Should I have sent my passport?!

[MCWrang]

So I received the passport request "Ready for Visa" email on Monday, and it had the following comments:

STEP 2: DO YOU NEED A PERMANENT RESIDENCE VISA?

· If you hold passport(s) from countries whose citizens need a visa to travel to Canada, you need your Permanent Resident Visa and it should be affixed in your passport, even if you already have a valid Canadian temporary resident visa.

You are required to submit the passport for you and for each accompanying family member. Please ensure that the passport(s) you are submitting is valid for at least 6 months and have at least two blank pages. If a child is included on your passport, you must have one blank page per accompanying child.

Please note that you STILL need to submit the passport even if you are a permanent resident of the U.S.A AND hold passport(s) from countries whose citizens need a visa to travel to Canada.


· If you hold passport(s) from countries whose citizens need an eTA to travel to Canada or hold passport(s)/travel document(s) issued by the United States, you DO NOT need a Permanent Resident Visa to be affixed in your passport. Please do not send your original passport(s). You are required to submit one photocopy of the photo page and any pages containing amendments of the passport for you and for each accompanying family member. Please ensure that your passport(s) for which you will submit a photocopy is valid for at least 6 months.

I'm from Australia and have an eTA AND an IEC Working Holiday visa (applied under CEC Express Entry), so I was confused as to which option applied to me - do I send my original passport or just photocopies?

So I called IIRC, and after speaking with one of the agents, she assured me that I had to send my original passport.... except I had no confidence in what she was saying at all (kept putting me on hold, the conversation took a long time for what I would consider a basic question). In any case, I trusted what she said, and sent off my original passport on Tuesday.

I spoke with a friend who said that she only had send photocopies of her passport (she's from the UK), and now I'm concerned... could I have been given the wrong information by the agent? Is there any issue with sending my original passport vs photocopies? How long before I get my passport back?

 

[21Goose]

Why did you get confused? You didn't need to send your passport, it says so clearly.

If you hold passport(s) from countries whose citizens need an eTA to travel to Canada or hold passport(s)/travel document(s) issued by the United States, you DO NOT need a Permanent Resident Visa to be affixed in your passport.

Australians don't need a visa to travel to Canada, you just need an ETA. The fact that you have a visa doesn't change that.

However, no real harm done. You should email the visa office where you sent the passport and inform them of your mistake. They will tell you how you can get the passport back - you may have to pay for shipping or something.

They won't lose your passport if that's what you're worried about.

 

[MCWrang]

Why did you get confused? You didn't need to send your passport, it says so clearly.

If you hold passport(s) from countries whose citizens need an eTA to travel to Canada or hold passport(s)/travel document(s) issued by the United States, you DO NOT need a Permanent Resident Visa to be affixed in your passport.

Australians don't need a visa to travel to Canada, you just need an ETA. The fact that you have a visa doesn't change that.

However, no real harm done. You should email the visa office where you sent the passport and inform them of your mistake. They will tell you how you can get the passport back - you may have to pay for shipping or something.

They won't lose your passport if that's what you're worried about.

Yep, just a simple brain-fart. Calling the IRCC was my way of getting absolute confirmation as to what I should do... and I was given the wrong information. Not worried about the passport being lost, and an XpressPost return envelope was included in the package I sent, so it will come back. My concern was more that I'm now without my passport, unsure of the turnaround time, and any implications this will have on the process given they didn't receive the photocopy they asked for (presumably they can photocopy my original passport).

 

[bellaluna]

Yep, just a simple brain-fart. Calling the IRCC was my way of getting absolute confirmation as to what I should do... and I was given the wrong information. Not worried about the passport being lost, and an XpressPost return envelope was included in the package I sent, so it will come back. My concern was more that I'm now without my passport, unsure of the turnaround time, and any implications this will have on the process given they didn't receive the photocopy they asked for (presumably they can photocopy my original passport).

Shouldn't affect processing time. You're not the first person to do this on here.