Update: Two of my references texted me to say they were called by Passport Canada today. One was asked very detailed questions about me (hair color, usual hairstyle, height, how we met, my current and previous occupations, current address and if they know where else I've lived in Canada, my exact travel date). I'm meant to be picking up the passport in 2 days so let's see.
WEIRD behavior from Passport Canada agent, is this normal?
- Thread starter kmoser
- Start date
I hope you get helped kmoser and that they give the passport without outright refusal. When applying for a Passport, the default would be to have a guarantor. The "weird" behaviour is probably just the officer trying not to be cynical. I mean you have lived in Canada for at least three years, become a citizen and don't know any other citizen that well that you can't ask them to vouch for you? That sort of thing. I would imagine 99% of people would fall into that category? They are essentially relying on an antiquated way of confirming that you are who you say you are. And so if you arrive at the Passport office without that, it would raise some eyebrows as to is this person 100% legitimate. With passport fraud and identity theft, its just another failsafe. I will admit that having some other mechanism like 2 photo id's and or other biometrics should be sufficient. That rule has (about guarantor) probably been around for ages, before biometrics. Is it fair or practical? some would argue no, its not. but its what is in place at the moment. I have found that Canada is very black and white and if you don't tick the box, there is very little room for out of the box thinking/discretion. We chose, after all, to be part of this great country. Its not perfect, but its a whole lot better than many other countries. Just my 2c.
Fair point, it was my decision to come to Canada. While doing my research it never occurred to me to look up how passports are obtained here, lesson learned I guess. At this point I no longer care, I'm now looking into moving to Portugal under their golden visa scheme. With or without passport, I no longer see a future in Canada for me.
I'd note part of the reason (likely) for this procedure is that unlike most countries, Canada has no centralized register of births and deaths (amongst other things) - provincial responsibilities. These means, amongst other thigns, that there are documented cases of identity theft using the gaps.
Is there a better way? Possibly, propose. But they don't change these requirements lightly.
They wouldn't have called references if they intent to refuse the application. I once went to service Canada for another reason, and the agent I went to see was angry and cursing the person he served before me, and was saying "go back to your country" while mumbling!! So, yeah, some federal workers are not as professional and polite as you would expect. Canada's federal services in general are not great and they have little incentives to improve.
New update: They called me an hour ago. Very rude woman told me they called all my 4 references and since they have verified that two of them have Canadian passports they will be unable to process my application. She asked me to go back to the Passport office, ask for one of my pics back, have one of my two Canadian references sign the back of it and fill out the guarantor section and just resubmit the first page of the application with the guarantor info and no need to repay the processing fees. I asked her if all four of my references were non-Canadians would she still force me to find a guarantor, she hesitated and said, "well you've been in Canada for x number of years and you listed two Canadian references so it's inconceivable that one of them couldn't be your guarantor". I asked if it's the place of lowly Passport officers to decide who "should" have a guarantor and what sort of social connections one is supposed to have after x number of years in a country. Very predictably she answered with the usual deflection, "well, a Canadian passport is a privilege".
Before my decision to move somewhere else I would have told her to reject my application and send me the reasons for the rejection in writing so I could have it reviewed by a court of law. I'm in two minds about this now, (1) just fuck them all and leave this shithole without a passport, I can travel to Portugal with my country of origin's passport, I'll have to make two trips there for the golden visa, OR (2) beg one of my former Canadian colleagues that I listed as references to find the time to meet up with me to sign my picture and the guarantor section. I think I'll mull this over for a few days before deciding.
Option (3): you could just ASK one of them. There's really no begging involved.
You're making a big deal out of a nothingburger.
I know it's not convenient for you, but I think going from a reference to a guarantor in terms of info is not that big of a leap. You already know their addresses and phone numbers, they just need to provide their passport info and date of birth, and sign your photo and ID copy. Go with the flow so you can get the passport, and then do whatever you want. I am furious too. I have been waiting for my passport 7 weeks and still nothing. Don't let them make you loose the passport, the results of years of waiting, to pick a fight with them. Taking them to court will drag for years if anything comes out of it.
Last edited:
Lol... if you think portugal is better than canada about bureaucracy you'll be in for a ride. I just read your previous comment and I'm now convinced you are trolling this forum. Who has time to argue with a citizenship agent but can't be bothered to get someone to fill out a form? No one.
The weather is way nicer for a start. It's not really the bureaucracy that bothers me, I honestly wouldn't mind if I was just asked to provide a ton of documentation, it's the social credit system that Passport Canada seemingly operates on that bothers me. My problem is social connections, not lack of documentation.
I didn't choose it completely out of the blue, I'm on good terms with a couple of other people who have moved there (not from Canada) who picked it for taxation purposes (it's more tax-friendly for the type of assets they trade in). I'm not planning to look for work other than invest in real estate, I'm ready to retire and perhaps start a couple of independent projects as a hobby. Don't really care for a huge social network, I can be happy anywhere without one but I no longer wish to pay millions in taxes to a country that forces me to have one in order to obtain a passport.
They're "forcing you" to have a "huge social network."
They want you to find one person who'll sign a form on your behalf (and share basic info with the govt).