Might've goofed up my explanation about passport renewal...what do you think?

[fandv]

Hi everyone...

I'm a Canadian citizen who's sponsoring my Indonesian wife (outland through Singapore). We already mailed the application package on 22 Jan to CPC-Mississauga.

My wife's passport will expire in March 2014. We were going to renew my wife's passport before sending the application, however we found out that the Indonesian immigration wouldn't renew a passport unless its remaining validity is 6 months or less.

So in the sponsorship application package, we put a little note addressed to CPC-M and the Singapore visa office, explaining something like this:

To whom it may concern,

We would've sent a photocopy of my wife's renewed passport, but since the Indonesian immigration doesn't renew a passport unless it's got 6 months of remaining validity or less, we are sending only a photocopy of my wife's current passport, since right now (January 2013) it is too early to renew. We will be able to send you a copy of the renewed passport sometime in September 2013 (which is 6 months before my wife's passport expires).

Thanks,
XXX

Here's the thing: today we just found out that in fact the Indonesian immigration does allow renewal for an Indonesian passport even if its remaining validity is more than 6 months!! The catch is that we'd have to pay an early renewal fee to the Indonesian immigration (which we don't mind doing), and submit a letter (to the Indonesian immigration too) from the party requesting the passport (in this case, the CIC or VO) explaining the reason why the passport has to be renewed early.

Now: let's imagine the following hypothetical scenario: let's say everything is all good, and let's say my wife gets really lucky, and the VO wants to give her the PR in, say, June 2013 (unlikely to be that early, I know, but remember that this is only a hypothetical scenario), but then just before the VO makes the passport request, he/she looks at the note that we wrote, and he/she mistakenly thinks that my wife has to wait till September 2013 before being able to renew the passport......then the VO delays requesting the passport till September....wow...! That's a really bad thing no?! It would really suck...

What would you guys do in this situation? Would you perhaps send them an email, once you got your UCI, explaining that it is in fact possible to renew the passport even if its validity is more than 6 months left? Is emailing them an effective way to communicate with them? Do they even read it?

Any other ideas?

(Just a little thought: yes, upon the hypothethical June 2013 passport request, my wife's passport will still be valid. However, if I remember correctly, I think the VO will only accept a passport that has at least 1 year remaining validity right? And June 2013 is 9 months before it expires, so the renewal is necessary anyway.)

 

[wilson]

According to my understanding a passport can be send to the VO for visa stamping if it has a validity of 6 months. Therefore I don't think they have to rush for the renewal too early. But if the renewal procedure take too long, it can be considered subject to the processing period. Suppose she cannot get the passport renewed 6 months before its expiry, then her current passport can be submitted. Her visa will be valid till the (i)date of the expiry of the passport or till ( ii ) completion of one year from her medical date which ever comes first.

 

[fandv]

According to my understanding a passport can be send to the VO for visa stamping if it has a validity of 6 months. Therefore I don't think they have to rush for the renewal too early. But if the renewal procedure take too long, it can be considered subject to the processing period. Suppose she cannot get the passport renewed 6 months before its expiry, then her current passport can be submitted. Her visa will be valid till the (i)date of the expiry of the passport or till ( ii ) completion of one year from her medical date which ever comes first.

oh 6 months...?! Is that something universal? Because I'm pretty sure I saw someone paste a letter from the visa office, requesting that the passport have at least 1 year of remaining validity...

In your experience, is email an effective way of communicating with them? Do they actually reply people's emails?

Also, if we were to send a photocopy of the renewed passport, is it better to wait till the application package has been transferred to Singapore? My logic is that even if a UCI has been issued, the paperwork might not have been transferred from CPC-M to Singapore...

 

[maplegal86]

You can apply for that new passport and send an update email to say 'Here's that new passport and passport number'.

They usually don't need the passport til the file is transferred to to the VO (Singapore in your case).

I had a similar situation where by the time they requested for my passport, I had run out of pages, so I had to get a new one made. Sent them an email and said here's a new passport because I ran out of pages, this is the number. No problems so far.

 

[Camelboy]

One thing you can do is when the passport is requested for visa issuance, submit the old expired passport along with the new and provide them a separate sheet explaining that your old passport is expired and want to use this new one,
So in this option you would not bother them with the new passport during processing.

 

[fandv]

One thing you can do is when the passport is requested for visa issuance, submit the old expired passport along with the new and provide them a separate sheet explaining that your old passport is expired and want to use this new one,
So in this option you would not bother them with the new passport during processing.

That's a good idea indeed . But as mentioned in my first post, my concern is if they delay requesting for the passport, mistakenly thinking that my wife won't be able to renew her passport till September 2013 (assuming she's lucky enough and the VO wants to grant her the PR before Sept 2013, that is...)

 

[Camelboy]

It is most likely that will not bring any delay, all they want is a passport with a minimum 6 months validity new or old