James Hickling comments

@ papasmurfinjapan

Yes my biggest concern in all this, is if the right hand is talking to the left hand when leaving/returning the country with the expired card. I will be doing this very shortly with expired ARC so I guess we will see!

Hi I had conformation again. The ARC expiry date has nothing to with it. Basically the system is 3 years to get onto the new system, so everyone on a visa will expire before then (Noone currently has longer than 3 year visa) so when they go into to renew they will get the new card. If you are a PR then you can go anytime from now until July 2015 to get the new card. The ARC is the default card until you get your new card, but again the expiry date on your ARC doesnt have any connection to when you should go to get your new card.

It was mentioned above and I dont think a definite answer was given: As a PR holder with a ARC expiring before July 2015 (mine is next month) then the fluffy documents and a lady in immigration that I called, have lead me to believe that as PR holder (not a visa holder with an expiry) then your ARC no matter what the expiry date, is vaild until July 2015, therefore sometime between then and now you must go get your new card but it doesnt matter about your ARC expiry date.

Can anyone else confirm this?