I wanted to ask if anyone has renewed their visa with an expired passport and how they went about that.
My embassy/home country made a mistake and my new passports delivery has been delayed with no exact expected date. I have to renew my visa soon and was wondering what I should prepare for that in the case that my new passport does not arrive in time. Also what peoples experience has been renewing with an expired passport.
5 comments
Not recently, but, depending on your visa the passport might just be a form of ID so they don’t care about whether it’s valid or not.
That being said the situations I am aware of were all PR holders – so technically they have the right to stay without needing to show they can get back into their home country if their visa is denied. Not sure if they’d accept the same thing for a 1 yearer etc..
It’s possible to renew your visa with an expired passport. You just need to explain to immigration when submitting the application. Don’t let that delay your application as processing times are very long at the moment.
Hi, I just helped a friend with a similar situation and have consulted with a lawyer on their behalf.
According to the lawyer, *if* your passport does not arrive on time by the time you apply for a renewal, you will need to attach a Letter of Reasoning (or Riyusho 理由書) explaining your situation. The better you’re able to explain, the fewer questions the visa agent will have and the better chance for them to make things easier for you. Of course, this doesn’t guarantee that you will be granted the visa renewal since it’ll depend on how good the reason is. There is no template or anything regarding this Letter of Reasoning so you’ll have to write up one from scratch though. Maybe you can reach out to a scrivener or something to help you, if anything.
I had to renew my passport and visa almost at the same time last year. If I remembered correctly, I had to fill in a form which stated why I couldn’t submit my current passport. You can try to search their web site for the details and maybe call the immigration office just to be sure?
I went through this last year in Hokkaido. I completely forgot about renewing my passport. I brought a receipt showing that I was having it renewed. They didn’t care at all though. I didn’t have to fill out any extra forms and they didn’t even ask about it. I even tried drawing extra attention to it just in case and the guy took a second look and was still completely uninterested.
I would contact immigration and explain the situation. No promises, but I suspect you’ll be fine.