BobbyBuilder

Thats it, I'm going to send it through the UK!
Theres nothing wrong with this, just not the designated channel.
Will let you know how it pans out

BristolUK

I'd be worried about more chance of the passport/docs going astray.

I'd also be concerned that the last stamp in the passport would be 'landing' in Canada and then there's a new passport issued in the UK.

Sometimes these things rebound.

On any future trip abroad, your PR Card should get you back into Canada. But then you are also presenting a UK issued passport with no evidence that you were ever in Canada. Looks a bit odd.

I can imagine problems with either having to admit the rules were broken (and what else might not be above board?) or having difficulty proving one hasn't been away too long to have lost PR status.

Something like that could depend on the thoroughness or mood of an immigration official that day.

BobbyBuilder

Hey..thanks for that, I see your point but I only have visitor status at the moment so leaving wont be a problem, and coming back will just be a fresh stamp on a new passport, no?

BristolUK

I may be concerned about nothing. It could just be that as a civil servant of over 30 years back in England I came across many situations where information given conflicted with information given and recorded previously.

The Lees

Even if you are resident overseas you can still legally apply to a UK passport office by dropping off and waiting for them to send back to a UK address, so would an immigration official even see anything untoward with a new passport when you enter Canada?

Surely whether issued from Ottawa or UK it's just a blank new passport??

BristolUK

Yes, but having been given PR in Canada, there is a stamp in your old passport. A new passport issued in Canada confirms you have still been present in Canada. That could be important in maintaining PR status which is lost if you spend too long outside Canada.

What if when you apply for renewal of PR you are asked for your passport - issued ONLY in the UK when you are maintaining you haven't left Canada?

Plus when you have really left Canada temporarily but return after your visit and you present your (UK issued) passport that would suggest you had previously left Canada, but where is the entry stamp for returning to Canada after that earlier visit? That's the thing - you didn't leave before but the UK issued passport means you must have done - or you didn't apply correctly.

It could make immigration suspicious about you.

dewdrop

If you r going back to UK on holiday get it done on your first day back...and have a british address to send it too, as you need to sign for it too!....My name hasn't been changed on my passport yet either, been that way for 8yrs now...lol

cornmatthew

If you're going to the passport office, you may as well pay the extra cash for a same-day renewal. You'll avoid the risk of delays in the post, and it's still a little cheaper than a renewal through Ottawa.

I don't think the OP was planning to actually be in the UK, though.

BristolUK

I don't think my last post explained my misgivings very well.

Let's use an example. Mr Brown and Mr White both came to Canada. Both had 3 years left on their UK passports when they both got PR Cards and landing stamps in their passports in 2004.

In 2007, Mr Brown had a month back in the UK and renewed his passport while there. He returns to Canada, shows his PR Card and now has an entry stamp bonked into his passport.

In early 2008 he visits the UK again. Upon his return to Canada the Immigration official notices a previous entry into Canada in 2007. All seems in order.

Mr Brown needs to renew his PR in 2009. To be entitled he has to have been in Canada for - what is it...2 years in 5? His entry stamp will confirm he's been here since early 2008. That's already approaching two years so he doesn't have a problem.

Now, Mr White sent his passport to relatives/friends in the UK early in 2007. It now gets mailed 4 times instead of twice. Double the chance of it being lost in the post. Not only that but he has to report a loss to the police - from Canada. Bit awkward, that.

"But Mr White...what were you doing sending this document to the UK. You have to renew in Canada."

But he's lucky. There is no loss and he gets is pristine passport back in Canada.

Late in 2009 Mr White visits the UK. Upon his return to Canada the Immigration official notices a UK issued passport. He knows it can only be issued to someone in the UK. Therefore, Mr White was in the UK early in 2008 and only now is he returning to Canada. That's nearly two years outside Canada. Any other period outside Canada between PR in 2004 and 2008 and entitlement to continuing PR is in serious doubt.

So the problem for Mr White is not the blank passport, it's the apparent absence from Canada hitting is PR status.

Of course, he may be able to show presence in Canada in other ways. But the Immigration department will know he bent the rules/disregarded the rules/put himself above the rules etc etc So what else might he have misled people about? What other documents may have been obtained under false pretenses?

Fortunately BobbyBuilder is not a PR so it may not be a problem...other than additional risk of loss of documents.

But there will be some people (like me) faced with the temptation of saving money and 'pretending' to be in the UK for passport renewal. It could cause problems.

BobbyBuilder

Wow! Thats prob true for PR's and if that were me I don't think I'd even consider it were there a chance of messing up my records/status. But again, seeing as im just a visitor I dont see any real hassles eh?!

kastan

If you renew the passport in Canada while still a PR, is the passport a 10 year like if you would renew in the Uk or a 5 year passport like a Canadian one.

Alberta_Rose

Yes.

Cookie

It's a 10 year passport you get back from Ottawa.

My Y has nothing stamped on his new passport to say he is PR in Canada.

If you get a new passport because of a name change (and don't have PR yet) then simply carry 2 passports if you are concerned. However, new passports are electronically chipped so they know your every move at immigration anyway.

BristolUK

Of course. But the original passport will have an 'entry' stamp and then the new passport issued in Canada will confirm presence in Canada for at least that period.

Carrying the two passports is a good idea, but in the situation I mention, the second passport will indicate the holder was outside of Canada when in fact they weren't.

And that's where problems may arise. No matter what immigration records say and no matter what the holder maintains, here is a passport applied for falsely. Perhaps other records have been noted as a result of other false documentation?

All I'm saying is that suspicion may be aroused where a Permanent resident has applied for a passport through the wrong system.

Immigration officers are supposed to be suspicious and consider odd information.

Biiiiink

No it won't, it'll only show that the holder could receive mail at an address in Canada.