New Passport

Question:

I received my PR approval and got the visa stamped in my passport last month. I am visiting AUS in March to get my visa validated. Since my current passport expires in Aug'04, I thought of applying for a new one this month. If I receive my new passport before I make my first entry to Australia, should I inform DIMIA about my new passport ? Will there be any problems in getting my visa validated with new passport and visa stamping in old passport. Basically, when the new passport is issued, the old passport is stamped as 'Cancelled'.

Answer:

Your visa remains valid even if your passport changes. The fact that the old passport is cancelled does not affect this - just make sure you get the old passport back.

You can approach ASPC and/or the nearest Australian mission to see if they can re-stamp a visa into your new passport.

Once your current passport has less than 6 months remaining, some countries between your home and Australia will not accept it for travel, so best to renew it sooner.

Do yourself a favour and check the FAQ in future.

http://ptlabs.topcities.com/faq0.html#vl003

If Rajesh's old passport was stamped with "cancelled" on every page, including the Australian permanent visa, it is very unlikely the airline check-in staff will let him board the plane. Some countries' passport offices have the bad and irritating habit of manually stamping each passport page with "cancelled", including any visa pages. If that's the case, Rajesh had better visit the nearest AHC/AE to get a new visa label, even if it's a manual label.

That's a very bad practice indeed, as it would cancel any US tourist visa held (as another example) - and the US would insist on a new visa application from scratch.