The cost of getting a Canadian passport is increasing this month.
So, here’s what you need to know about the new passport fees and how much you’ll have to pay.
The federal government is amending the Passport and Other Travel Document Services Fees Regulations to be based on inflation, rather than a preset formula.
Once the amendments come into effect, the federal government said that “fees for travel documents will be adjusted each year to align with inflation.”
The first annual inflation-related fee adjustment will take effect on March 31, 2026, and align with the All-items Consumer Price Index for Canada from April 2024, according to a recent federal government publication.
Based on the 2.7% CPI in April 2024, the new passport fees will be:
- $58.53 for a child passport
- $123.24 for a five-year adult passport
- $164.32 for a 10-year adult passport
That’s up from $57 for a child passport, $120 for a five-year adult passport, and $160 for a 10-year adult passport if you’re a Canadian submitting and mailing passport applications in Canada.
Passport fees are higher if you’re a Canadian picking up your passport or receiving it by mail outside of Canada.
With the increase related to CPI, the new international fees will be:
- $102.70 for a child passport
- $195.13 for a five-year adult passport
- $267.02 for a 10-year adult passport
That’s up from $100 for a child passport, $190 for a five-year adult passport, and $260 for a 10-year adult passport.
There are extra fees that you could have to pay if you need to replace a lost or stolen passport, urgent and express processing, or other administrative services.
But no announcement has been made about whether those additional costs will be impacted by inflation.
According to the federal government, the current fee adjustment formulas don’t include material costs, processing costs for the domestic delivery of passports and other travel documents, program support costs, and information and technology costs.
That adds up to approximately 85% of the Passport Program operating costs, which means the fees aren’t enough to keep up with the cost of delivering passport services.
The current fee adjustment formulas also don’t account for inflation.
The federal government said using the CPI is “a more appropriate fee adjustment method for the Passport Program.”
Passport Program fees have “remained consistent” since being introduced in 2013, according to the federal government.
So, the new annual fee adjustments based on inflation could impact the ability of Canadians to obtain or renew travel documents, specifically those with lower incomes, families, and larger families.
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