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I have a sister who is a Philippines overseas worker in Oman. She is going home tomorrow for vacation. She was previously advised that her passport will not arrive until next week, that she can still use her old passport. They even gave her a validity extension of up to one year so she can use it for tomorrow's flight, and for her return flight afterwards.

However, just yesterday, she received a message from our consular office in Oman saying her passport has arrived for pick-up. The office will not be open until Sunday, since it is weekend there now.

Can she still use her old passport, or will it be deactivated since the new passport arrived even if she hasn't claimed it. Is it really necessary to cancel the flights and get the passport on Sunday?

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    In Canada your old passport is taken when you apply for a new one, so it's very clear that it's not valid anymore. If it's returned to you with your new passport, it has holes punched through it. The fact that she still has her old passport and it has a valid expiry date suggests that it's still valid, though.
    – Jim MacKenzie
    Mar 23, 2018 at 15:32
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    @JimMacKenzie I agree. I also don't really see how else a passport can be reliably invalidated for foreign observers except by physical damage (usually a hole punch or a corner cut off). It's not like there is a global database of valid passports that all border posts can inspect.
    – Calchas
    Mar 24, 2018 at 0:47
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    In Brazil, you can use the old passport until you get the new one. When you get the new one, all pages in the old passport is stamped"VOID"
    – Marcel P.
    Apr 9, 2018 at 12:47
  • Related only: In NZ new passports are now provided without the old one requiring to be surrendered. The old one LOOKS entirely valid. In one case I had to replace my passport 2 years before it expired (as the old was was deemed too "frayed" in one place to be usable as they may think it has been tampered with). While the old passport LOOKED valid - including expiry date, I am sure it would have failed NZ & Australian customs checking and would have been extremely risky to use elsewhere.
    – Russell McMahon
    Apr 16, 2018 at 2:50

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Since she wants to travel on her current passport before picking up the new one I'll answer this question in 2 steps.

I have renewed my US passport in multiple countries. Every time the embassy took my current passport with the renewal application and advised me that if I need to travel within the next X amount of weeks (duration to get a new passport) I should apply for a temporary/emergency travel document and they will provide it to me. So, in this case, it is pretty clear that I couldn't travel on my current passport. Once they gave me the new passport they would drill holes into the old one.

My wife applied for her passport renewal (not a US one) in her home country. She did not have to submit her passport with her application. She was free to travel using it as long as she did not pick up her new passport. Once she went to pick up her new passport they voided the old one (I don't remember if it was holes or some stamps on the whole passport and cut off the machine readable portion).

Now coming to the Philippines Embassy in Muscat:

Under the Please “expedite” my passport FAQ

However, while the new passport is being made in Manila, you will continue to hold your present passport, which means you can still use it for employment purposes or for travel, if it is still valid.

Considering the validity extension, she can travel on her current passport as long as the expiry date hasn't passed and it hasn't been voided by the authorities.

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