Increase In Visa Validity
 

DEAR ALL,

After a long wait of 5.5 years, I finally got my immigration visas. The validity of the same is from 15/11/2005 to 14/01/2006. This will be too less a time for me to wind up my interests in India & go to Canada with my family. Please advice me is it possible to extend the visa validity period & how one should go about doing it. I had my medicals done in the month of Jan-05.

Thanx & Regards
Vipul

Re: Increase In Visa Validity
 

Ask on the immigration forum but the answer about an extension is likely to be "no chance". You will need to land in Canada before the deadline (no flexibility, so don't leave it to the last minute).

You can return to your home country to close your affairs after landing. If you don't have the PR Card or a visa-waiver passport (Indian passport is not visa-waiver), you can apply for a Travel Document at a CIC office in India in order to return to Canada.

I can't stress this enough - if you don't land before 14 Jan 2006, your PR is gone and you will have to apply again. All family members must land.



Jeremy

Re: Increase In Visa Validity
 

No you can't extend the validity of a visa. If you do not land within the time then you have to start the process all over again. I'm sure you wouldn't want to go through the 5.5 years again.

What you could always do is land a month or so before your visa is due to expire and then return back to India to tie up your loose ends.

That is what we did in June. We all flew out and landed. I stayed here with the children (rented an apartment) and my husband flew back to the UK. He has his own business that he is winding up and also sorting out our house sale. When everything is finalised, he flies back in the middle of December.

After we landed and our PR cards arrived, I sent my husband his by FedEx which meant that he has been able to come and go as he pleases for visits.

It has been difficult being apart as our children are very small - but it is a means to an end. We had managed to get our son a place in a good school and he had to start in September or he would have lost the place. We had to be here by the middle of June to enrol him - which is what dictated our time line.

But 5 months later he is settled and very happy and we are very pleased with the school, so we know we made the right decision.