Passport Expiration Date

[pasht 0]

Hi guys,

My fiancee's passport expires May 2011, and we won't have an interview until probably July or August. I was looking at the scanned Packet 3 instructions on the wiki, and it says her passport must be valid for one year following the date of the interview. I remember reading somewhere else that it was 6 months past the date of the interview. Is she going to need to renew her passport before our interview?

Thanks,

[trailmix 77]

It is actually, normally, 6 months. I can only tell you what our experience was. My Husband interviewed in February and his passport was expiring in July - so the CO said if it was ok with my Husband he could issue the visa, but it would expire after 5 months, rather than 6 - he said ok and they issued the visa - that was in Montreal for the IR1 visa.

[pasht 0]

It is actually, normally, 6 months. I can only tell you what our experience was. My Husband interviewed in February and his passport was expiring in July - so the CO said if it was ok with my Husband he could issue the visa, but it would expire after 5 months, rather than 6 - he said ok and they issued the visa - that was in Montreal for the IR1 visa.

That's good news. We'll most likely be activating the visa within a couple days of receiving it, so a shorter expiry should be absolutely no problem. Thank you!

[Hugglebuggles 60]

What's weird is that the P3 for Vancouver says 6 months, and the P3 for Montreal says a year. Since you're interviewing in Montreal and Montreal says a year, I would be safe and renew it. Just my opinion! It's better to be safe than sorry right? If the CO at the interview isn't satisfied with the validity period and you need to go apply for a new passport before the visa is issued, this could delay you by weeks or even a few months. Montreal is just amazingly slow sometimes.

[trailmix 77]

Yeah it is weird. You know what, I would renew it too, for two reasons. One, because you don't want a hassle, as Huggle stated - two, it's fast and easy to renew your Canadian passport in Canada.

[pasht 0]

We were debating renewing or not because apparently a renewal changes your passport number, and we didn't know how that would affect the process. However, since she hasn't gotten her packet 3, and nothing in the I-129F packet had her passport number on it, she is indeed going to end up getting an expedited renewal before the P3 shows up. We appreciate the info and advice.