OSFI's 5.25% Floor, Confirmed for 2026: What Super Visa Sponsors Should Recheck
A wording change can send a careful family back to the spreadsheet for nothing. As of January 29, 2026, OSFI's minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages is the higher of your contract rate plus 2 percentage points or 5.25%. Some older summaries said "greater of." The formula is the same and so is the number, yet people still reopen their budgets wondering what moved.
You may be working out whether you can bring a parent to Canada on a Super Visa while also keeping an eye on your mortgage. When both sets of figures land on the kitchen table at once, it's easy to treat one as the answer to the other. A mortgage qualifying rate tells a lender whether you can carry your loan. It tells you nothing about whether your income meets the Super Visa requirement, and a reworded rule is still the same rule.
Confirm what the 5.25% floor does to your mortgage
Read the formula as written.OSFI's guidance sets the test at the higher of your contract rate plus 2 points or 5.25%. "Higher of" and "greater of" give identical results, so your stress test did not change with the wording.
Work out which side applies to you. Take your contract rate and add 2. If the result is above 5.25%, that's your qualifying rate. The floor only kicks in when the result falls below it, and the two sides meet at a contract rate of 3.25%. People skip this step because 5.25% is the number in the headlines.
Keep your mortgage check and your Super Visa check separate
Use the mortgage test only for mortgage decisions. It applies to your renewal, refinance or purchase planning, and stops there.
Answer the income question with the application's own rules. Passing a lender's stress test doesn't show that your household income meets the Super Visa requirement.
Confirm before counting a parent's pension. Check whether the application accepts it toward the income requirement before you build your plan around it.
You don't need to rebuild anything. Before you look for an answer, write down whether your open question is about qualifying for a mortgage or about which income your application accepts. That one line tells you who to ask.
A wording change can send a careful family back to the spreadsheet for nothing. As of January 29, 2026, OSFI's minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages is the higher of your contract rate plus 2 percentage points or 5.25%. Some older summaries said "greater of." The formula is the same and so is the number, yet people still reopen their budgets wondering what moved.
You may be working out whether you can bring a parent to Canada on a Super Visa while also keeping an eye on your mortgage. When both sets of figures land on the kitchen table at once, it's easy to treat one as the answer to the other. A mortgage qualifying rate tells a lender whether you can carry your loan. It tells you nothing about whether your income meets the Super Visa requirement, and a reworded rule is still the same rule.
Confirm what the 5.25% floor does to your mortgage
Read the formula as written. OSFI's guidance sets the test at the higher of your contract rate plus 2 points or 5.25%. "Higher of" and "greater of" give identical results, so your stress test did not change with the wording.
Work out which side applies to you. Take your contract rate and add 2. If the result is above 5.25%, that's your qualifying rate. The floor only kicks in when the result falls below it, and the two sides meet at a contract rate of 3.25%. People skip this step because 5.25% is the number in the headlines.
Keep your mortgage check and your Super Visa check separate
Use the mortgage test only for mortgage decisions. It applies to your renewal, refinance or purchase planning, and stops there.
Answer the income question with the application's own rules. Passing a lender's stress test doesn't show that your household income meets the Super Visa requirement.
Confirm before counting a parent's pension. Check whether the application accepts it toward the income requirement before you build your plan around it.
You don't need to rebuild anything. Before you look for an answer, write down whether your open question is about qualifying for a mortgage or about which income your application accepts. That one line tells you who to ask.
Read Next
Lump-Sum Inheritance or a Testamentary Trust? Here's Who Each One Is For
A $2,000 Storm Bill Is the Liquidity Test Most Canadians Are Failing
Capital Gains Are the Wrong Scoreboard When Your Income Can Vanish
Your Paid-Off House Can't Pay the Grocery Bill in Retirement