Foreign passport renewal issue

[neutral]

You don't need to renew your passport. My wife's passport had expired so she no valid travel document for part of the residency period and it didn't cause any problems. The only time you have a problem is if CIC think you are hiding a passport.

And if she needs to travel for an emergency.

 

[oldfriend]

Frankly, let's cut the crap, just go to renew your passports no matter they are expired or not. Why bother? Why not?

Yes, but the difficulty is that the renewal must be done in the home country through the embassy in Ottawa which takes a long time to get the new passport plus the cost of the travel to Ottawa twice to submit and recieive (a mater of some thousands $ for the whole family). this is why

 

[oldfriend]

You don't need to renew your passport. My wife's passport had expired so she no valid travel document for part of the residency period and it didn't cause any problems. The only time you have a problem is if CIC think you are hiding a passport.

Thank you Paw339,
Did your wife include with the citizenship application any explanation letter to CIC about why she didn't renew the passport?
Did the CIC officer ask her about that in the interview and what was the answer.

 

[cprak0]

Thanks to all who shared his/her experience about this issue.
My concern is that the application could be returned if the citizenship officer found that the expired passport doesn't cover the entire stated period of time. I will be eligible to apply for citizenship and send my application to CPC Sydney after about 6 months of my passport expiration date. I read here in this forum about cases where the application was returned back to the applicant because the passport was expired and didn't cover the whole period of residency. Some members suggested to write a letter explaining the reason why the passport was not renewed, declaring that the applicant doesn't posses any other passport or travel document and attach the letter along with the application with a hope that this can prevent the application from being returned.
I and my family (all adults) have our passports issued and expired in the same date and I need to know whether each of us should write the explanation letter or one letter for all of us will be sufficient if we intend to send a family application. Should this letter be signed or not

You need to include a cover letter stating that the passport bio doesn't cover all the 6 years coz your passport expired and you didn't have a passport
or that you have just begun the renewal process and the reason why you let it expire on you. That you never intended to leave Canada, didn't have a pressing need to go back to your country.

If you didn't include the cover letter they just return the application saying it's not complete (Not refusing) just that initial check the routine is

Does passport include all years in question, if yes, look for other holes, if not RETURN...

 

[oldfriend]

You need to include a cover letter stating that the passport bio doesn't cover all the 6 years coz your passport expired and you didn't have a passport
or that you have just begun the renewal process and the reason why you let it expire on you. That you never intended to leave Canada, didn't have a pressing need to go back to your country.

If you didn't include the cover letter they just return the application saying it's not complete (Not refusing) just that initial check the routine is

Does passport include all years in question, if yes, look for other holes, if not RETURN...

Thank you very much cprak0 ,
Yes , that's what I knew and I'll follow it surely.
If we as a family (all adults with expired passports) intend to submit our applications together (family application), the question is, must each one in the family write his own cover letter with his signature or one letter for all is sufficient ?

 

[cprak0]

For citizenship each application is considered separately, but any concerns in the spouse's file can cause you problems.
Not the other way around. A squeak clean application cannot hide the problems of the spouse file!
So, yes, each one would write a separate cover letter. Every application also should have a proof of fee paid.
But they can all go in one envelope. I had each one in an envelope and then stuffed them all in a larger envelope.
Hope this helps...