Canadian Passport delivery has returned to pre-pandemic processing times, there are no backlogs, and Service Canada is exceeding its delivery standard for most applications. While there was a minor impact on passport processing during the public service labour disruption earlier in the spring, all service delays were quickly resolved. Service Canada is back to delivering nearly all passports within the 10- and 20-day targets respectively, with approximately 98% of passports issued within service standards regardless of intake method.
Passport staff have continued to make improvements to service offerings over the past several months and are prepared to handle the first wave of renewals for passports with a validity of 10-years which started being issued in July of 2013.
Today, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Karina Gould, announced that seven new 10-day passport service sites across Canada are now in operation, namely:
- Prince George, British Columbia
- Lac-Mégantic, Quebec
- Gaspé, Quebec
- Saint-Georges, Quebec
- Timmins, Ontario
- Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec
- Dryden , Ontario
With the upgrading of these sites, Service Canada now has 20 Service Canada Centres across the country where Canadians can apply for a passport and receive it by mail in 10 business days (mail time not included). This allows Canadians to get service closer to home and helps decrease wait times at passport offices. Canadians who require their passport in less than 10 business days must visit a passport office that offers express or urgent pick-up service and pay for expedited services.
Additionally, for the past several months, Canadians have been able to get real-time updates, 24-hours a day, on the processing of their applications through the online Passport Application Status Checker, which has led to shorter wait times when contacting the Passport Call Centre. Since the launch of the service on March 21, 2023, there have been over 702,000 visits to the online status checker website. To have access to this tool, Canadians must include an email address on their application.
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