Canadian government braces for surge in passport renewals ahead of U.S. border reopening
2021/10/18 Leave a comment
Some interesting data. Surprising that there is not a monthly report in IRCC’s “Operational Processing” open data sets, some 8 years after passport was moved from Global Affairs to IRCC in 2013:
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Service Canada issued more than 2.3 million passports the year before the pandemic began, but handed out only 363,225 the year after that.
Already demand is climbing, with 467,541 passports issued this year as of Sept. 30.
The government is closely monitoring the increased demand, according to Mikaela Harrison, the press secretary of Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Ahmed Hussen.
The government has protocols in place to continue to provide passport services to Canadians within service standards, she said in a statement.
“I think I gave myself enough time but I am happy that my parents told me to check when my passport expired, because I honestly didn’t even think about it until they said so,” said Schoel.
As vaccination rates rise across the globe, so will traveller confidence, according to Tourism Economics, a global research firm.
“We expect a more significant easing of restrictions to follow and traveller confidence to expand, with international arrivals set to regain pre-crisis levels by 2024,” said the firm’s June 2021 Global Travel Service report.
The firm expects international travel to remain at about 59 per cent below pre-crisis levels, but said there remains significant pent up demand.
Meanwhile the government is reporting higher than average call volumes related to passport applications, and has urged people not to visit Service Canada unless absolutely necessary.
The government has also extended the eligibility period for renewals, so passports that expired on or after Feb. 1, 2019 can be renewed.
That way Canadians can wait to renew their passports until they actually have plans to leave the country.
Source: Canadian government braces for surge in passport renewals ahead of U.S. border reopening
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Multicultural Meanderings 