Passport Services to be offered by over 300 Service Canada Centres

Posted on 05/16/2017 | About Canada

The number of Service Canada Centres offering passport services across the country will double from 151 to more than 300, providing Canadians with more options when applying for or renewing a passport.

According to a statement by the Government of Canada, the expansion will result in more than 97 per cent of Canadians having access to passport services within a 100 km distance of their home.

Jean-Yves Duclos, minister of families, children and social development, and Ahmed Hussen, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, made the announcement yesterday. Service Canada Centre locations across the country are now receiving passport applications and validating citizenship documents.

Canadians applying for passports at a Service Canada Centre are able to submit their applications and have their citizenship documents, like birth certificates and certificates of citizenship, validated and returned to them while they are in the office.

Service Canada Centres will also assist citizens with their standard passport application by reviewing it on site for completeness, accepting payment and forwarding it on for processing.

“Canada’s passport program provides a valuable service to millions of Canadians every year,” commented Hussen. “By improving our front-line services and offering them in more locations, we can continue to meet the excellent service standards that Canadians have come to expect when applying for a passport.”

Canada issued more than 4.8 million passports in 2016-17, a figure that translates into over 19,000 passports issued daily.