Can you buy super visa insurance from outside Canada?
Zoe Zhou · Licensed Life & Health Insurance Agent, regulated by FSRA (Ontario)
Last reviewed: August 10, 2026 · checked against IRCC directly
The short answer
Yes, since January 28, 2025 — but three conditions apply.
Ask me anything — plain answers, no sales pitch.
(General information only, not financial advice. Speak to a licensed professional about your own situation.)
The three conditions
- The insurer is authorized by OSFI under the Insurance Companies Act to provide accident and sickness insurance;
- It appears on OSFI’s publicly available list of federally regulated financial institutions;
- It issued or made the policy while doing insurance business in Canada.
Source text: “is authorized by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) under the Insurance Companies Act to provide accident and sickness insurance, and appears on OSFI’s publicly available list of federally regulated financial institutions, and has issued or made the policy while doing insurance business in Canada”
IRCC, Super visa — Forms and documents · checked August 10, 2026
An extra line the policy must carry
A policy from a foreign insurer must state that it was issued while the company was doing insurance business in Canada.
Source text: “All policies that are issued by a foreign insurance company must include a statement that the document was issued or made while the company was doing insurance business in Canada.”
IRCC, Super visa — Forms and documents · checked August 10, 2026
Two traps
OSFI does not maintain a list of insurers outside Canada unless they are registered here as branches or subsidiaries. So a large, reputable overseas insurer may simply not be on the list at all.
And brokers and claims administrators are not insurance companies. They will never appear on the OSFI list, so a familiar name on a website is not proof of anything.
What to do
- Find the name of the underwriting company, not the broker.
- Search that name on OSFI’s public list.
- If it is not there, choose another insurer.
- Confirm the policy carries the “doing insurance business in Canada” statement.
Send me the underwriter’s name and I will check whether it is on the OSFI list.
