Sending passport to Pretoria from Canada.

[RQvdm]

Hi there. I hope someone can give me some advice here...

I am scheduled to fly to Vancouver on Tuesday (on a visitor visa) but today I was contacted with the news that my Permanent Residence file has been completed. CIC Pretoria now want my passport and photos in order to issue my PR stamp or sticker thing.
My question is: Can I still travel to Canada and courier my passport to Pretoria/Ottawa from Vancouver Island (with pre-paid postage back to Canada?)
I have read that some people wait long to get their passports back after submitting them for this. Is there anything I can do that doesn't involve delaying my flight for another month or more?

Thank you!

 

[CDNPR2014]

Hi there. I hope someone can give me some advice here...

I am scheduled to fly to Vancouver on Tuesday (on a visitor visa) but today I was contacted with the news that my Permanent Residence file has been completed. CIC Pretoria now want my passport and photos in order to issue my PR stamp or sticker thing.
My question is: Can I still travel to Canada and courier my passport to Pretoria/Ottawa from Vancouver Island (with pre-paid postage back to Canada?)
I have read that some people wait long to get their passports back after submitting them for this. Is there anything I can do that doesn't involve delaying my flight for another month or more?

Thank you!

most likely, no. some visa offices won't send the passport out of the country because it is illegal in some countries to do that. the best course of action right now is to respond to the email sent and advise them you are traveling to canada and are requesting to send it to ottawa for processing. i would also recommend sending a case specific inquiry with the same information as well.

i'm a bit confused though... if you're from south africa, aren't you visa exempt? if so, then you don't need to send your physical passport, all that is required is a photocopy. i would recommend confirming if you're visa exempt or not before sending off your passport, because it may not be necessary, andcarefully re-read the request to see if it mentions what to do if you are visa exempt (assuming you are). what is your country of citizenship?

 

[Aquakitty]

most likely, no. some visa offices won't send the passport out of the country because it is illegal in some countries to do that. the best course of action right now is to respond to the email sent and advise them you are traveling to canada and are requesting to send it to ottawa for processing. i would also recommend sending a case specific inquiry with the same information as well.

i'm a bit confused though... if you're from south africa, aren't you visa exempt? if so, then you don't need to send your physical passport, all that is required is a photocopy. i would recommend confirming if you're visa exempt or not before sending off your passport, because it may not be necessary, andcarefully re-read the request to see if it mentions what to do if you are visa exempt (assuming you are). what is your country of citizenship?

South Africa isn't visa-exempt unfortunately.

To the OP, even if you did get your passport out of the country and into SA, but they won't mail it to you in Canada. You'd need an SA address anyways. So that would leave you stuck in Canada with no passport.

What you could do is travel to Canada and mail it to Ottawa. But, no guarantees on how long that will take.

 

[CDNPR2014]

South Africa isn't visa-exempt unfortunately.

AH! i didn't realize SA isn't visa exempt.

 

[Aquakitty]

AH! i didn't realize SA isn't visa exempt.

Yea it's hard to remember them all, but this list helps: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas-all.asp#visa

 

[RQvdm]

Shit! So I can at least request that Ottawa office takes over from Pretoria?

 

[CDNPR2014]

*censored word*! So I can at least request that Ottawa office takes over from Pretoria?

yes you can request it. whether they choose to comply with that request is up to them.

 

[RQvdm]

Thank you all very much for your help.