Hi everyone,
I’m an applicant for this year’s intake. I was doing some research and it seems that if you are accepted, the consulate holds on to your passport for some time before departure during the visa application process. I was thinking of going overseas for two weeks in June, so I was wondering what the timeline was like generally? Thanks!
7 comments
I’d say, get any international travel you wish to do done before you have to turn in your passport.
Yeah I’m interested in this too… we’re headed to Europe for a bike trip from late Feb onwards (no set return date). When I get the call to send in our passports (husband coming w me), I think I’ll just have to get on a flight or contact the nearest consulate!
I applied for 2020 departure and got it but covid delays were untenable for couples, so I pulled out. They had our passports for a whiiiile but those were “unprecedented” circumstances! I’ve even got the visa in it (marked not valid)!
Just checked my old emails, and I had to hand in my passport by June 25th. My pre-departure orientation was June 23rd, so I just gave them my passport then. Like others said though, these dates vary by consulate. You could always reach out and just ask when abouts they expect the passport handover deadline to be this year
Canadian here and I don’t live in Canada. The consulate told me to expect to be without my passport and not travel outside Canada for the month prior to departure if accepted. Reach out to your consulate and ask them directly. (I was asking because when choosing my interview location Vancouver might have been best as there’s less chance of snowstorms delaying a plane than in Atlantic Canada, but obviously better to be able to live with my parents for a month prior to departure if I had to be home a full month due to no passport).
Also, depending on your country you might be able to get a second passport. I’m currently in Panama and we have a lot of American sailors getting a temporary passport for travel while their visas are processed for French Polynesia. How easy that is I have no idea but reach out to your passport office and ask there too.
Hi y’all. I came out of the LA consulate so hopefully you’re from the US, but once you get accepted they tell you about the passport turn in policy. If you already have a pre planned international trip, you just tell them and they can push back your turn in date. I went to Mexico in at the end of June for my wedding and they said it was fine so we set a date and I brought them in beginning of July. The only caveat is that you might need to bring the passport to the consulate yourself. Hope this helps!
It depends on the consulate, I checked my old emails and went through Chicago’s in 2019, so no idea if it’s changed a lot since then. Our deadline for the visa application was July 5th and we didn’t get them back until July 26th at pre-departure orientation. So I would plan to not have the passport after mid-June just to be sure since you have to mail it in. You can email your consulate’s help desk to see if they have anything already planned for shortlisted candidates. If you’re able to wait, it might be better to wait until after interviews?