cdn passport?

Question

What are the new regulations on renewing your passport as of Thursday August 23rd.

Answer 1

There is no new regulations regarding renewing of your passport as of the August the 23rd.

As of August 23rd 2007, the only news was that Canadians will require a passport for entry to the United States and Mexico by the year 2008.

http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/article_765.html

However on August 15th 2007, Canadians living in Canada who meet certain eligibility criteria can now renew their passport through the Simplified Passport Renewal Process.

http://www.ppt.gc.ca/index.aspx?lang=e

Answer 2

The Simplified Passport Renewal Program will be available as of August 15, 2007, and is part of a broader effort to modernize Canadian passport services.

It will allow Canadian citizens who meet certain eligibility criteria to renew their passport using a shorter form and without submitting documentary evidence of citizenship, supplementary identification and a guarantor declaration. Under the renewal program, passport applicants will only be required to submit the shorter form along with two new photos, the application fee and their last passport.

Canadians who meet the following eligibility criteria will be able to benefit from this program:

- - They must be residing in Canada at the time they apply.
- - They must have resided in Canada at the time of their previous application.
- - They were 16 years old or over at the time of their previous application.
Their previous passport:
- - Must have been valid for five years,
- - Must have been issued after January 31, 2002,
- - Was never damaged or reported as lost or stolen, and
- - Must have been issued under their current name.

This program will yield benefits to both passport applicants and Passport Canada. Applicants will save time and will not have to surrender important documents such as their birth certificates or citizenship cards for an extended period of time. Passport Canada's productivity will increase, as fewer steps will be required for the entitlement and screening of each file. Renewal applications are still subject to all current security verifications.

The new Simplified Passport Renewal Program application form will be available at all Passport Canada service points and through Passport Canada's Web site, and it will be accepted at all of Passport Canada offices, through receiving agents and by mail.

Answer 3

I don't see it as changing very much. If you are the average renewal applicant with nothing a bit odd, then you don't need to send in identification and you don't need a guarantor.

Sometimes people have trouble pinning down a guarantor so application is slightly easier. And I just renewed mine earlier this year and after 12 weeks they finally sent me back my birth certificate. (Passport still took several more weeks.) That's a long time for them to be holding your identification. The new rules you don't have to send it in.