Passport Program

Context

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)—in partnership with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)/Service Canada (SC) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC)—issues passports to Canadians. IRCC also issues travel documents to permanent residents who are unable to obtain a national passport, and to protected persons.

Background

• Canadians have a right to a passport as part of their mobility rights enshrined in section six of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• Canadian passports are compliant with global standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency, allowing Canadian travel documents to be internationally recognized and Canadians to travel seamlessly through borders in an increasingly complex global environment of new trends, technologies and rapidly evolving systems.
• Approximately 67% of all Canadians hold a valid passport and there are over 27 million passports in circulation.

Roles & Responsibilities

• IRCC is responsible for maintaining the Passport Program’s legal framework, overall policy leadership, program management, issuing diplomatic (red) and special (green) passports, issuing travel documents for protected persons and permanent residents, and for decisions on any complex/special cases, including those involving cancellation and revocation.
• IRCC also participates in ICAO-led negotiations, ensuring Canadian passport, immigration and border management interests are reflected in global standards that are adopted.
• Through partnerships grounded in Memoranda of Understanding, ESDC is responsible for delivering regular (blue) passport services in Canada, including application intake, processing and client support. GAC is responsible for delivering passport services to Canadians living or travelling abroad, including Emergency Travel Documents.
• The Minister of Public Safety has legal decision-making authority in passport cases involving terrorism or national security threats.

Current Program

• Legal authorities for the Passport Program stem from the Royal Prerogative, rather than legislative frameworks. Under the Royal Prerogative, there are two Orders in Council that govern most of the activities of the Program:
  • The Canadian Passport Order defines who is entitled to a regular (blue) passport, how the passport is issued, and when a passport can be refused, cancelled or revoked.
  • The Diplomatic and Special Passports Order defines who is entitled to a diplomatic (red) or special (green) passport.
• The Royal Prerogative is also the legal basis for the issuance of two travel documents for non-Canadian citizens:
  • Refugee travel documents (RTD) are issued to individuals with protected person status in Canada (resettled refugees and persons granted asylum) to support Canada’s obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention; and
  • Certificates of identity (CoI) are issued to Canadian permanent residents who are stateless or otherwise unable to obtain a passport from their country of nationality.
• There is no Order in Council for the RTD or the CoI; instead, eligibility and other rules are defined in administrative policy.
• Other legal frameworks impact the Program as well, outside of IRCC’s direct authorities. These include:
  • The Financial Administration Act enables the Program’s fee regulations and provides authorities and requirements for the Minister to remit and/or waive passport and travel document fees.
  • The Service Fees Act establishes the requirement to have service standards, and to remit a portion of the fee if standards are not met, and establishes the requirement to adjust fees annually.
  • The Passport and Other Travel Document Services Fees Regulations establishes the fee structure for passport and travel documents and services.
  • The Revolving Funds Act authorizes the Minister to make expenditures out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purpose of passport and other travel document services in Canada and at posts abroad.
• Funding for the Passport Program is generated through the fees paid for passport and other travel document services and is deposited into the Passport Revolving Fund (PRF). The Program operates on a cost recovery basis, meaning that revenues and expenditures are required to balance out over the business cycle, which was set to 10 years by the Program.
• The PRF is prohibited by law to enter into a deficit position by more than $1. Should expenditures exceed revenues by more than $1, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship would no longer have the authority to make expenditures for operations, which would halt service delivery across IRCC, ESDC/SC and GAC.

Recent Developments

• The Passport Program is undergoing a major transition from a paper-based applications and manual processing model to online applications supported by automated decision making. To support this transformation, the Program is simultaneously re-examining and modernizing the entire Program eco-system from authorities and systems platforms to client service and operational delivery.
• In December 2024, the Passport Program launched an online application channel for simplified adult passport renewals to a limited number of eligible applicants. The implementation approach is to start small and scale up to ensure everything is working as anticipated before expanding online applications to the full simplified adult renewal cohort in Canada in late 2025. This is a key milestone to expanding online services to all renewal clients by the end of 2025, which represents approximately 50% of the Program’s application intake.
• A number of key modernization projects were completed in 2024:
  • The Program completed deployment of a new issuance platform for passport processing and automated decision-making across the ESDC/Service Canada Network. Automated decision making for adult renewal applications has reduced processing requirements for approximately 35% across all application types.
  • A new redesigned book was gradually introduced as of June 2023 and successfully deployed domestically and abroad as of September 1, 2024, with state-of-the-art security features and modern laser engraving printers with additional elements, aligned with ICAO standards, making the data page more durable and resistant to tampering and counterfeiting.
• The Program will be amending its remissions policy to offer more meaningful compensation for missed service standards, that is easier to understand and simpler to administer and communicate to clients. The new policy will provide for a 100% refund to clients in cases where travel documents are processed after 30 business days, replacing the previous two-tiered system which allowed for a 25% refund of travel document fees for 1-10 days outside of service standards and 50% remissions for 11+ days outside service standards.

Upcoming Milestones

• The Department will increase online application volumes for simplified adult renewal applicants to 500 per day in the coming months. The Department will also complete a risk framework for future online client cohorts, and work with ESDC to develop and roll out a strategy for future implementation.
• Leveraging the new issuance platform developed for services in Canada, the Department will be replacing its legacy system abroad in collaboration with GAC. The deployment is planned to be completed by 2027.
• Working with ESDC/SC and GAC, the Department will also develop options with respect to the Program’s Digital First but Not Digital Only client service platform as online applications and automated decision-making are deployed, supported by a full fee and funding model review as well as proposals for modernized program authorities.

Key Service Delivery Statistics

Passport Program – Data up to 2025 (Jan to Feb)

Passport – Service Standard Adherence

IRCC and ESCD Passport Inventory and Issued