Renewing your Irish passport while in Canada

retalivity

Has anyone ever had to renew their Irish passport while in Canada? Do you know if they are quite strict on the information received?

Ive already requested and received the forms from the embassy in Ottowa, but I require 2 pictures stamped and a section signed by an appropriate witness. It lists a number of professions that can do this (Police, bank manager, school principal, lawyer, public notary, MP, etc...) I went to the police and my bank manager and they said they wouldnt do it. Got a lawyer friend to fill out the form but was unsure about stamping the photos as they were too small (canadian passport photos are huge btw) and the stamp wouldnt really be legible.

The embassy themselves when I call them are "ah it will be fine...send it in", but considering ive to send away my existing passport (including work permit) and theres an 8 week turnaround, I dont really want to do it again if they encounte a problem.
Does anyone have any experience of the process?

Helix

ive done it, but i didn't quite do it the regular way. an old chum back in ireland is a cop, so he signed my photos, and my cousin works in the passport office, so she sorted that end out for me without me needing to send in my old one which i "lost". there was no actual mention of me not being in the country

UDP

I would go the route that helix did if you want to save a few euro.

Don't worry about the stamp not being perfect as you are sending in an old passport too anyway.

ciaran67

retalivity wrote: »

Has anyone ever had to renew their Irish passport while in Canada? Do you know if they are quite strict on the information received?

Ive already requested and received the forms from the embassy in Ottowa, but I require 2 pictures stamped and a section signed by an appropriate witness. It lists a number of professions that can do this (Police, bank manager, school principal, lawyer, public notary, MP, etc...) I went to the police and my bank manager and they said they wouldnt do it. Got a lawyer friend to fill out the form but was unsure about stamping the photos as they were too small (canadian passport photos are huge btw) and the stamp wouldnt really be legible.

The embassy themselves when I call them are "ah it will be fine...send it in", but considering ive to send away my existing passport (including work permit) and theres an 8 week turnaround, I dont really want to do it again if they encounte a problem.
Does anyone have any experience of the process?

I did mine in 2000 here in Vancouver. Took me ages to find the bloke representing Ireland in Vancouver. Cant remember who we got to sign them. Pics were big, thats right. Try another police station. Is a priest ok?

Helix

if you have a regular doctor, they can sign it

Helix

failing that find someone in ireland who'll sign the photos, send them back with your completed application form and have someone there post it in saying that your current one was lost. easy peasy

retalivity

I got a friend of mine who is a lawyer and got her to sign it.
sent it away earlier...will see how i get on.

colin29

Just get a notary to sign it, when I got mine done two years ago I tried a whole bunch of people on the list but they all said no as they didn't know me, they think it's the same as getting a a Canadian passport as you have to get someone who knows you to sign it.

ToniTuddle

I'm heading to Canada in 2 weeks and will need to renew my passport before I apply for my second year IEC visa in December/Jan.

Was just planning on leaving a completed application with passport photos with my Mother before I left then mail back my current passport to her once I get into Canada. She can then send it all off to Dublin. Then when she gets my new one back to mail that and my old one out to me. That would be ok to do yeah?? :o

retalivity

ToniTuddle wrote: »

I'm heading to Canada in 2 weeks and will need to renew my passport before I apply for my second year IEC visa in December/Jan.

Was just planning on leaving a completed application with passport photos with my Mother before I left then mail back my current passport to her once I get into Canada. She can then send it all off to Dublin. Then when she gets my new one back to mail that and my old one out to me. That would be ok to do yeah?? :o

Youd want to make sure you have a copy of your holiday visa which will be stapled to the inside of your cufrrent passport....

I'd be wary of sending my passport & the only thing allowing me into canada out of the country.

Helix

retalivity wrote: »

Youd want to make sure you have a copy of your holiday visa which will be stapled to the inside of your cufrrent passport....

I'd be wary of sending my passport & the only thing allowing me into canada out of the country.

you don't need the holiday visa, just the work permit document. i swapped passport mid visa at one stage and went through immigration at the airport after a business trip to ask if i needed a new stamp or anything like that, he told me i didnt once i hadnt legally changed my name or date of birth (he said the last bit in jest)

the visa is tied to your name and dob, not a passport, so it's all good

Cushie Butterfield

ToniTuddle wrote: »

I'm heading to Canada in 2 weeks and will need to renew my passport before I apply for my second year IEC visa in December/Jan.

Was just planning on leaving a completed application with passport photos with my Mother before I left then mail back my current passport to her once I get into Canada. She can then send it all off to Dublin. Then when she gets my new one back to mail that and my old one out to me. That would be ok to do yeah?? :o

If your passport expires in less than six months you don't need to send your old passport in with your renewal application (SEE HERE)when doing it in Ireland - you can just send a photocopy of the photo-page of your existing passport, so you could leave the photocopy with her & depending on expiry date get her to do as you plan as soon as the validity is less than six months.

Make sure she does it by Passport Express as it's cheaper, safer & quicker than ordinary post.

ToniTuddle

Helix wrote: »

you don't need the holiday visa, just the work permit document. i swapped passport mid visa at one stage and went through immigration at the airport after a business trip to ask if i needed a new stamp or anything like that, he told me i didnt once i hadnt legally changed my name or date of birth (he said the last bit in jest)

the visa is tied to your name and dob, not a passport, so it's all good

So could I just take the work permit out of my current passport and pop it into my new one when I get it? The work permits I got for other countries were on labels that were suck to the pages so not able to be removed.

Cushie Butterfield wrote: »

If your passport expires in less than six months you don't need to send your old passport in with your renewal application (SEE HERE)when doing it in Ireland - you can just send a photocopy of the photo-page of your existing passport, so you could leave the photocopy with her & depending on expiry date get her to do as you plan as soon as the validity is less than six months.

Make sure she does it by Passport Express as it's cheaper, safer & quicker than ordinary post.

The 6 months thing won't apply to me, my passport isn't due to expire until May 2014. Leaving now in October and my first year will be up in Oct 2013 so this current passport was fine for that. For the second year visa my passport won't be valid for the required full year(+application processing times which are 8-10weeks) so that's why I need to apply for new one before the visas open up this winter. Hope that makes sense!

Helix

yeah your work permit is stapled in, your visa is stamped. but if you bring the old and new passports with you (explain you need the old one returned if you're sending it away) then you'll have no issue at all

AnchorBaby

One money tip I learnt was that Costco has by far and away the lowest price for passport pictures. Costco is a private members retailer, but it's pretty easy to sneak into or just say you are using the pharmacy since there is a Canadian law that pharmacists can't reject customers (also a good tip since prescription medication at Costco are also significantly less expensive).

When the Embassy in Ottawa mailed the forms, they including a page describing what the picture is suppose to look like and I just brought it into Costco and the lady at the photo lab make the adjustments and charged me the same as regular Canadian passport photos. Toke about 30 minutes (just went to have a meal at the store takeaway) to develop and cost just under $5.50 (although this was awhile ago). Again, I didn't need a membership card to buy prints at the photo lab or food inside the store.

ician

Kinda x posting this but hoping for a speedy reply. Trying to renew my passport right now, just got my photos taken tonight at a photography place only to see when I got home that they stamped the back of all four, other than that they are perfect. Tomorrow Im supposed to meet the cosul general for Quebec to get my application and photos stamped. There is some space on the back of the photographs but I have no idea how big this stamp would be Also worried that all four are now stamped when they ask for two stamped in the application.

Also, do you just have to send your current passport with the application or do I have to send my birth cert with it too?

retalivity

I got my new passport back just before xmas from the embassy.

The photos I sent away had shoppers drugmart stamps on the back of them, i got my firend the lawyer to stamp over them and sent them away, and I was fine.

I had to send my current passport away. No need for a birth cert at all

ician

I sent off my passport to the embassy in Ottawa 4 weeks ago on Monday, it arrived at the embassy 4 weeks ago next Wednesday. My passport still isn't even appearing on the tracking website in Ireland. Anyone else who did it, how long did it take before your passport was in the system in Ireland?

I tried calling the embassy to see if they could shed any light on what was going on and some incredibly rude woman just repeated "it's a 6 to 8 week process". Yes I am aware of that but its 4 weeks and it's not bloody in Ireland yet! haha