Parents - COPR received , passport expiring soon.

[warhound]

Hello all,

I am in a big dilemna right now and need urgent help from seniors.

my parents have received their COPR recently. This was a long drawn process for over 6 years as they had extensive travel history over the course of their career and needed multiple police verifications from many countries.

Anyhoo - that is a different matter. The issue at hand is that now that the COPR has finally come, we have 7 months left on the passport that 1) the immigrant visa was stamped to and 2) the COPR has the passport number printed on it as well.

if we renew passport before travel, the new passport # will be different than the passport # on the COPR , and I don’t know if this will affect stamping at the border

if they travel to Canada with 3-4 months left on existing passport - I’m worried they might be refused entry as I’ve read many places that validity on passports needs to be 6 months for entry.

I really don’t know what to do at this point. Can anyone please help us and guide us who have experienced something similar

Thanks in advance

 

[armoured]

https://ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1650&top=16

In theory can be done with new passport. I don't know how airlines are about this in practice (haven't heard many/any reports about this for immigrant visas, it's not that unusual for TRVs though I think). I am fairly confident that the different passport # listed on the COPR is a non-issue.

On the other hand: it is a fact that the six month passport validity guideline does not apply to those arriving on permanent resident visas. (Because they don't have to leave). They can just renew their passport in Canada afterwards (how easy that is can depend on nationality/embassy or consulate locally).

On an ongoing basis, it will not matter a bit which passport was used to land, it's not linked to the PR card.

So personally I think that option is lower risk. Your/their decision.

 

[warhound]

So personally I think that option is lower risk. Your/their decision.

sorry - just to clarify - are you suggesting to travel on the existing passport with less than 6 month validity as the lower risk ?

 

[armoured]

sorry - just to clarify - are you suggesting to travel on the existing passport with less than 6 month validity as the lower risk ?

Yes, that's my opinion. You can also check with airline that an immigration visa holder is not subject to that - with the usual caveat that getting a straight and correct answer from airline call centres is not easy. (Same applies to the other option, really).

Third option - superior really - is to get the new passport and ask the visa centre/consulate to replace the visa and COPR. I have no idea how hard that will be. But it seems your parents may have time.

Canada border services won't care either way.

 

[warhound]

Thanks for your help. I have a follow up if you don’t mind. City of destination is listed as Winnipeg, MB and province of destination as MB, but we have relocated to Toronto since.

since this is a family based sponsorship. Can parents declare Torotno as final destination at landing or would it be prudent to remain consistent with Winnipeg.

 

[armoured]

Ok

Thanks for your help. I have a follow up if you don’t mind. City of destination is listed as Winnipeg, MB and province of destination as MB, but we have relocated to Toronto since.

since this is a family based sponsorship. Can parents declare Torotno as final destination at landing or would it be prudent to remain consistent with Winnipeg.

No issue.