I recently spoke to a friend about this issue: if someone's passport is expiring in a year, and not renewable until 6 months before its expiration , assuming this person qualifies and sends his application before he renews his passport , then when his application reaches certain point, the passport information he provided would become invalid, will this cause any problem for background check? Or should he wait till the passport is renewed before sending out application ? Thanks
Passport renewal during application
- Thread starter itsmyid
- Start date
The passport information submitted with the application should not become "invalid" merely because a new passport has been obtained, assuming it is from the same country referenced in the application.
Note item 6.C., in the current application, asks the applicant to list any country or countries in which the applicant is a citizen, and for any such listed country the applicant should include respective passport information in response to items 6.D and 6.E.
In particular, in the current application form only items 6.D and 6.E ask for information about the applicant's passport, and so far as I can discern this information does not change even though the applicant acquires a new passport. The information specifically refers to passports held or valid during the previous six years; that is, this is static (unchanging) information as of the date the application is made. (In contrast, reported "home address" in the application is information which does change if a person moves while the application is pending, and thus is clearly information which, if it changes, requires notifying IRCC.)
The applicant needs to be sure to keep and present the old passport along with the new/renewed passport when the applicant appears for the test/interview.
Caution: Particular caution should be taken for renewing a passport if the particular country is one which does not return the old passport. At the very least, it is a good idea to make a colour copy of ALL pages in the passport and memorialize the date. If it is likely, and especially if for sure the old passport will not be returned, it might be prudent to have someone like a notary verify the copy . . . not necessarily a certified copy as such (there may be restrictions about who and when a certified copy of a passport can be made), but a verification that the copy is a true, correct, and complete copy of the passport as of a particular date.
The risk of problems is high if there is any failure to present, at the interview, all possibly relevant passports, no matter how innocent the reason.
Personal experience:
I renewed my passport after applying and before attending the interview without even thinking about notifying CIC (I became a citizen before the change to IRCC). No problems.
Ironically, though, just the other day I was thinking about this relative to discussions about notifying IRCC of a change in residential address (which is clearly called for), and wondering if technically I was supposed to notify CIC when I obtained the new passport. Without thinking much more about it than that until you posted this query.
As observed above, after revisiting the question due to your query, it appears clear to me that other than making sure to keep and present the old passport along with the new passport, when attending the interview, I see no reason why IRCC needs to be notified if or when an applicant renews his or her passport. Obtaining a new passport does not change any of the information submitted in the application.
At my interview, the interviewer merely remarked "oh, you have a brand new passport," quickly examined the bio page, and more quickly flipped through the pages (which were blank as I had not yet used it for travel). She spent a little more time examining my expired passport, but not a lot (while I traveled abroad frequently, most of the trips were to the U.S., so I had relatively few stamps in my passport).
Before sending off my old passport, I made two complete color copies of ALL pages in the old passport, just in case the old passport was lost or damaged in the process. I do not recall precisely what I did to memorialize the date the copies were made, but I did something to do that. I did not bother to have anyone verify the copy, but I was confident there would be no reason for CIC to be concerned about my travel history (I applied with a 300+ days margin for one thing).
