Ottawa, June 1, 2017— On May 11, 2017, the Government of Canada announced the expansion of passport services in Service Canada Centres, more than doubling the number of Service Canada Centres accepting applications from 151 to 315, and providing 93 percent of Canadians with access to in-person services within 50 km of their home.

Given this expansion and recent service improvements at Service Canada Centres, as of June 30, 2017, passport applications will no longer be accepted at select Canada Post locations. Instead, in-person application services can be accessed at one of the 349 Service Canada Centres and full service Passport Offices across the country. On average, the affected Canada Post locations are within four kilometers of a Service Canada Centre that accepts passport applications.

Service Canada Centres, unlike Canada Post passport receiving agents, offer frontline services to Canadians free of charge. Canadians applying for passports at a Service Canada Centre or Passport Office are able to submit their applications and have their citizenship documents, such as birth certificates and certificates of citizenship, validated and returned to them while they are in the office.

Staff at Service Canada Centres and Passport Offices also assist Canadians with their standard passport application by reviewing it on site for completeness, accepting payment and forwarding it on for processing. This makes passport services more accessible and convenient for Canadians.

The processing time for submitting a passport application at a Service Canada Centre is the same as submitting at a Canada Post receiving agent location.

To find the Service Canada Centre or Passport Office nearest to you, visit Canada.ca/passport.

CIC