AnnieYyc

Hello all,

I am getting my biometrics done next week for my UK Spouse Visa app, and need to know urgently if I can submit a COPY of my (Canadian) passport as part of my application. I require my passport for travel, and cannot leave it with UKBA for however many weeks it takes to make a decision. They will be getting one of my expired passports (since you need to send what's in your possession). Will getting the copy notarized help the situation at all??

Ducado

How are they going to put an entry visa into an expired passport. They had my Wife's passport for 6 months. I think if you send them a non valid document of any kind they will not only deny the visa but possibly bar you from being able to apply for a number of Years. Ask before submitting is my advice.

ncoomber

I don't know the answer but as the previous poster says I think they need your original passport in order to put the visa in it!

And I applied for my wifes spouse visa four weeks ago tomorrow and paid for priority service and still haven't heard a word from them yet. So you could be without your passport for a while, sorry. Hope you can figure a way round this.
Good Luck
Cheers
Nigel

BritInParis

No point sending in an expired passport - they'll need a valid one to stick your visa into. Unless Passport Canada will do you a second passport you'll just have to postpone your travel plans for the time being.

JAJ

If travel is to the U.S. it may be possible to cross the land frontier with another document (eg Enhanced Driving Licence) and then fly domestically to the U.S. destination. Only works for Canadian citizens, though.

BritInParis

If the OP's travel is only to the US then that's a solution although I presumed she would be travelling elsewhere from her post.

AnnieYyc

Hello folks,

Thanks for the responses. I didn't intend to imply that UKBA could stick the entry visa in my expired passport. My thought was that, I could send a notarized copy of current passport, plus expired passports (since the application states you must send even expired passports in your possession), to serve as identification.

In the past when my British husband would apply for Canadian work permit (& extensions), they didn't need his passport, just a copy. We would get the visa in the mail, and once he "crossed the border", a border agent would staple the visa into his passport for us.

Anyway of course now I am realizing this is not the route to go. I don't want to give them any reasons to reject my application due to something like this. It just seems unreasonable that you cannot apply more then 3 months ahead of intended move/travel date, then they have your passport for however long.

I've pushed my biometrics appointment to two weeks from now, this way I could get most of the work done I need for the time being.

Thanks again for the replies! I wish you all well on your immigration journeys..

ncoomber

Hi Annie,
The whole system is designed from the web site onwards to confuse and make it as hard as possible to succeed. Not being able to apply three months before you leave is ridicules. Given that it often takes three months to get the visa! You can pay an extra $510 to some immigration laywers business in NYC and get 'priority' service. Although I did just that a month ago and still have not heard back from them.

But it is what it is. And we can come on here and vent, there are plenty of folk that will understand but you just have to play the game. Do not give the any reason to delay your application. Make it as watertight an application as you can. Good luck.
Cheers
Nigel

maichioniso

I am facing the same problem now. It's even worse for us because my kids (from a previous marriage) and I are US expats living in the Middle East, so we absolutely need our passports to resign my contract here, which takes 4-6 weeks as well.

Is there really no way around this? In this day and age when people need their passport for work travel, waiting 1-3 months seems unrealistic.

Could we not apply and send in our passports upon approval?

Or is it possible to ask the US embassy to issue temporary passports so that travel is possible until a decision is made?

I know the German embassy will do this. . .

Lastly, is the $510 expedited fee for all three of us or is that per application, i.e. would I need to pay $1,530?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

chaoclive

I have heard of the US Embassy issuing second passports for people who travel to Israel a lot. This might be an idea. Not sure if they will ask why you want a second passport (same number of course).

Anyways, if the British Embassy has this requirement I don't think there's any way to get around it (unfortunately).

between two worlds

I do know the US will issue a second passport to a USC who needs to send their passport somewhere for some paperwork and yet still needs to travel a lot.

But haven't heard of anyone doing it for this specific reason--because they need to send a passport to UK govt to have right of entry into UK. Not sure how the US would look on that or whether you need to give full details of the reason.

BritInParis

The second passport would have a different passport number. It would depend whether the Canadian government allows its citizens to hold two concurrent passports as the British government does. The British government doesn't actually publish this information as the belief is that if you need it you will know it's available. The OP will need to investigate whether Canada operates a similar policy.

between two worlds

I think the US issues a duplicate passport with the same number, but wouldn't swear to it.

JAJ

The United States does issue supplementary passports, but as far as I understand these would normally have a different passport number. The validity of a concurrent U.S. passport is normally limited to 2 years. http://www.state.gov/m/a/dir/regs/fam/07fam/c22714.htm