Supervisa for parents - health insurance

[kiralema]

Hello, I am sure this question has been answered many times, but I am still struggling finding the right answer.

According to Immigration Canada, application for Super Visa requires providing the proof of purchasing health insurance valid for 1 year from the date of entry with the required coverage of minimum $100,000 for emergencies and/or repatriation. My understanding is that while Canada Immigration allows for the insurance to be paid as monthly instalments, many application that do not show full 1-year payment get rejected. As such, purchase of full 1-year coverage with a cost of a few thousands of $s is strongly suggested.

My question is how do you purchase the insurance from the date of entry if the date of entry cannot be determined in advance (as it may take a year or more to get the approval, and make all travel arrangements), let alone whether the application will even be approved? To me it sounds strange that Visa applicants would have to pay for something that may not even be used if the application is rejected.

Any suggestions? Thank you.

 

[canuck78]

Hello, I am sure this question has been answered many times, but I am still struggling finding the right answer.

According to Immigration Canada, application for Super Visa requires providing the proof of purchasing health insurance valid for 1 year from the date of entry with the required coverage of minimum $100,000 for emergencies and/or repatriation. My understanding is that while Canada Immigration allows for the insurance to be paid as monthly instalments, many application that do not show full 1-year payment get rejected. As such, purchase of full 1-year coverage with a cost of a few thousands of $s is strongly suggested.

My question is how do you purchase the insurance from the date of entry if the date of entry cannot be determined in advance (as it may take a year or more to get the approval, and make all travel arrangements), let alone whether the application will even be approved? To me it sounds strange that Visa applicants would have to pay for something that may not even be used if the application is rejected.

Any suggestions? Thank you.

If rejected you will get a refund. You only have to secure 1 year of insurance and most do not apply for a supervisa until they have plans for their parents to visit in the next year if not earlier. If you did not ask to provide proof many would likely attempt to not secure the 1 year of supervisa insurance. This also allows children to be aware of the cost of supervisa insurance before making any travel plans. In reality it is not that expensive since many parents do end up accessing medical care at some point. If Canada allowed people to apply for a supervisa without proof of securing the first year or supervisa insurance many would purchase their flight and try and buy the supervisa insurance days before the visit to Canada and many may only realize at that point that they can’t afford the supervisa insurance. I assume that many would still travel to Canada. It becomes much harder to deal with the lack of supervisa insurance once the parents have already arrived in Canada. Would they deny entry to parents and send them home? Much easier to ask for proof that the first year of supervisa insurance has been paid for when applying for the supervisa. Although rules had been recently changed to say that you could pay monthly it would be quite easy to stop paying monthly if you had a limited amount of funds and you needed to prioritize groceries, your mortgage/rent, the cost of providing for your parents who are visiting, etc. Many would likely stop paying even if they had the funds. It would become much harder to deal with for the government even if the insurance companies reported who stopped paying and not all insurance companies would dedicate time and energy to report to the government who had stopped paying. The cost of supervisa insurance is a limiting factor for some people which prevents their parents from visiting. 100k coverage is already a very low level of coverage given the cost of healthcare. The ability to pay monthly was proposed by some concerned about affordability but it does appear that IRCC still wants to see proof of the full year paid in full likely because they are either aware that people are not paying already for subsequent years as they are required to do or they have concerns (that may be backed up by data) that many would stop paying if able to do so. As soon as the possibility of paying in instalments existed a very large number requested this method of payment which may have concerned IRCC. If you want to secure a supervisa for your parents you seem to have to pay for the full year of supervisa insurance. Would look at the fine print of the policies but you do seem to get refunded for any months where parents are not in Canada. Would apply for a supervisa 6-9 months before your parents want to travel so you don’t have to pay a long time in advance. In general even with supervisa insurance the supervisa program is extremely generous and allows parents to visit for a very long time compared to most countries. Supervisa insurance exists because so many parents were visiting without any insurance and not reimbursing the medical system.

 

[kiralema]

If rejected you will get a refund. You only have to secure 1 year of insurance and most do not apply for a supervisa until they have plans for their parents to visit in the next year if not earlier. If you did not ask to provide proof many would likely attempt to not secure the 1 year of supervisa insurance. This also allows children to be aware of the cost of supervisa insurance before making any travel plans. In reality it is not that expensive since many parents do end up accessing medical care at some point. If Canada allowed people to apply for a supervisa without proof of securing the first year or supervisa insurance many would purchase their flight and try and buy the supervisa insurance days before the visit to Canada and many may only realize at that point that they can’t afford the supervisa insurance. I assume that many would still travel to Canada. It becomes much harder to deal with the lack of supervisa insurance once the parents have already arrived in Canada. Would they deny entry to parents and send them home? Much easier to ask for proof that the first year of supervisa insurance has been paid for when applying for the supervisa. Although rules had been recently changed to say that you could pay monthly it would be quite easy to stop paying monthly if you had a limited amount of funds and you needed to prioritize groceries, your mortgage/rent, the cost of providing for your parents who are visiting, etc. Many would likely stop paying even if they had the funds. It would become much harder to deal with for the government even if the insurance companies reported who stopped paying and not all insurance companies would dedicate time and energy to report to the government who had stopped paying. The cost of supervisa insurance is a limiting factor for some people which prevents their parents from visiting. 100k coverage is already a very low level of coverage given the cost of healthcare. The ability to pay monthly was proposed by some concerned about affordability but it does appear that IRCC still wants to see proof of the full year paid in full likely because they are either aware that people are not paying already for subsequent years as they are required to do or they have concerns (that may be backed up by data) that many would stop paying if able to do so. As soon as the possibility of paying in instalments existed a very large number requested this method of payment which may have concerned IRCC. If you want to secure a supervisa for your parents you seem to have to pay for the full year of supervisa insurance. Would look at the fine print of the policies but you do seem to get refunded for any months where parents are not in Canada. Would apply for a supervisa 6-9 months before your parents want to travel so you don’t have to pay a long time in advance. In general even with supervisa insurance the supervisa program is extremely generous and allows parents to visit for a very long time compared to most countries. Supervisa insurance exists because so many parents were visiting without any insurance and not reimbursing the medical system.

Thank you for your extended reply. It's good to know about the refund in the case if application is rejected. I understand your your point about why government is pushing people to buy the insurance way prior to their coming to Canada. I wish there were a better way to predict how long the application will take to plan parents' visit a bit better.

 

[canuck78]

Thank you for your extended reply. It's good to know about the refund in the case if application is rejected. I understand your your point about why government is pushing people to buy the insurance way prior to their coming to Canada. I wish there were a better way to predict how long the application will take to plan parents' visit a bit better.

It is a cycle. Allocation take longer so people send even more emails and call even more which leads to more work and less resources for processing. AI has lead to faster processing for some applications. Immigration applications can be very complex so it is difficult to eliminate all human processing. Supervisa is a very generous visa for parents which allows a much longer visit than most places in the world. We are seeing the result of less human processing with the huge influx of asylum seekers getting TRVs and flying into Canada.

 

[sonali.mehra]

I have a question:
I had applied for my mother's supervisa on March 11, had anticipated that it would be quick since we had upfront medical and bought the medical insurance for 1 year starting from April 15. I need to move the date since I have still not received the supervisa, do I need to inform IRCC that I am moving the date?

 

[shandias]

Did anyone report here that IRCC rejected application because of monthly payment plan?