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Renewing an expiring passport after the visitor visa is already stamped on the old one

Canada • Visitor Visa • immigration 0 views
By VisaBuddies Communityvia community — compiled from public visa forums

Documents Needed

  • Old passport (with visa stamp)

    Keep this — the visa is stamped on it and remains valid even after you get a new passport.

  • New/renewed passport

    Used as your current valid travel document; carry alongside the old one.

Step-by-Step

If a visitor visa is already stamped on a passport that's set to expire soon, you don't need to redo the visa application just because you're renewing the passport.

What group members advised:
  1. Go ahead and renew the passport as normal. There's no need to submit the new passport for a fresh visa stamping — the existing visa in the old passport stays valid.

  2. Carry both passports when traveling: the old one with the visa stamp, and the new, renewed one as your current valid identity document.

  3. Airlines and border officials at Canadian ports of entry are used to seeing this combination (visa in an expired-but-retained passport plus a current passport) for travelers who renewed after receiving a visa.


This avoids the delay and cost of resubmitting for visa stamping, since the visa itself is tied to the passport it was issued on and doesn't need to be transferred as long as you keep both documents together while traveling.

Dos, Don'ts & Tips

  • Do: Carry both the old (visa-stamped) and new passport together when traveling.
  • Don't: Don't submit your new passport for re-stamping — the visa on the old passport remains valid.

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