Renewing Visa for 2 year IEC

rusheen

Hi guys ,

I have two questions I hope someone can please help me with.

I'm in Canada at the minute on 1st IEC . My visa expires in the next few weeks .
Due to work commitments the only opportunity I can go to the US border is next week before the actually expiry date on the visa. So my first visa is valid to 25th of August can I renew / get 2nd year visa before that date ? therefore overwriting the old visa .I know I am loosing two weeks but I dont have a choice.

Second question is in relation to travel insurance , Do I need to proof at the border I have travel insurance for 2013/2014 ? At the minute I have valid insurance expires on 25th . So if Im renewing on say the 15th , I have valid insurance at that date, could I say I intend on renewing travel insurance before the expiry date ?

bopper

I presume you mean you already have your second visa and just need to activate it?

I'm honestly not 100% but I don't think you can start a new visa before your current one expires. Could you not just fly out of the country on the 25th and back on the same day? Surely work would give you the day off if you explain the situation to them.

Re travel insurance, well not everybody gets asked at the border, but if they do ask they'll only give you a work permit valid for whatever length your insurance is valid for. For example, if you only have proof that you have valid insurance for the next six months, that's the length of the work permit they'll give you. I really don't think they'd give you a two year work permit if you can only prove you have insurance for the next ten days.

rusheen

Yes I intend on activating my visa . I have the POE letter .

No its easier for me to leave before the date of expiry .
I plan on going to a Canada/US border crossing and activating it there .
I've heard there more friendly at Airports but its easier for me to go to the border .

I have health insurance through work . I'm curios to know what other people in a similar situation are doing at the border in regard to to travel insurance .
Purchase in every case or leaving to be asked . I assume if they ask for it you could leave ,call travel insurance , find somewhere to print email come back to border crossing and job done ?

kitchenchair

Hi Rusheen,

Yes you can activate your new 2nd visa before your current 1st one expires. I did, as did many other people I know.

With regards to the insurance, I was never asked to show it at the border both times. However, i do know of one couple who were asked and didnt have it, so had to go get some. That can be a bit awkward depending on which border crossing you go to. Most people I know wern't asked to show insurance though, so i think it just depends on the officer you get. Im pretty sure work insurance wont suffice.

rusheen

kitchenchair wrote: »

Hi Rusheen,

Yes you can activate your new 2nd visa before your current 1st one expires. I did, as did many other people I know.

With regards to the insurance, I was never asked to show it at the border both times. However, i do know of one couple who were asked and didnt have it, so had to go get some. That can be a bit awkward depending on which border crossing you go to. Most people I know wern't asked to show insurance though, so i think it just depends on the officer you get. Im pretty sure work insurance wont suffice.

Thanks for the reply kitchenchair just what I needed to hear
Cant wait to have 2 more years .

skbehan

Hi Rusheen. I'm in the same situation as you but having trouble finding a travel insurance company that will cover me for a full 2 years. Have you had any luck?

polly_d

My first IEC visa expires 17th September and I received my POE letter for a second year. I've left Canada and am back in Ireland for a few days (my return flight to Canada is 18th September). Would there be an issue renewing my second year as I'm entering after the 1st year IEC has expired? Should I be really re-entering Canada on the 17th instead? I'd be entering through an airport. Any advice appreciated.

rusheen

polly_d wrote: »

My first IEC visa expires 17th September and I received my POE letter for a second year. I've left Canada and am back in Ireland for a few days (my return flight to Canada is 18th September). Would there be an issue renewing my second year as I'm entering after the 1st year IEC has expired? Should I be really re-entering Canada on the 17th instead? I'd be entering through an airport. Any advice appreciated.

On your POE letter there should be an 2014 expiry date . That is the date you have to activate your 2nd year visa by. So no you wont have any problems re entering Canada

jiminho

I'll be heading over the border next week to renew my 2 year visa. I'm almost sure I have travel insurance as part of my health benefits for work, will this be ok? I've been quoted $300 each for 2 years of travel insurance, i really want to get away from having to pay 600 for me and my wife. Thanks in advance

iec2014

kitchenchair wrote: »

Hi Rusheen,

Yes you can activate your new 2nd visa before your current 1st one expires. I did, as did many other people I know.

Hi kitchenchair

I am in the same boat as Rusheen was in regards to my work permit dates overlapping, I would have to activate my 2nd permit before my 1st one expires, it would mean that I lose approx 5weeks, but I really don't mind. I'm ok with losing 5 weeks if it means that I get almost a 2nd year in Canada.

I am worried that I won't be let back into Canada because on the IEC website it states that a new permit will not be issued until the old one expires.
I was hoping that you could confirm what actually happens when you activate your new permit?
Do they stamp your passport with anything in relation to expiry/activation dates?
I would be extremely grateful if you could let me know, as I have spent the past 6 weeks trying to find out, and have yet to find a definite answer.

Thanks in advance

kitchenchair

Hi iec2014,

I renewed my visa in June of 2012 so the rules may have changed since then. However, when I renewed mine it was pretty straight forward. I believe I had a week left on my old one. I drove to the border, drove straight through the US side told them I was renewing my canadian visa, immediately did a u-turn back to Canada, got the Canadian immigration, they brought me inside into an office, I told her I wanted to renew my working visa, she spent about 15 minutes on a computer and typed out my new visa. It was very straight forward. She didnt ask me about my old one expiry date, about insurance, and didnt stamp anything related to expiry/activation dates. my new visa became active as of that date.

The only thing she messed up was that she asked me what i was working as and when i told her she put that profession down on my visa. However it is supposed to be an "open" visa meaning you can work any profession. this meant I could only work as that profession for the entire year (but that didn't bother me). This never happened anyone else, she was new to the system and shouldn't have done that and i only copped a few hours later.

I know many many people who have renewed their visas either by driving to the border or going on holidays and I have never heard of anyone being rejected because their old one hadn't expired yet. Again, this was a few years ago so things might have changed since then.

iec2014

kitchenchair wrote: »

Hi iec2014,

I know many many people who have renewed their visas either by driving to the border or going on holidays and I have never heard of anyone being rejected because their old one hadn't expired yet. Again, this was a few years ago so things might have changed since then.

Thank you for responding!
I will just have to go and hope that they do let me back in as I have no choice but to overlap the permits.
Thanks again