Sponsoring a spouse with a dual citizenship (One of the passports is expired)

[sohaeb]

Hello Everyone,

My spouse was born in Iraq and later became a naturalized Cypriot citizen almost 4 years ago.
Her Iraqi passport has been expired for more than 3 years already, so she has been using her Cypriot passport for travel purposes.

My question, do I need to include the expired Iraqi passport with the application or it won't be necessary since it's already expired ?

 

[canuck78]

Hello Everyone,

My spouse was born in Iraq and later became a naturalized Cypriot citizen almost 4 years ago.
Her Iraqi passport has been expired for more than 3 years already, so she has been using her Cypriot passport for almost travels.

My question, do I need to include the expired Iraqi passport with the application or it won't be necessary since it's already expired ?

Do both countries allow dual citizenship? If so she needs to include both passports and both should be valid.

 

[Diana1993]

Do both countries allow dual citizenship? If so she needs to include both passports and both should be valid.

Where could I find the official information about it? I was looking for it in the guidelines, IRPA and IRPR and could not find it. Could you share it please?

 

[DimT44]

Do both countries allow dual citizenship? If so she needs to include both passports and both should be valid.

Isn't there a difference between declaring passports and citizenships? I would've assumed they would have to include only the valid passport, and then declare having two citizenships. Would what I just mentioned be wrong? and why?

 

[armoured]

Isn't there a difference between declaring passports and citizenships? I would've assumed they would have to include only the valid passport, and then declare having two citizenships. Would what I just mentioned be wrong? and why?

I do not see any specific requirement that you must provide a photocopy of a valid passport that you do not intend to travel on.

IMM5533 (checklist) says you must provide most recently issued travel document (passport), but does not specify what needs to be done for dual citizens. It then goes on to say that you do not need a valid travel document (passport) at time of applying, but you will need a valid one before travelling to Canada. (Note I looked at outland checklist, not inland, so don't know what it says).

So I'm going to go out on a limb and say that while it's NOT ideal, you can probably submit the photocopy of your expired other passport; might be wise to submit a letter of explanation with it that you do NOT intend to renew it or use it to travel anytime soon and that you will travel on the other passport (all the more so that I think it's a visa waiver country). (Might have more credibility if you have a good reason to not renew, like hard to renew Iraqi passports right now abroad - don't know if that's the case)

But I can't say for certain and have not looked through the full instructions. You really should read through those and check if there are any specific instructions that apply to your case. Obviously I could be wrong and there may be a risk.

(Note - there are other issues that may come up, like you will I assume need to provide most other documents eg birth certificate etc from Iraq if that's the country of birth)

 

[Diana1993]

I do not see any specific requirement that you must provide a photocopy of a valid passport that you do not intend to travel on.

IMM5533 (checklist) says you must provide most recently issued travel document (passport), but does not specify what needs to be done for dual citizens. It then goes on to say that you do not need a valid travel document (passport) at time of applying, but you will need a valid one before travelling to Canada. (Note I looked at outland checklist, not inland, so don't know what it says).

So I'm going to go out on a limb and say that while it's NOT ideal, you can probably submit the photocopy of your expired other passport; might be wise to submit a letter of explanation with it that you do NOT intend to renew it or use it to travel anytime soon and that you will travel on the other passport (all the more so that I think it's a visa waiver country). (Might have more credibility if you have a good reason to not renew, like hard to renew Iraqi passports right now abroad - don't know if that's the case)

But I can't say for certain and have not looked through the full instructions. You really should read through those and check if there are any specific instructions that apply to your case. Obviously I could be wrong and there may be a risk.

(Note - there are other issues that may come up, like you will I assume need to provide most other documents eg birth certificate etc from Iraq if that's the country of birth)

Well stated. For inland is the same thing. I think if they needed both passports to be valid they would put it on the checklist. I doubt that you are the first dual citizen that they deal with.

 

[sohaeb]

I do not see any specific requirement that you must provide a photocopy of a valid passport that you do not intend to travel on.

IMM5533 (checklist) says you must provide most recently issued travel document (passport), but does not specify what needs to be done for dual citizens. It then goes on to say that you do not need a valid travel document (passport) at time of applying, but you will need a valid one before travelling to Canada. (Note I looked at outland checklist, not inland, so don't know what it says).

So I'm going to go out on a limb and say that while it's NOT ideal, you can probably submit the photocopy of your expired other passport; might be wise to submit a letter of explanation with it that you do NOT intend to renew it or use it to travel anytime soon and that you will travel on the other passport (all the more so that I think it's a visa waiver country). (Might have more credibility if you have a good reason to not renew, like hard to renew Iraqi passports right now abroad - don't know if that's the case)

But I can't say for certain and have not looked through the full instructions. You really should read through those and check if there are any specific instructions that apply to your case. Obviously I could be wrong and there may be a risk.

(Note - there are other issues that may come up, like you will I assume need to provide most other documents eg birth certificate etc from Iraq if that's the country of birth)

This is really helpful, thank you for the detailed explanation.

I will be doing exactly you have suggested jus to be safe and yes, I need to submit her birth certificate which luckily she has it translated as well.