Employment and Social Development Canada
Canada Guarantees 30-Day Passports or It’s Free
Today, Minister of Citizens’ Services, Terry Beech released the first State of Service Report, a milestone in the Government of Canada’s commitment to service delivery excellence, efficiency, and accountability. Minister Beech also announced important enhancements to passport services: a new 30-business-day service guarantee, or your passport will be free, and the launch of online passport renewals.
State of Service Report Highlights
As part of the government’s commitment to transparency and efficiency, a new passport service guarantee is being introduced. Effective later this year, any complete passport application-whether submitted online, in person, or by mail-will be processed within 30 business days, or it will be free. If the government fails to process the application within that period, applicants will receive a full refund of their passport fees.
The Government of Canada is making significant progress in modernizing passport services to improve accessibility and convenience. In December 2024, the government began piloting online passport renewals, allowing eligible Canadians to renew their passports from the comfort of their homes.
Minister Beech also announced a new passport processing and print centre in Surrey, British Columbia; expanded 10-business day passport service to 24 Service Canada Centres since 2022, including in Iqaluit, NU and Yellowknife, NT, bringing the total to 60 locations; and the implementation of a full-service passport office in Charlottetown, PEI, in the near future.
Since its launch in December 2023, the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) has received over 3.8 million applications, with 1.5 million Canadians already receiving care. The program is set to expand later in 2025 to include adults aged 18-64, ensuring more Canadians have access to essential dental services.
Enhancements to the Employment Insurance (EI) program have significantly improved efficiency. Call centre wait times have dropped from 18 minutes in 2022 to just 4 minutes today. The recently introduced EI Benefits Estimator processes approximately 4,500 transactions per day, helping Canadians understand their benefit entitlements more efficiently.
Advancements in EI processing automation have streamlined operations, with machine learning and AI automatically triaging 40,000 claims, processing 100,000 work items, and reducing workloads by 8,300 items per month.
Through the Benefit Delivery Modernization (BDM) programme, the government is upgrading decades-old infrastructure to ensure Canadians receive critical benefits like Old Age Security, Employment Insurance, and the Canada Pension Plan through a more secure and reliable system.
Social Insurance Number (SIN) automation is also transforming service delivery. The introduction of eSIN automation will create a fully digital SIN application process, reducing wait times from five days to under five minutes. Additionally, the SIN@Entry program, launching this year, will further simplify the process for newcomers to Canada, eliminating the need to stand in line at a Service Canada Centre.
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2025/03/government-of-canada-announces-important-improvements-to-passport-services-and-the-release-of-the-first-state-of-service-report-government-guarante.html