Ottawa Says Canadians Can Get Passports in 30 Business Days, or It’s Free

Passengers are seen at Pearson International Airport, in Toronto, on June 29, 2024. The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov

Canadians who want a passport will soon be able to get it within 30 days or the government will refund the fee.

Minister of Citizens’ Services Terry Beech made the announcement on March 7.

“Canadians can expect their passports to be processed within 30 business days. If not, then their passport will be free of charge,” he said during a news conference in Ottawa.

However, the mailing time of the application and the passport will not be included.

“We are currently processing 126 online applications a day. We expect that to go to 240 a day by the end of this month. We expect that to go to 500 a day by May,” Beech said.

He also said that 99 percent of applications made in person were filled within 10 days.

In 2024, Service Canada started posting processing wait times online. As of March 7, passport applications are taking 20 days to process.

The 30-day policy guarantee is expected to come into effect later this year, according to a March 7 government news release.

It will apply to passport applications made online, in person, or by mail, the government said.

Ottawa said the move was part of its commitment to transparency and efficiency.

Additional Processing Centres

Beech also announced that Surrey will be getting a new passport processing and print centre.

He said there are now 60 locations across the country that offer 10-business day passport services, including locations in Iqaluit and Yellowknife.

The government also said that a full-service passport office will be opened in Charlottetown, PEI, “in the near future.”

Since 2021, passport issuance has surged by 315 percent, with 5.4 million passports expected to be issued in 2025, according to the news release.

Service Canada expects to receive up to 5.74 million passport applications for 2024 and 2025.

Current passport fees are listed as $120 for a five-year passport for Canadians 16 and older, $160 for a 10-year passport for those 16 and older, and $57 for a child passport (15 and younger).

Beech also noted that Service Canada now allows for online applications for passports.

Processing Delays

The announcement comes nearly three months after a Canada Post strike saw passport delivery hindered. Prior to that, Canadians were facing long application delays following the pandemic.

Service Canada hired double the number of employees to process passports in 2022.

A recent Service Canada report notes that there had been a “historic volume of passport requests” in the spring of 2002 “passport offices couldn’t handle the surge in demand.”

The report says a combination of factors led to a significant backlog, including a shift to mail-in applications, more complex applications, and a limited number of staff being permitted in offices and processing centres.

“What came next was unprecedented. Canadians lined up for hours at passport offices and Service Canada Centres. Others waited anxiously at home for a passport to arrive in the mail in time for their pre-planned trip. Calls to our offices increased to 18 million in 2022, far more than the 4.7 million calls the previous year,” the report authors wrote.

The Canadian Press contributed to this article.