passport near expiry when applying for extension

[mdave]

Hi all,

My passport expires around April 2015.
I vaguely remember that there used to be a rule saying one must have atleast 6 months of passport validity when applying for a visa.
I could not find any rule now. Is this rule still applicable?

I am asking because I am going to apply for my extension in Oct 2014 or Nov 2014 which will leave less than 6 months on my passport. Can this make my application invalid or create any problems with my extension?
I do not wish to renew passport before getting the visa because I don't know long the embassy may take.

Thanks in advance for your help,
mdave

[sonub4ualt]

It is advisable to renew your passport before you apply for any visas, there is a possibility the IMO will invalidate your application, and may not refund your application fees, which will cost you a fortune. Better late than never.

[mdave]

Thanks for your reply,

But I want to know if there is any rule that they can invalidate my application only for the reason that my passport has less than 6 months.
I understand a couple of years back that was the case because they used to stamp the passport and needed 6 months of validity.
Now they are giving a separate biometric card so does it really matter how much validity is left on my passport?

[O_Relly]

The policy guidelines only state current valid travel document / passport, and they dont explicitly state with a minimum validity of atleast 6 months etc.

So I would interpret that as you should be good to go for extension with the passport with less than 6 month validity.

Passport of which country? People here might have personal experience of timelines which might be of aome use.

[mdave]

Thanks for your reply,

I also assume that it only needs to be a valid passport with no minimum validity requirements.

I have an Indian passport.
If I go for passport renewal it can easily take 2 months or so.
I wish to do my visa extension before that.

If anyone applied with less than 6 months passport validity then please share the experience.

[O_Relly]

For Indian passport it takes no more than 2 weeks if applied from HCI London, and about 3 weeks from Indian consulate Edinburgh if this is of any help. Experience of friends who applied as recently as within the last couple of months.

[pravin.bansod]

Hi mdave,
I am pretty much in same case now. Want to go for extension in next couple of weeks with passport expiry date in June.
Could you please let me know outcome of your application.

Thanks
Pravin

[mdave]

Well I finally applied when my passport had just a little more than 6 months validity.

[pravin.bansod]

thanks a lot for quick reply. I will check further, looks current requirement is only valid passport.