How to Apply for Canadian Passport

A Canadian passport is the official document that certifies your Canadian citizenship. It is valid for 5 years (for 3-year-old children the period is 3 years) and can be used both at home and abroad. The best time to apply for a Canadian passport is between June and November as this is the off-peak season.

Necessary Documents
To apply for a passport, you will have to fill in an application form, which varies depending on your age and the place where you apply. This application form you can pick from a Canadian Post office, an office of Passport Canada or from the website of Service Canada. If you live abroad, you can obtain the form from your local Canadian consulate.

When submitting your application form, you will have to present a valid proof of identity which shows your name as it will appear on the passport and your signature (e.g., a driver’s license or previous passport that is still valid). You will also have to provide a proof of your Canadian citizenship, such as a birth certificate if you were born in Canada or a Certificate of Naturalization if you were born outside the country.

Submit with your application two passport photos, which were taken within a year prior to the application date.

Guarantors
Each passport application must be signed by a guarantor who should also write a declaration that they know you personally and sign one of the photos and any photocopies of the supporting documentation.

For Canadians living in the country, the guarantor must be a Canadian citizen who is eighteen years of age or older, has a valid Canadian passport, and has known the applicant personally for the last 2 years.

For Canadians living outside the country, the guarantor must be a person who lives under the jurisdiction of the passport-issuing center, knows the applicant well enough to verify the trueness of the submitted documents, and works in one of the professions which are listed on the application form for Canadians living abroad.

Each applicant must also provide two references as well as their addresses and telephone numbers who are different from your guarantor and are not your relatives.

Submit your Application Form
You can submit your application form and the attendant documents either in person or by mail. If you live in Canada, you can deliver it at a Passport Canada office, a Service Canada center or a Canada Post office. If you reside outside Canada, in a country other than the United States and Bermuda, submit the application form to the same place you’ve picked it from or to the nearest passport-issuing center. Applicants from the United States and Bermuda can submit their applications only by mail or courier to the following address:

Passport Canada
Foreign Affairs Canada
Gatineau QC
Canada
K1A 0G3

Canadians who live in the country can also use this address to submit their application forms. This option, however, is not available to those who live abroad, in a country other than the USA and Bermuda – they can deliver their documents only in person.

Remember that for each application you will be charged a certain fee, depending on the form you are going to submit.



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