Canadians can now renew their passports online, a move expected to streamline the renewal process and reduce in-person visits to passport offices. This service is available to eligible citizens aged 16 and older whose passports were issued within the past 15 years.
To qualify for online renewal, applicants must meet several criteria: they must be renewing their own passport, have a Canadian home and mailing address, and their current passport must be a regular (blue) passport issued when they were 16 or older. Additionally, the passport must have been issued in the last 15 years, be valid for 5 or 10 years, and show the applicant's place of birth. The passport should be expired or set to expire within the next six months. Applicants must also be able to wait at least 20 business days, plus mailing time, for processing, as the current passport will be canceled upon application. A digital passport photo taken by a commercial photographer is required, and the applicant must not have any observations in their current passport. The online renewal service is currently limited to a certain number of applications each day to monitor system performance. The limit resets at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., Eastern Time. Applicants can create an account at any time, but only a limited number of people can start an application each day. The online service is unavailable from 12:00 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays for system maintenance. For those who do not meet the online renewal criteria or prefer not to use the online service, in-person and mail-in renewal options remain available. In-person applications can be processed in 10 to 20 business days, depending on the location, while mail-in applications take up to 20 business days, plus mailing time. It's important to note that passport and travel document service fees have increased as of March 31, 2026. Applicants should check the latest fee schedule to understand the costs associated with their chosen method of renewal.