My colleague recently extended his work permit and subsequently his visa/extension of stay. He did this last month his work permit will expire in Feb 2016. He has noticed his visa has only been extended until oct 2015 and not Feb 2016. On checking his documents i see his passport expires in Feb 2016. I think the reason he only has the visa until oct is that they have to leave 6m of validity on the passport. Am i right? If he applies for his new passport could he then go and get the additional months added to his new passport without the need for another batch of paperwork or fee?

Since August of 2013 if a person applies for an extension of stay (it is not a visa) with less than one year of validity left on their passport the extension is only issued to the date the passport expires. When a new passport is obtained the stamps for the shortened extension will be transferred to the new passport. Then before the shortened extension ends they have to apply for a new extension showing all the required documents for the extension.

Yes but he says the passport expires Feb 2016 so should have had the extension until then.

I suspect the February of 2016 date for the passport is a typo.

I suspect the February of 2016 date for the passport is a typo.

Thanks guys. No Ubonjoe it's not an error the passport expires in Feb 2016. This is what has confused me? I thought he should have had the extension of stay until feb 2016. So you think this is an error by immigration? If so maybe he will need to go and see them. He is Fillipino, is there different rules for them????

The rules are the same for him as for anybody else.

There are other things that could cause the extension to only be good to October. When does his employment contract end? That could be one reason.

If not he should go back to immigration and ask about it. It would be rare for an immigration office to make such a mistake because they are checked and double checked.

The rules are the same for him as for anybody else.

There are other things that could cause the extension to only be good to October. When does his employment contract end? That could be one reason.

If not he should go back to immigration and ask about it. It would be rare for an immigration office to make such a mistake because they are checked and double checked.

That's right Ubonjoe. I can't work it out. I thought maybe it was his teachers licence expire date, but i checked that and he has a five year valid until 2018 so that;s not the problem. Haven't checked his contract date, didn't know they checked that but this must be ok as the work permit expiry date needs to be the same. It's strange! I will check his documents again and if i can't see anything will go to immigration with him to ask why. Thanks for your input