Bridge the waiting period
Private cover for the weeks between landing and the start of your provincial health card.
Additional service
Covered from the day you land.
Provincial health coverage does not always start the moment you arrive. A gap of a few weeks can turn one accident into a very expensive year.
The short version
Canada's public healthcare is provincial, not federal. Depending on where you land, coverage can begin immediately or after a waiting period of up to three months. Visitors and most temporary residents are not covered at all.
We help you understand the rules in your destination province and arrange sensible private cover for the gap, so an emergency in your first weeks does not become a financial catastrophe.
Insurance is also, for some applications, a condition rather than a precaution. A super visa will not be approved without qualifying medical cover in place. Getting the policy wrong can cost you the application, not only the claim.
What matters
The parts that decide your outcome.
Super visa cover
Parent and grandparent super visa applicants must hold qualifying Canadian medical insurance. We help you meet the requirement correctly.
Visitors and students
Emergency medical cover for family visiting you, and plans for international students whose institutions do not include it.
Family plans
Cover that fits a whole household, not just the principal applicant.
Workers between permits
A closed work permit ending can end provincial coverage with it. Cover keeps you protected while a renewal or a new permit is in process.
Returning Canadians
Citizens and permanent residents coming home after years abroad usually face the same waiting period as a new arrival. Nobody expects it, and it catches people out.
What a policy actually covers
Emergency medicalHospital, physician and diagnostic costs from a sudden illness or injury. This is the part that matters most, and the part to read closely.
Prescription drugsUsually only those dispensed in connection with a covered emergency, and usually capped.
Emergency dentalTypically limited to relieving acute pain, or to damage from an accident.
RepatriationBringing you home for care, or returning remains. Expensive to self-fund and often overlooked.
Trip interruptionRecovering non-refundable costs when travel is cut short. Sold separately from medical cover on most plans.
Baggage and documentsLost luggage and replacing a passport abroad. Nice to have, never the reason to buy a policy.
Accidental death and dismembermentA lump sum on specified serious outcomes. Frequently bundled in and rarely the deciding factor.
Process
How we get you there.
- 1
Establish when public coverage starts
The answer depends entirely on the province. Some enrol you from the day you arrive; others impose a wait that can run to about three months. Your gap is the number that drives every other decision, so settle it first.
- 2
Check whether an application requires it
Super visa applicants must hold qualifying medical insurance, and the requirement is part of the application, not an afterthought. Some study permit and worker situations carry their own conditions. Requirements change, so we confirm the current rule rather than working from memory.
- 3
Be honest about pre-existing conditions
Most policies only cover a pre-existing condition if it has been stable for a defined period before departure. Declaring accurately is what makes the policy worth having. An undeclared condition is the single most common reason a large claim is denied.
- 4
Compare on the terms that decide claims
Coverage limit, deductible, the stability period, whether the insurer bills the hospital directly, and what is excluded. Two policies at the same price can behave very differently at the moment you need one.
- 5
Buy before you fly
Cover bought after departure is limited or unavailable, and may not take effect immediately. Arrange it while you still have the option.
Common questions
Often yes, at least at first. Several provinces impose a waiting period before your public coverage begins, and until it does, you are responsible for the full cost of any care.
Super visa applicants must hold qualifying Canadian medical insurance meeting the minimum coverage and duration rules in force at the time of application. We confirm the current requirement and check the policy before you file.
We guide you to appropriate cover for your situation and confirm it satisfies any immigration requirement attached to your application.
Sometimes, but read it before you rely on it. Card cover is often capped well below the cost of a serious hospital stay, frequently ends at a certain age, may require the trip to have been paid for on that card, and rarely helps with the newcomer waiting period at all. It is worth checking rather than assuming.
Options narrow considerably once you have departed, and what you can buy may carry a waiting period before it takes effect or exclude anything that began before purchase. It is not always impossible, but it is always worse than arranging it beforehand.
A window before your departure during which a pre-existing condition must not have changed — no new symptoms, no new medication, no dosage change, no new treatment. If it stayed stable through that window, the condition is generally covered; if it did not, it generally is not. The length varies by policy and by your age.
Barely. Provinces reimburse out-of-country care at their own domestic rates, which can be a small fraction of what a hospital abroad actually charges. Canadians travelling overseas need cover for the same reasons visitors to Canada do.
It may, but check that it covers care in Canada specifically, that the limit is realistic against Canadian hospital costs, and whether it satisfies any requirement attached to your visa. Where a super visa is involved, the policy usually has to meet Canadian criteria.
No. We are licensed immigration consultants, not insurance brokers, and we do not earn commission on any policy. We tell you what your situation and your application require, and we check that the cover you choose actually satisfies it.
Start your journey to Canada today.
A simple question or a full assessment, we are here to help and reply within two business days.
- Office
- Burnaby, BC & Montréal, QC