Passport falls a month short of the 18 month rule

[Canucklehead]

Hello

Getting close to submitting everything to IMM. But I read that the expiry date of the passport must be valid for at least 18 months from the date you submit your application. Well, my Brazilian wife's passport falls a month short of that. Then I tried to find if she can renew a passport 18 months before it expires and from what I read it says you can only apply for a new passport 1 year in advance. So what is one to do? I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. Does Canada allow any leeway on this? Any tips out there of what to do? Thanks for your time.

 

[Peterh1970]

I don't know tips, but I only can tell my experience. My passport expires on the end of June 2016. I'm Belgian and my wife applied to sponsor me in August 2015. The Outland application started on September 11 and when she was approved as sponsor in November, my application started on November 23 in the Canadian embassy in Paris and I received my COPR last tuesday with all the details of my passport + expiring date end of June.
It only has mentioned that I have to arrive in Canada before the end of June this year with this passport. I can change my passport (that would take 2 till 3 weeks in Belgium I think), but then I need another COPR and I don't know how long this would take and I'm intended to go before June. I only have to check if I need Eta if I will go after March 15 but that is another discussion.

 

[abddayo]

Hello

Getting close to submitting everything to IMM. But I read that the expiry date of the passport must be valid for at least 18 months from the date you submit your application. Well, my Brazilian wife's passport falls a month short of that. Then I tried to find if she can renew a passport 18 months before it expires and from what I read it says you can only apply for a new passport 1 year in advance. So what is one to do? I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. Does Canada allow any leeway on this? Any tips out there of what to do? Thanks for your time.

My passport was not valid for 18 months from when I applied and I had no issues. I didnt even know this rule existed. If she is Brazilian she is likely to get her visa within 6 months anyway which means she will have almost a year till her passport expires. Maybe wait for other peoples opinions too, but I personally had no issues

 

[truesmile]

Hello

Getting close to submitting everything to IMM. But I read that the expiry date of the passport must be valid for at least 18 months from the date you submit your application. Well, my Brazilian wife's passport falls a month short of that. Then I tried to find if she can renew a passport 18 months before it expires and from what I read it says you can only apply for a new passport 1 year in advance. So what is one to do? I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. Does Canada allow any leeway on this? Any tips out there of what to do? Thanks for your time.

She should be permitted to do so, especially if she is doing so for a name change. My wife did so (albeit Filipino), much earlier than otherwise needed (she was changing her name with that renewal).

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Getting close to submitting everything to IMM. But I read that the expiry date of the passport must be valid for at least 18 months from the date you submit your application. Well, my Brazilian wife's passport falls a month short of that. Then I tried to find if she can renew a passport 18 months before it expires and from what I read it says you can only apply for a new passport 1 year in advance. So what is one to do? I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. Does Canada allow any leeway on this? Any tips out there of what to do? Thanks for your time.

There is no such rule requiring the passort to be valid for 18 months. Submit the app now; there will no issue.

 

[Canucklehead]

There is no such rule requiring the passort to be valid for 18 months. Submit the app now; there will no issue.

Thank you for your advice. I'm a little confused now. I'm a Canadian living in Japan and my wife and I both have permanent resident visas for Japan (she is from Brazil). On the Government of Canada Immigration forms IMM3999 I found my way to this checklist specific for those in Japan - the IMM3913e . It states in the checklilst at #10 that the expiry date of the passport must be valid for at least 18 months from the date you submit your application.

So now I'm wondering what is the correct CHECKLIST for me to use to make sure I have all the right forms and follow the steps correctly. Is IMM3913e not the correct checklist? Is it IMM5419e? So confused.... :-[
Thank you for your time.

 

[jag21]

Imm3913e is the correct checklist for you because your wife is holding permanent visa in japan and the passport must be valid atleast 18months based on the checklist. Your visa office might be manila or sao paulo brazil.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Sorry, I had not seen that, as it is not stated on the CIC website and only seems to apply to a few countries, not everyone. It's strange.

Nonetheless, I would still just submit the app. It will be processed well before the 18 month mark, especially if it's sent to Sao Paulo, which has pretty much the fastest processing time out there.

 

[28january]

I understand that some countries don't allow passport renewal (my home country is like that as well), but what if you report it lost and get a new passport? I know we want to think that it's fine since you'll probably get approved before the 18 month mark, but there's always that fear that your application will get returned just because they can't tick that one box on the checklist. Although I would think that the embassy will let her make a new passport if they know of the circumstance?