Renewing Your Passport? Will that be for four-and-a-half years or nine-and-a-half?

We were in the middle of booking our next trip to Europe when we discovered that our passports would expire 2 days after our scheduled return home. Uh oh… some countries require you to have 6 months available after your departure date – otherwise they won’t let you in. It’s a bit excessive, but that’s the new world we’re living in.

No problem, we’ll just renew our passports and they’ll tack the remaining 6 months on to the end of our new expiry date – after all we’ve paid for that six months and it’s not our fault other countries make that rule – right?

You’d think that would be so, but not if you’re Canadian. Nope – you renew early, you forfeit the six months (or more) on your passport… along with the last six months of your NEW passport if you travel again at just the “wrong time”! So that 5-year passport is actually only 4 ½ – or less.

It’s one thing to get ripped-off by an individual or company, but when the government does it (without telling you they’re doing it) – it’s just sooo wrong! Other countries like the U.S. and Germany add your unused 6-months on to the end of the passport expiry date, but in Canada – there’s never a missed opportunity for the government to stick it to us.

With a 5-year passport costing $120, it’s really only a maximum of 4 ½ years for $120. Fortunately we can now get a 10-year… sorry 9 ½ year passport for $160. But wait – there’s more… there are additional fees if you want it faster like:
Expedited Service Fees – available in person only
Urgent pick up (by the end of the next business day) – $110
Express pick up within 2-9 business days – $50
Standard pick up on or after 10 business days – $20

In our experience those addition fees are unnecessary unless you’re really desperate and need it the next day. We went into the office mid-afternoon Thursday and received our new passports the following Tuesday morning via Canada Post. Now that’s quick!!

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About TravelBloggers.ca
Iain & Gail started blogging in order to inspire and motivate people to travel the world from their perspective – specializing in having the most fun while using the least amount of money, travelling on the cheap without sacrificing comfort.

In the end you will only regret the things you didn’t do