How to Start Applying for a Canadian Passport in Canada

The short answer

Work out whether you are applying for the first time, renewing, or applying for a child, because the three routes ask for different things. A first adult application needs proof of citizenship, supporting identification, a guarantor, two references, and two photos. A simplified renewal needs none of the guarantor or document proofs. A child application is a fresh application every time, made by a parent or legal guardian. In Canada, a 5-year adult passport costs $122.50, a 10-year adult passport costs $163.50, and a child passport costs $58.50, at the fees in effect since March 31, 2026. This guide covers applications made in Canada only. Fees and forms for applications made from the United States or elsewhere abroad differ, so use the Canada.ca instructions for your location if you are outside Canada.

First, pick the right route

There are three routes, and picking the wrong one is the most common reason an application comes back.

General application (first adult passport). Use the Adult General Passport Application, form PPTC 153, if you have never held an adult Canadian passport, if your last passport was issued before you turned 16, if you are changing your name, date of birth, place of birth, or gender identifier, or if your passport was lost, stolen, or damaged. This route needs the full document package described below, including a guarantor.

Simplified renewal (adult). Use the renewal application, form PPTC 054, only if your previous passport meets the renewal conditions on the renewal page. Renewal is simpler: no guarantor, no proof of citizenship, and no supporting identification. If any renewal condition fails, use the general application instead. Online renewal is a further subset of renewal, described below, and it has its own eligibility list.

Child passport (under 16). A child passport is valid for a maximum of 5 years and stays valid until its expiry date even after the child turns 16. It cannot be renewed. A parent or legal guardian applies, and the application needs proof of parentage or legal guardianship, plus every document that refers to custody of, mobility of, or access to the child.

What to gather before you fill in the form

For a general adult application, assemble the package before you start:

• Proof of Canadian citizenship. An original document, such as a birth certificate issued by a province or territory or a certificate of Canadian citizenship. Keep the original safe; the form instructions say which documents are accepted and whether originals or copies go in the package.
• Supporting identification. A document that supports your identity, as the form lists it. For photocopies of supporting identification, your guarantor must sign and date each photocopy. Original documents do not need that signature.
• Two references. Two people, each 18 or older, who have known you for at least 2 years, who agree to be named, and who can be contacted while your application is processed. Your references cannot be your guarantor or a family member as the guarantor page defines family, and the Passport Program may ask for more references at any time.
• A guarantor. See the next section. A renewal does not need one.
• Two passport photos. See the photo section below.
• Payment. The fee for the validity period you choose, paid by a method the application route accepts. Cash and personal cheques are not accepted for mailed applications.

For a child application, add proof of parentage or legal guardianship and any custody, mobility, or access documents. The guarantor for a child must have known the applying parent for at least 2 years and must know of the child, and the parent or legal guardian who submits the application cannot also sign as guarantor, although the other parent or guardian can if they meet the requirements.

The guarantor, in full

A guarantor confirms your identity. For a regular (blue) passport submitted in Canada, your guarantor must have known you for at least 2 years, be available if the Passport Program needs to contact them, be a Canadian citizen 18 years of age or older, provide the information needed from their own passport, have been 16 or older when they applied for their own passport, and hold a 5-year or 10-year Canadian passport that, on the day you submit your application, is valid or expired for no more than 1 year, and has not been damaged, reported lost or stolen, suspended, or revoked. A family member or a member of your household can be a guarantor as long as they meet these requirements.

Four fields on the form must be completed by the guarantor personally: signature, place signed, date, and how long they have known you. Your guarantor must also write "I certify this to be a true likeness of" followed by your name on the back of one photo and sign the same photo, and sign and date the photocopies of each supporting identification document you submit. Your guarantor cannot charge you for this, and you cannot help the guarantor do these tasks.

If you cannot find a guarantor, contact the Passport Program for a Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor form, form PPTC 132. It is not available online, it must be sworn before someone who can administer an oath, and the references on that form must differ from the two references on your passport application, so you need four references in total in that situation.

Photos: the rule that returns the most applications

Canadian passport photos follow their own size, not the size used by other countries. Submit 2 identical and unaltered photos with each application. Each photo must be 50 mm wide by 70 mm high, with the face measuring 31 mm to 36 mm from chin to crown. The photo must reflect how you look now, taken no more than 6 months before you apply, by a commercial photographer or photo studio, professionally printed on plain, high-quality photographic paper, in colour or black and white, with uniform lighting and no shadows, glare, or flash reflections, against a plain white or light-coloured background, with a neutral expression, eyes open and visible, mouth closed, and face and shoulders centred and squared to the camera. Do not wear white clothing that blends into the background. Glasses are accepted only if your eyes are clearly visible with no glare; sunglasses and tinted lenses are refused, including prescription tinted lenses. Photos altered in any way, including editing software, filters, and AI tools, are refused.

On the back of one photo, the photographer must clearly write or stamp the date the photo was taken and the name and complete address of the studio, and the guarantor must write the true-likeness certification and sign. The same size and recency rules apply to child photos, with allowance for the range of expressions a newborn can manage. If medical reasons prevent you from meeting a photo requirement, explain them in writing with the application and include a signed letter of explanation where the photo page asks for one.

Fees in Canada

For applications made within Canada, the fees in effect since March 31, 2026 are $163.50 for a 10-year regular adult passport, $122.50 for a 5-year regular adult passport, and $58.50 for a 5-year regular child passport. Fees are adjusted annually under the Service Fees Act, so confirm the current fee list on the day you pay. Applications received on or after March 31, 2026 are subject to the new fees. Adult passport payments include a $25 consular fee, which is refunded if no passport is issued.

Extra services cost extra. Replacing a lost or stolen passport that was still valid carries an additional $45 administrative fee on top of the passport fee, and you must report the loss or theft as soon as possible and include a declaration concerning the lost, stolen, inaccessible, damaged, or found travel document, form PPTC 203. Urgent pick-up, ready by the end of the next business day at an eligible passport office, carries an additional charge. Express pick-up, ready in 2 to 9 business days, and standard pick-up also carry extra charges; confirm the current amounts on the fee list before you choose them, because no pick-up surcharge figure is stated on the fee list page and none is stated here.

How to submit, and how long it takes

In person. Take the completed form, documents, photos, and payment to a passport office or Service Canada Centre. In-person submission at a passport office or a Service Canada Centre offering 10-day service carries a 10-business-day service standard. A regular Service Canada Centre carries the 20-business-day standard. Urgent and express pick-up are in-person services at eligible passport offices only, and urgent pick-up needs proof of the urgent need.

By mail. Mail the package by a certified courier or traceable mail service to the Passport Program address on the form. Mail applications carry the 20-business-day standard, plus mailing time in both directions. The fee you pay is the fee in effect on the date the Passport Program receives the application, not the date you mailed it.

Online renewal. Online passport renewal is available to all eligible adult Canadians in Canada, following the July 2026 expansion. Online renewals are only available if your home and mailing address are in Canada. To renew online, your current passport must be a regular passport valid for 5 or 10 years, showing your place of birth, issued in the last 15 years, and you must be renewing your own passport, with the same name, date of birth, place of birth, and gender identifier, no observations, and an expiry within the next 6 months or already expired. You need a digital photo taken in person by a commercial photographer, no more than 6 months old, that is not a scanned copy of a printed photo. In-person and mail-in renewal remain available.

Since April 1, 2026, every complete application carries the 30-business-day guarantee: if processing takes more than 30 business days, the full passport or travel document fee is refunded automatically, with no action from you. Processing time starts when a complete application is received and ends when the passport is printed and verified. It does not include mailing time, and a complete application means a filled-out form, all required documents including a photo that meets the requirements, and full payment. Check your application status through the online status checker, and keep the receipt and any tracking number until the passport arrives.

If your appearance, name, or passport changes

If your physical appearance has changed significantly for medical reasons, you can apply to replace a valid passport with a photo that reflects your current appearance, using form PPTC 667 or a medical certificate as the replacement page describes. That replacement keeps the same expiry date as the original passport. If your name, date of birth, place of birth, or gender identifier has changed, use the general application, not the simplified renewal, and include the documents the form asks for to support the change. If your passport is lost or stolen, report it right away, pay the $45 replacement fee in addition to the new passport fee, and include form PPTC 203.

Related guides:

• How to Start Getting Ready for Your Citizenship Exam in Canada — the citizenship step that comes before a first passport for new citizens.
• Citizenship Application Checklist — the fixed document checklist for an adult grant of citizenship, including the fee and photo rules that sit alongside a passport application.
• How to Start Exchanging Your Foreign Driver's Licence in Canada — the other provincial document newcomers usually need alongside a passport.
• How to Start Getting a Social Insurance Number as a Newcomer to Canada — the federal number that follows the same identity documents as a passport application.

Sources

• Government of Canada, "Passport and travel document fees increase soon" — the March 31, 2026 fee change for applications made within Canada, $163.50 for a 10-year adult passport, $122.50 for a 5-year adult passport, $58.50 for a 5-year child passport, annual adjustment under the Service Fees Act, and the 30-business-day guarantee from April 1, 2026 —
• Government of Canada, "Canada begins new 30 days or free guarantee for passport processing" — the automatic full refund if processing a complete application takes more than 30 business days, what counts as complete, and that mailing time is excluded —
• Government of Canada, "References and guarantors for Canadian passport and other travel document applications" — the two-reference rule, who cannot be a reference, the no-guarantor renewal rule, the guarantor requirements for a regular passport submitted in Canada, the four fields the guarantor must complete, the photo certification and ID-copy signatures, and the Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor route —
• Government of Canada, "Passport photo requirements" — the 2 identical unaltered photos, 50 mm by 70 mm size, 31 mm to 36 mm face height, 6-month recency, commercial photographer, neutral expression, glasses and head-covering rules, and the back-of-photo photographer and guarantor markings —
• Government of Canada, "How to apply for a child passport in Canada" — the 5-year maximum validity, no renewal for child passports, who can apply, the guarantor rule for children, and the $57-to-$58.50 fee change context —
• Government of Canada, "Renew a passport online in Canada" — the online renewal conditions, the digital photo rules, and the Canada-only address condition —
• Government of Canada, "Canadian passports and other travel documents — check our service standards": the 10-business-day standard for in-person applications at a passport office or a Service Canada Centre offering 10-day service, the 20-business-day standard for mail, online, and regular Service Canada Centre applications, urgent pick-up by the end of the next business day, and express pick-up in 2 to 9 business days —
• Government of Canada, "Canada expands online passport renewal to all eligible adults" — the July 28, 2026 expansion of online renewal to all eligible adult Canadians in Canada —
• Government of Canada, "Replace your valid passport if your appearance changed for medical reasons" — form PPTC 667 (PDF) or a medical certificate; same expiry date as the original passport —

No urgent, express, or standard pick-up surcharge figure is stated in this guide, because no such figure is stated on the official fee list page; confirm the current amounts on the fee list before choosing pick-up service. No 10-day or 20-day figure beyond the service standards described above is stated, and no fee figure for applications made outside Canada is stated; use the Canada.ca instructions for your location and confirm the fee list on the day you pay.