Citizenship application refused based on 'Period is not covered in the passport'

[MithuShun]

Dear members,

Initially, I posted this question on another thread as I did see any option to start new thread (may be permission issue) and I just found it now. I am really sorry for double posting.

We applied for the Canadian citizenship on August 13th (Me, wife and one kid) and I received the whole documents and refusal letter from them stating following reason:

The passport(s) or travel document(s) provided do not cover the 6 year period preceding the date of
your application. Please send us a photocopy of the biographical page of any other passport(s) or travel
document(s) you have had during the relevant 6 year period'

We landed in Canada on June 14th 2007 (skill migration). My passport has been expired on August 2009, my son’s passport expired on September 2010 and wife’s passport expired on August 2012. Me and my son never visited to any countries since we landed. My wife visited to back home and stayed there only 3 weeks in 2012.

Wife has renewed her passport once. Me and my 10 years old son have not renewed our passport at any time and we do not have any other passport

Also I can see the authorities put a stamp / seal on some of the documents and photos and what does that mean?

Please kindly advise us on what we should do now? Do we need to send any letter and what we should state in that letter? We are really in panic now.

 

[144853]

Dear members,

Initially, I posted this question on another thread as I did see any option to start new thread (may be permission issue) and I just found it now. I am really sorry for double posting.

We applied for the Canadian citizenship on August 13th (Me, wife and one kid) and I received the whole documents and refusal letter from them stating following reason:

The passport(s) or travel document(s) provided do not cover the 6 year period preceding the date of
your application. Please send us a photocopy of the biographical page of any other passport(s) or travel
document(s) you have had during the relevant 6 year period'

We landed in Canada on June 14th 2007 (skill migration). My passport has been expired on August 2009, my son's passport expired on September 2010 and wife's passport expired on August 2012. Me and my son never visited to any countries since we landed. My wife visited to back home and stayed there only 3 weeks in 2012.

Wife has renewed her passport once. Me and my 10 years old son have not renewed our passport at any time and we do not have any other passport

Also I can see the authorities put a stamp / seal on some of the documents and photos and what does that mean?

Please kindly advise us on what we should do now? Do we need to send any letter and what we should state in that letter? We are really in panic now.

As per my understanding....it is not a refusal letter and they returned your application based on CIC's analysis as incomplete application...it seems they are asking for more detailed information as per the letter...send all your old and new passport copies along with T4/NOA's with a cover letter...it should be fine.....it is good that CIC is requesting details right away...rather than sending an RQ at later date and piling your application inline with old applications...no need to be panic....good luck...

Note: I am not a immigration consultant or Subject Matter expert on CIC...just a piece of friendly advise.

 

[MithuShun]

Thank you very much for your kind reply.

We do not have any other passports or any other travel documents. Also, we sent all the pages of the passport including biological page which shows the expiry date. Not sure what they are expecting from us. As you mentioned, we will send our T4 too.

Thank you again.

 

[chikloo]

Thank you very much for your kind reply.

We do not have any other passports or any other travel documents. Also, we sent all the pages of the passport including biological page which shows the expiry date. Not sure what they are expecting from us. As you mentioned, we will send our T4 too.

Thank you again.

Send a cover letter stating the same you have explained here. Include as much detail as possible with passport numbers, expiration too. If that is the only reason they have sent back. With your letter you should be back in queue.

 

[144853]

Thank you very much for your kind reply.

We do not have any other passports or any other travel documents. Also, we sent all the pages of the passport including biological page which shows the expiry date. Not sure what they are expecting from us. As you mentioned, we will send our T4 too.

Thank you again.

It seems that...it was not clear during submission that, your passport was not renewed and CIC is expecting that new passport is not submitted...highlight that you have not renewed your passport after expiry and send your employment letters and Notice of assessments along with your application....

 

[cprak0]

Dear members,

Initially, I posted this question on another thread as I did see any option to start new thread (may be permission issue) and I just found it now. I am really sorry for double posting.

We applied for the Canadian citizenship on August 13th (Me, wife and one kid) and I received the whole documents and refusal letter from them stating following reason:

The passport(s) or travel document(s) provided do not cover the 6 year period preceding the date of
your application. Please send us a photocopy of the biographical page of any other passport(s) or travel
document(s) you have had during the relevant 6 year period'

We landed in Canada on June 14th 2007 (skill migration). My passport has been expired on August 2009, my son's passport expired on September 2010 and wife's passport expired on August 2012. Me and my son never visited to any countries since we landed. My wife visited to back home and stayed there only 3 weeks in 2012.

Wife has renewed her passport once. Me and my 10 years old son have not renewed our passport at any time and we do not have any other passport

Also I can see the authorities put a stamp / seal on some of the documents and photos and what does that mean?

Please kindly advise us on what we should do now? Do we need to send any letter and what we should state in that letter? We are really in panic now.

This is the usual practice return the application as incomplete if the passport doesn't cover all the years in question (4 old rules, 6 now?)
Just a cover letter stating that you didn't bother to have passport renewed as you did not think of leaving Canada! And that should be
it what better way to state that you have no intention of leaving Canada during the process...
Just send it... Just curious why didn't you apply earlier though?

 

[MiriamT]

As per my understanding....it is not a refusal letter and they returned your application based on CIC's analysis as incomplete application...it seems they are asking for more detailed information as per the letter...send all your old and new passport copies along with T4/NOA's with a cover letter...it should be fine.....it is good that CIC is requesting details right away...rather than sending an RQ at later date and piling your application inline with old applications...no need to be panic....good luck...

Note: I am not a immigration consultant or Subject Matter expert on CIC...just a piece of friendly advise.

None of the above is necessary. OP (MithuShun) sent an incomplete application (passports didn't cover the 6-year period and no explanation was included) and because it was incomplete it was returned, that's all. As per indicated in the instruction guide, OP should include a letter explaining why there are gaps; no NOAs and T4s are needed at this point.

"3. Biographical page of passport(s)/travel document(s)
. . .
Note: If your passports and/or travel documents have any gaps in the time they cover during the past six (6) years, or since you became a permanent resident, whichever is more recent, attach an explanation."

Source: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/CIT0002ETOC.asp

 

[Pda]

CIC expects the applicant to have a valid passport all the time. Permanent resident does not mean you are a citizen. What if you are told to leave the country and go back to your home country you need a valid travel document all the time.

A covering letter should work the magic but sometimes its hard to explain things as there is chance that you may be holding a passport but not declaring this is how CIC may be scrutinizing each application.

 

[dispasha]

Dear members,

Initially, I posted this question on another thread as I did see any option to start new thread (may be permission issue) and I just found it now. I am really sorry for double posting.

We applied for the Canadian citizenship on August 13th (Me, wife and one kid) and I received the whole documents and refusal letter from them stating following reason:

The passport(s) or travel document(s) provided do not cover the 6 year period preceding the date of
your application. Please send us a photocopy of the biographical page of any other passport(s) or travel
document(s) you have had during the relevant 6 year period'

We landed in Canada on June 14th 2007 (skill migration). My passport has been expired on August 2009, my son's passport expired on September 2010 and wife's passport expired on August 2012. Me and my son never visited to any countries since we landed. My wife visited to back home and stayed there only 3 weeks in 2012.

Wife has renewed her passport once. Me and my 10 years old son have not renewed our passport at any time and we do not have any other passport

Also I can see the authorities put a stamp / seal on some of the documents and photos and what does that mean?

Please kindly advise us on what we should do now? Do we need to send any letter and what we should state in that letter? We are really in panic now.

dont worry about it similar issues happen to me when I applied on August 2014 I just wrote a letter telling them that since I came to Canada I never renewed my passport after it expired that is the only passport I have and attached with the application and sended back to them and was fine now waiting for my Oath !

 

[MithuShun]

Dear Friends,

Thank you very much for all of your advices and suggestions. It helped to ease our tension a lot and directed us towards right path.

I will write a letter to them as you mentioned and keep on update you all on this.

Cheers

 

[adzees]

It would be a nice idea to contact the embassy of your country of Origin and have them issue you a letter stating that you haven't renewed yout passport since 2008.

 

[MithuShun]

I am planning to send following letter (Sample). Please have a look and let me know if this is in correct format

-----
Dear Sir / Madam,

Please note that my passport has been expired on August 12,2009 and I have Not renewed my passport since then. Also, I would like to let you know that I do not have any other passport or travel document other than this expired passport.

Summary:

My passport number: 123456
Expiry date: August 12,2009
Renewed: NO

Thank you ,
------------------------------------------------------

 

[paw339]

MithuShum.

As has been mentioned above; not having a valid passport is not a problem, my wife recently became a Canadian without any issues and she didn't have a valid passport or a valid PR card.

Don't worry about the format of your explanation letter. Provided you make it clear you have sent them copies of all your passports and travel documents that you held during the 6 year period and clearly mention the reason that you haven't got a valid passport is that you didn't renew it you will be fine. If there was a specific reason why you didn't renew your passport even if it was just to save money it wouldn't hurt to mention that but its not necessary.

 

[MiriamT]

I am planning to send following letter (Sample). Please have a look and let me know if this is in correct format

-----
Dear Sir / Madam,

Please note that my passport has been expired on August 12,2009 and I have Not renewed my passport since then. Also, I would like to let you know that I do not have any other passport or travel document other than this expired passport.

Summary:

My passport number: 123456
Expiry date: August 12,2009
Renewed: NO

Thank you ,
------------------------------------------------------

Not sure if you checked the other thread you posted on (for June applicants), but I also had my very first application returned because of a gap in between passports. When I decided to apply this year, I sent the following (I wrote a cover letter detailing what I had included in the application, to organize things):

"Photocopies (colour, clear and legible) of all passports that I have held, accompanied by certified translations of all stamps not in English or French (Brazilian passport [number] covering November 14, 2006 through November 13, 2011, and Brazilian passport [number] covering February 03, 2012 through February 02, 2017). Between November 14, 2011 and February 02, 2012 I did not have a valid passport. I have never held any other passports;"

The portion bolded above, I also had bolded in the cover letter so the officer wouldn't miss it due to lack of attention. I would try to give as much information as possible within reasonable limits.

When I sent my application this year I didn't know what was wrong with the old application since I did include all the biographical pages of both passports as well as the renewal page of the second passport, and it was returned to me stating that it was missing — but what they said it was missing was in there, so I was just confused. As a precaution I decided then to send photocopies of all pages, and to also add (in the form of the cover letter) that those are the only passports I had. I already had the translations with me since I had applied for a PR Card renewal weeks before, so might as well add those too, heh — but it's not necessary, just read the instruction guide.

It was after the June 11th changes that it was included in the instruction guide to explain any gaps.