No extension permitted

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I got my new UK passport last week (N.B. they are now processed in Hong Kong for Malaysia residents), and I checked the MM2H website for the procedure to follow vis a vis getting a visa in the passport.  I found a flow chart to handle extensions...my MM2H visa was issued in 2006, and only valid to 2011, so I thought I would now be good for an extension of that visa till 2016.  I brought all the necessary forms to the PWTC 6th floor office, and was handled promptly, but immediately told that a renewal of the visa was the only way to proceed.  This involves of course much more data than I had brought.  He took about an hour to hand me my new passport back with a visa vaild for just one year from now.

Beware of the MM2H website.  The immigration officer handed me a blue pamphlet, dated 16/5/2010, which concisely summarizes the requirements for a number of transactions, but which which does not include extensions.

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hi, vanman,

Thanks for the update. I'll try an get a copy of the blue pamphlet.

When you received your visa in 2006 was the original Letter of Approval for a 5 year visa?

If you got the 5-year visa in 2006 then you'll only get the 10-year visa on renewal. So you've gotten an extension to the end of the 5-year visa period to fit-in with the new passport.

A mate of mine had to do the same thing recently. And he had a lot to say about it.     

BTW, did you get all the pages cancelled in your old passport, including the visa page. I've often wondered about this.

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Hi Scott,

I'll check on the original letter.  On the old passport, the UK cancel the passport by cutting off the corner of the front page.  Nothing changes inside, so I think I could have continued to show the visa to immigration...the only problem is that I had no room for any more stamps!  I renewed the passport four years before it expired because it was full.

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I thought it to be a 10 year visa, or for the duration of the passport which ever comes sooner, am I missing something here or not correct ?

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Vanman obviously got a 5-year visa valid until 2011, because passport expired in 2014.
When replacing the passport before expiry date it is not an extension but replacement where Immi transfers the visa to the new passport for free.
Similar situation when I lost my passport last year.

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hi,

Danny's right. When MoTour brought in the 10-Year visa they originally said that folks on the previous 5-Year visa would still only get only another 5-Years on renewal. At the time I sent an email to MoTour about this and that's what they said.

Then they made it so that folks who had 5-Years would get 10-Years on renewal but not on the extension. So it all depends on the original "Letter of Approval." When you renew you get a new "Letter of Approval for a Renewal" and it says 10-Years.

The extension is where you got less than the term of the visa because of passport validity.

Nowadays, of course, everyone gets 10-Years so the 5-Year visa will soon expire itself.



07/06/2011 Editor's Note : The Immigration Unit at PWTC  refers to extension as Transfer of Endorsement i.e. from old to new passport.