Passport Delays Affecting Canadians Travelling

With COVID-19 restrictions mostly lifted, Canadians appear keen to venture to far shores for the first time since the pandemic began, but passport delays are keeping some on a short leash.

With COVID-19 restrictions mostly lifted, Canadians appear keen to venture to far shores for the first time since the pandemic began, but passport delays are keeping some on a short leash.

Service Canada says it has seen a big boost in demand for passport renewals, which has made for long lineups and longer waits for documents.

The federal agency aims to process passports within 20 business days for mail-in applications, but right now the wait is averaging 26 days.

About 72 per cent of applications are processed on time, but some are taking much longer.

Service Canada says it comes down to a huge increase in demand.

Air Canada’s sales spiked in March as travel restrictions eased, pushing bookings to 90 per cent of 2019 levels, according to the airline’s quarterly earnings report.

Meanwhile Service Canada processed nearly 1.3 million passports between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022 — a sharp increase from the roughly 360,000 passports processed over the previous fiscal year.

The number of passport-related calls to the government has also shot up from 500 a day before the pandemic to now over 200,000 per day.

In preparation for the predictable surge, the agency said it created a simplified renewal process that doesn’t require a guarantor or original documents. It also set up processing hubs across the country and hired 500 new agents to process the paperwork.

People who plan to travel within the next month have been pushed to the front of the queue, and the agency says staff are working overtime and weekends to get through as many travel documents as possible.