Planned passport renewal change opens door to fraud, forgery
2015/09/11 2 Comments
My working assumption is that there would have been considerable risk analysis undertaken before making this change, and that Public Safety and its agencies would have been consulted and likely would have commented on the potential risks.
As more and more information is captured and shared electronically, hard to see how an expired passport would allow entry to any OECD country or equivalent.
Option summary worth noting:
From the Citizenship and Immigration Canada documents
Option No. 1 — Status quo of requiring passport holders to return their travel documents
Pros:
- Allows passport program to take previous travel documents out of circulation and invalidate them in the system.
- Prevents applicants from having two valid travel documents in their possession.
Cons:
- The application process would not be entirely online, since applicants would have to return their previous passport to a designated location or by mail.
- May reduce the number of online applications.
- May increase application processing time and the number of incomplete applications if the previous passport can not be located.
Option No. 2 — Policy change that does not require passport holders to return their travel documents to the passport program
Pros:
- In line with New Zealand’s current practices.
- Adapted to online service and in line with client services, since clients do not have to return their passport to the passport program.
- The online declaration and the sharing of information about cancelled and expired travel documents would address the risks related to the fraudulent use of passports by a third-party.
Cons:
- Goes against the United Kingdom, United States and Australian current practices, as all three countries require that the most recent travel document, whether valid or expired, be returned. These countries do not offer an online renewal service.
- Could inconvenience travellers crossing a border with their previous passport that has been invalidated in the system.
- Risk of not “catching” applicants that damaged or lost their previous travel documents.
Source: Planned passport renewal change opens door to fraud, forgery – Politics – CBC News
About Andrew
Multicultural Meanderings 
“hard to see how an expired passport would allow entry to any OECD country or equivalent.”
Yes. In fact many will not allow you to travel to their country with a passport that expires in 6 (or fewer) months.
“Prevents applicants from having two valid travel documents in their possession.”
Oddly enough this already happens and is completely legitimate. Some countries issue more than one kind of passport for an individual: a personal passport, for example, and a business one.
Another argument for allowing people to retain their expired (or near expired) passports is to make life easier for expats. Countries like Japan put their visas for tourism, business travel and even residency in the migrant/expat’s passport. My initial visa for Japan takes up an entire page in my passport and has an exit form stapled to the opposite page. When I entered Japan I showed that visa and was given my residency card. Now, it so happens that from time to time I am asked to show both my passport with my Japan visa AND my residency card.. For example when I leave and re-enter Japan.
Now it would not be the end of the world if I didn’t have that passport with me in daily life What would be more of a problem is if I had some sort of emergency that meant I needed to leave Japan for a brief period. I’m not sure I could leave the country and reenter if I didn’t have that passport with the visa in addition to my residency card. If I had the option to keep that passport in my possession while a new one was being processed, I would certainly take it. You never know…. 🙂
Thanks Victoria for contributing to the discussion.
One note regarding your last points on keeping expired passports. In the Canadian case, this was always possible but the expired passport was physically marked as cancelled.
But it was not, if I recall correctly the last time I renewed my passport, that it was marked cancelled when the renewal application was submitted. Not a real issue given standard two-week processing time.