Passport Assistance

How My Office Can Assist

My office is ready and willing to assist constituents with questions related to their passports.  We are pleased to review your applications, inform you of any issues that we think might be of concern to Passport Canada and send them to Passport Canada's head office in Gatineau.  We have two deliveries to Passport Canada which leave my office on Wednesdays and Fridays at 3:00 PM.  At this time the processing time for applications from our office is approximately four weeks. 

If you have submitted your passport application to Passport Canada on your own and you are encountering a problem, my staff will be pleased to assist constituents but we will require a consent form to be filled out and submitted to Passport Canada.  I have posted a link to a downloadable version of this form for your convenience here.

Please keep in mind that we will do our best to notify you of any errors with your application but that Passport Canada makes all decisions with respect to applications including photos, the submissions of documentation and the interpretation of those documents.  On occasion the rules change and we are not always notified in advance.  Accordingly, I would like to encourage you to read the regulations on Passport Canada's website particular to the type of application that you are filling out.

 

Useful information

Children's Applications
Passport Canada recently announced, “effective October 1, 2012 child passport applications must include one of the following documents: A detailed birth certificate issued by a Canadian provincial or territorial vital statistics agency that indicates the name of the parent(s) [the long-form birth certificate], a court-issued adoption order indicating the name of the adoptive parent(s), or a foreign birth certificate that indicates the name of the parent(s) (documents in a language other than English or French must be translated into English or French).” The only exception to this requirement is if a Canadian passport has already been issued to the child and the same parent(s)/legal guardian(s) is/are applying for the new passport. At this time, they are recommending that parents have a Long Form Birth Certificate and in some cases they will definitely require it.  If you are unsure about whether or not you require one please discuss your circumstances with my staff and they will be pleased to inform you to the best of their ability.

Simplified Renewals
Please remember that passports that are being renewed must be not be damaged in any way.  Water damage is a common problem that results in the refusal of an application and if this is the case with your passport, you will have submit an additional form called "STATUTORY DECLARATION concerning a lost, stolen, damaged, destroyed or inaccessible Canadian passport or travel document".  This form can be printed from the following link.  You may only complete a Simplified Renewal form when all of the information that is in your current passport is the same.  For instance, women who marry and change their name cannot use this form and must complete an Adult General Application form.

Adult General Applications
Passport Canada will normally print your passport in the name that appears on your secondary identification such as your driver's license or your OHIP card, not necessarily your primary identification which is your birth certificate or citizenship card.  If there are any discrepancies between what is on your application and your identification, or in the different pieces of identification, please point this out and discuss this with my staff to try and avoid any difficulties with your application.