Ottawa’s 30-days-or-free policy for issuing passports now in place
The feds are changing several rules to the Canadian passport process including issuing refunds on passports if the process is delayed by more than 30 business days.
Posted April 1, 2026 2:28 pm.
Last Updated April 1, 2026 2:46 pm.
OTTAWA — The federal government’s new “30 days or free” policy for issuing passports takes effect today.
If it takes more than 30 business days to process an application, applicants will get a full refund of their passport or travel document fee.
The government says applicants should be compensated if the government doesn’t meet its service standards.
It says most passports are processed within the service standard of between 10 and 20 business days.
The new 30-day guarantee doesn’t include mailing time and the countdown starts when the government receives a complete application.
The standard won’t apply to all services, such as urgent and express services.
