Passport retention/travel during application process
Jul 27th 2017, 2:49 pm
#1
Down & Safe
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2017
Location: Upper Canada
Posts: 71
Passport retention/travel during application process
Hi everyone,
Brief background, my wife (Canadian) & I (British), along with our 3 children (dual) are gearing up for an application in the next 8-9 months. We're visiting my parents in the UK over Christmas, flights have been booked for a while. Our original plan has been to put our house up for sale in the new year, & once we have a confirmed buyer start the application process; moving into temporary accommodation as a stopgap if necessary.
It has occurred to us that we could use the flights booked at Christmas to move, i.e. put an application in at the end of August, requesting an arrival date of the end of November (3 months, with 30 day entry visa covering our flight departure at end of Dec). VFS Global would retain the passport at the biometric appointment. Assuming it takes 3 months, as things seem to these days, that would allow an extra month for delays; I would make a trip back in the new year to empty/sell the house, vehicles etc. I guess the worry would be if we hadn't got the visa before our flights were booked... is there a way to get the passport back? I'm thinking probably not, but if anyone knows the answer to this would be grateful if they would share.
Of course there's also the outside chance it could arrive early, in which case we could either request a new vignette or make a short trip to "stamp the visa" & collect the card from the post office.
An added advantage to the early move option would be only required to move once, no rent expenses, temporarily redirecting mail etc
I'm thinking it's probably safer & less stressful to stick with our original plan, but at the very least would like to eliminate the other option from my mind so I'm no longer thinking of it lol
Of course, if it's a viable option, that's another story
Any thoughts would be appreciated - thank you
Brief background, my wife (Canadian) & I (British), along with our 3 children (dual) are gearing up for an application in the next 8-9 months. We're visiting my parents in the UK over Christmas, flights have been booked for a while. Our original plan has been to put our house up for sale in the new year, & once we have a confirmed buyer start the application process; moving into temporary accommodation as a stopgap if necessary.
It has occurred to us that we could use the flights booked at Christmas to move, i.e. put an application in at the end of August, requesting an arrival date of the end of November (3 months, with 30 day entry visa covering our flight departure at end of Dec). VFS Global would retain the passport at the biometric appointment. Assuming it takes 3 months, as things seem to these days, that would allow an extra month for delays; I would make a trip back in the new year to empty/sell the house, vehicles etc. I guess the worry would be if we hadn't got the visa before our flights were booked... is there a way to get the passport back? I'm thinking probably not, but if anyone knows the answer to this would be grateful if they would share.
Of course there's also the outside chance it could arrive early, in which case we could either request a new vignette or make a short trip to "stamp the visa" & collect the card from the post office.
An added advantage to the early move option would be only required to move once, no rent expenses, temporarily redirecting mail etc
I'm thinking it's probably safer & less stressful to stick with our original plan, but at the very least would like to eliminate the other option from my mind so I'm no longer thinking of it lol
Of course, if it's a viable option, that's another story
Any thoughts would be appreciated - thank you
Jul 28th 2017, 6:01 am
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 526
Re: Passport retention/travel during application process
Hi everyone,
Brief background, my wife (Canadian) & I (British), along with our 3 children (dual) are gearing up for an application in the next 8-9 months. We're visiting my parents in the UK over Christmas, flights have been booked for a while. Our original plan has been to put our house up for sale in the new year, & once we have a confirmed buyer start the application process; moving into temporary accommodation as a stopgap if necessary.
It has occurred to us that we could use the flights booked at Christmas to move, i.e. put an application in at the end of August, requesting an arrival date of the end of November (3 months, with 30 day entry visa covering our flight departure at end of Dec). VFS Global would retain the passport at the biometric appointment. Assuming it takes 3 months, as things seem to these days, that would allow an extra month for delays; I would make a trip back in the new year to empty/sell the house, vehicles etc. I guess the worry would be if we hadn't got the visa before our flights were booked... is there a way to get the passport back? I'm thinking probably not, but if anyone knows the answer to this would be grateful if they would share.
Of course there's also the outside chance it could arrive early, in which case we could either request a new vignette or make a short trip to "stamp the visa" & collect the card from the post office.
An added advantage to the early move option would be only required to move once, no rent expenses, temporarily redirecting mail etc
I'm thinking it's probably safer & less stressful to stick with our original plan, but at the very least would like to eliminate the other option from my mind so I'm no longer thinking of it lol
Of course, if it's a viable option, that's another story
Any thoughts would be appreciated - thank you
Brief background, my wife (Canadian) & I (British), along with our 3 children (dual) are gearing up for an application in the next 8-9 months. We're visiting my parents in the UK over Christmas, flights have been booked for a while. Our original plan has been to put our house up for sale in the new year, & once we have a confirmed buyer start the application process; moving into temporary accommodation as a stopgap if necessary.
It has occurred to us that we could use the flights booked at Christmas to move, i.e. put an application in at the end of August, requesting an arrival date of the end of November (3 months, with 30 day entry visa covering our flight departure at end of Dec). VFS Global would retain the passport at the biometric appointment. Assuming it takes 3 months, as things seem to these days, that would allow an extra month for delays; I would make a trip back in the new year to empty/sell the house, vehicles etc. I guess the worry would be if we hadn't got the visa before our flights were booked... is there a way to get the passport back? I'm thinking probably not, but if anyone knows the answer to this would be grateful if they would share.
Of course there's also the outside chance it could arrive early, in which case we could either request a new vignette or make a short trip to "stamp the visa" & collect the card from the post office.
An added advantage to the early move option would be only required to move once, no rent expenses, temporarily redirecting mail etc
I'm thinking it's probably safer & less stressful to stick with our original plan, but at the very least would like to eliminate the other option from my mind so I'm no longer thinking of it lol
Of course, if it's a viable option, that's another story
Any thoughts would be appreciated - thank you
Jul 28th 2017, 1:36 pm
#3
Down & Safe
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2017
Location: Upper Canada
Posts: 71
Re: Passport retention/travel during application process
Thanks Angie.
Yes, that's what I thought. We have much to consider right now......
Yes, that's what I thought. We have much to consider right now......
Jul 28th 2017, 4:41 pm
#4
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2014
Location: London
Posts: 556
Re: Passport retention/travel during application process
Hopefully by then if you go priority it will be weeks not months. I wish you luck!
Jul 28th 2017, 4:55 pm
#5
Down & Safe
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2017
Location: Upper Canada
Posts: 71
Re: Passport retention/travel during application process
I hope so too. Then there's the complication of the (now very favourable) exchange rate changing, renting a place & moving twice etc but if I really think about it for too long it'd drive me crazy. It is what it is, & we just have to focus on one step at a time (or so I keep telling myself)!
