Post-Covid: Canada expands simplified renewal process for passports
Toronto: As COVID‑19 restrictions are lifted, more and more Canadians are looking to travel abroad. The Government of Canada will continue to modernize and improve its services to better respond to the changing needs of Canadians.
Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, today announced the expansion of the simplified renewal application process for Canadian passports.
Canadians in Canada and abroad can now use the simplified process to renew an expired passport as long as it was issued within the last 15 years. The simplified process is also available to individuals who had their passport lost, stolen or damaged. Previously, the simplified renewal process wasn’t available for passports expired longer than a year or those that were lost, stolen or damaged.
With the simplified renewal process, applicants don’t need to have a guarantor or to provide their original documents, such as proof of citizenship or photo identification.
They simply need 2 photos, 2 references, their completed form and the applicable fees. These changes make renewing a passport easier, while maintaining the highest level of program integrity, officials said.
