A parent asked whether their young child — holding a study visa valid to the passport's expiry date, roughly three months after the planned January travel — would face problems entering Canada with under six months of passport validity.
What members advised:
- The airline is the bigger risk than the border. One member warned the child might be stopped at boarding in the home country, since carriers often apply a six-month validity rule of thumb. Whatever CBSA might accept becomes moot if you can't board.
- At the Canadian border itself, opinions differed but leaned relaxed. Members noted a dependent child with a valid study permit is unlikely to be questioned — the visa expiry matching the passport expiry is self-explanatory. Others said CBSA rarely raises it. Still, 'probably fine' is not a plan.
- The consensus fix: renew the passport before travelling and carry both. Two members had lived exactly this situation: they renewed the passport in India before flying, travelled with both passports (the visa sits in the old one), and then dealt with extensions after landing.
- After arrival, the sequence is: apply to extend the study permit against the new passport, and later obtain a fresh TRV in the new passport for any future travel. The visa in the expired passport remains usable for entry only while paired with the new passport.
The general rule this thread teaches: a visa capped by passport expiry is a renew-early flag — fix the passport first and the rest follows.