5476 if a representative is used.
9. Certified translations of any document not in English or French.
10. Any extra documents required by the Beijing visa office, shown when you select China on the IRCC page.

The policy must also be shown to the border services officer at the airport, so print it and put it with the passport.

What happens at the airport, and what a hospital stay costs without cover

The parent shows the printed certificate to the border services officer at Toronto Pearson or Vancouver, and again on every later entry. A policy that has lapsed, or that starts a week after arrival, is a problem at the counter, not just in the file. Keep the start date aligned to the flight.

Without cover, Ontario hospitals bill non-residents a daily rate set by each hospital; published 2026 schedules run from $3,100 a day for a ward bed at Toronto East Health Network to $4,005 at Queensway Carleton, and far more in intensive care, before physician fees. A parent with a stable heart or blood-sugar condition should buy the plan that covers stable conditions and answer the health questions exactly. Compare the stability rules on our cost page, check the refund rules in case the visa is refused, then get a quote.