clan_campbell

Hi

does anyone know if there is a minimum amount of time that needs to be
on your passport when you validate your visa ?

I'm just working out whether I need to pay the £50 odd quid
for our passport renewal or not.

Another question, if you validate your visa, and your UK passport
expires whilst in Oz, are you still able to return to the UK ?

Many thanks

Neil

Pootle

If its that close to expiring why not just renew it? They'll add up to 9 months time onto your new passport from your old one if you still have time remaining on it. I think you'd have big problems if you were out of the country when it expired.

zbettyboop

Hi

Not sure if you have to but i would get a new one just incase.
You never know if you are going to need to come back to the UK at short notice.

Beth

stevenpoole9

We had to renew my son's passport as there would have been only 4 months left on it when we validate in January. We could not travel with less than 6 months on it anyway, and chances are we have had to renew at some point.
If you do renew, I would go to the closest passport office (I went to Liverpool) so you don't have to send the visa sticker through the post. You have to ring and make an appointment, I was lucky and got offered an appointment for the following day at 9:30. I got there at 9:00 and they bumped me up to 9:00. It cost 83 GBP but they guarantee to have it completed in 4 hours, and the original passport with the visa in does not leave the building. Well worth the money if only for the piece of mind.
Good luck.

JAJ

Under DIMIA rules, your passport should at least be valid up to the first entry date when your visa is stamped.

Australia does not have any rule about how long a passport should be valid for if you are arriving as a migrant, but some countries en-route will refuse to admit you if you have less than 6 months.


If your passport is about to expire, you will save yourself a lot of hassle by renewing it the UK. Make sure you do so *before* your visa is stamped.


You won't be able to go anywhere without getting a new UK passport. This can be done at the British High Commission in Australia, however it's more expensive, slower and more complicated compared to getting a new passport in the UK.



Jeremy

stevenpoole9

JAJ we are flying with Singapore Air, re-fueling in Singapore, and we HAD to renew the passport as it didn't have the minimum 6 months the Singapore Authorities required. Steve.

clan_campbell

I have already got a new passport for my eldest son, am applying for my daughters first passport
(great fun trying to get a photo of an 18 month old baby, that meets the requirements ! )
and am renewing my wife's passport too! My other sons passport runs out in
July 2007, and I was banking on getting over to Oz in about December 2006.
Sod it - I think i'll just renew his too !

Cheers

Neil

clan_campbell

Thanks for that Jeremy,

it seems to make sense that all 5 of us have up to date passports, so I think i'll send off the renewal !

Cheers

Neil

JAJ

Singapore does have a "6 month rule" and won't accept passports with less than 6 months validity. Same goes for some other Far East countries.

However Australia does not have such a rule (not everyone travels via Singapore).


I am surprised they made an issue of this if you were only in transit as you don't go through Singapore immigration control.



Jeremy

stevenpoole9

JAJ, not sure we'll even get off the plane in Singapore, we will only be there for 1 1/2 hours to re-fuel. For us it was a case of "belt and braces". One or two things have gone wrong in the whole visa application process, nothing major, but annoying, and we didn't want anything to jeopardise the validation trip as the Australian Authorities are said to be VERY strict when it comes to the visas.

Pollyana

You almost certainly will have to leave the aircraft - technically its illegal (in most countries) to refuel with passengers on board. However you need not go through immigration, you can just walk round the airport, stretch your legs, then report back to the gate. If they offer you a landing card on the plane, to fill in for Singapore, you don't need to do it, as you are not entering the coutry itself.
You may need to take your hand luggage off with you (varies from airline to airline) but you don't have to collect your hold luggage - that stays on board.

Hope this helps you understand the process a bit!

stevenpoole9

Thanks for that Pollyanna, we'll probably just have a walk around and let the kids burn off a bit of energy. It's a good flight schedule though. It takes 12 hours to get to Singapore non-stop, then we stop for about 1 1/2 hours to refuel, then it takes another 9 hours to get to Brisbane International. Can't wait. Steve.

JAJ

Australia does not have a "6 month rule" regarding passport validty for permanent residents.

That said, it's simplest to ensure you have up to date passports *before* getting any visas stamped.


Jeremy

JAJ

Some flights that stop to refuel in the US will leave all passengers on board. The US forces all transit passengers to clear US customs and immigration, however this is not normally required for "technical" stops where no-one either boards or leaves the plane.




Jeremy

Pam

We had a smililar problem in that our son visa runs out in Feb 07, by which time we are hoping to just about be living in Oz! So I didn't have to worry about it, we decided to renew his passport here before we had the vias put in. Not sure where you are, but it only took 5 days for our sons to be processed adn returned from Lonodn (and that wasn't paying anything other than the normal Fee). So now is probably a good time to get your renewed quickly - better be safe than sorry!