TORONTO – It will have been the timid but encouraging signs on the pandemic front, with many countries that are removing all the restrictions or it will be the impression of having lost two years, the fact is that the desire to travel has been rekindled. Often, however, we realize that the passport has expired. And just to be able to renew it, Canadians are experiencing long waiting times due to the increase in applications. 

According to Employment and Social Development Canada, the time for passport renewal is five working days for those applying in person and 17 working days for those applying by mail. “With the resumption of travel, Service Canada is receiving an increase in passport applications across the country. Priority for appointments is given to customers with immediate travel needs based on the date of their departure,” Maja Stefanovska, spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada, told CTV News Atlantic.

According to the department, 1.2 million passports have been issued since the beginning of April 2021, compared to 363,000 delivered from April 2020 to the end of March 2021. Both of these numbers are still far from pre-pandemic levels, when Service Canada processed 2.3 million passports between April 2019 and March 2020.

Lorn Sheehan, a professor at Dalhousie University’s Rowe School of Business, said that with some travel restrictions lifted on April 1 – when vaccinated travellers will no longer have to provide a negative Covid-19 test result on return – people will want to return to board a plane, perhaps to take a holiday. On the other hand, people have been forced to stay at home for two years, a period that has been difficult due to the pandemic that has caused anxiety and difficulties of all kinds. “There is a need to travel, a repressed desire – said Sheehan – travelers have been forced to stay at home”.

The consequence, inevitable, is therefore the desire to be able to resume doing what was done before the arrival of Covid that has upset the lives of people all over the world. In fact, we are not yet out of the pandemic. But the small signs of improvement are enough to trigger the desire to leave the house and feel “alive” again.

The long wait to renew their passport should not discourage Canadians: Service Canada invites people who need the document urgently to go to the Service Canada passport office closest to them bringing with them a proof of the trip they are preparing to undertake. In doing so, they will have their passport in their hands within two days.

Proof of travel may consist of a travel ticket, a written declaration, an itinerary with proof of payment or a family emergency proof that requires immediate movement. Obviously in this case the renewal has an additional cost of $ 110.