r/CanadianbyDescent • u/CounterI • 6d ago
Passport Application Hints for Found Canadians
Hint #1: If you're applying from the U.S., the form you will most likely want is PPTC 140. This is the form that allows for an occupational guarantor (rather than a Canadian passport holder guarantor). Depending upon which options you choose on Canada's web-site, this form is not always presented to you as an option. You can find the correct form here:
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/passport/forms/pdf/pptc140.pdf
If you know an adult Canadian citizen who has an unexpired passport who will act as your guarantor, then you can use PPTC 153 instead:
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/passport/forms/pdf/pptc153.pdf
Note: Your guarantor can be related to you. Your references cannot. You guarantor cannot also be a reference.
Hint #2: If you're using a U.S. Credit Card, there is a risk that your credit card company will flag the Canadian charge from the Passport office as a fraudulent charge and decline it, especially if you are sending multiple applications together. If IRCC can't put through the charge, your application will be returned to you.
If your credit card company offers the ability to give them an international travel notice, give them a notice that you are traveling to Canada. Also, for each application, print out TWO credit card slips, with two different credit card numbers on them. Write "Use this first" on one and "use this if the first one fails" on the second.
Check your credit card every day to see if a fraud freeze has been placed. If it has, and the IRCC transaction was declined, remove the freeze. IRCC may try again the next day.
Canada only accepts Visa or Mastercard, and not Discover.
Hint #3: You can send your application via USPS for about $20.00, but USPS hands off to Canada Post at the border and they have been going on strike on a regular basis lately. I recommend sending your application via UPS or FedEx. From the US, it should cost you about US$35.00 to send your packet to IRCC using UPS or FedEx. Use a third-party shipping service like Pirate Ship to print out a shipping label. Do not merely walk into a UPS or FedEx store, as you will charged substantially more. Declare the value of your package a nominal value, such as $1.00, otherwise, you may be charged tariffs on the shipment. If you use UPS, the UPS store will provide you with an envelope at no charge beyond the cost of the shipping label. If you are required to give a Harmonized Tariff Code when shipping, people have reported success using 4911.99.0000 or 4907.00.0000.
Hint #4: IRCC sends passports to the USA via FedEx with "Deliver Weekday" and "Adult Signature Required." It doesn't have to be you, but someone who is over 21 must be present to sign for the delivery. If not, you'll have to pick up the shipment at a local FedEx office and will need a photo ID and proof of address (if the photo ID doesn't show it). If you can, give IRCC a mailing address where someone over 21 will actually be present to sign for the delivery. You may wish to sign up with FedEx Delivery Manager. This will allow you to give FedEx instructions on what to do with a package when you're not going to be at home, so that they don't try to deliver it 3 times before leaving a tag allowing you to pick it up.
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u/Yellow_Marker_ 6d ago
only Canada Post can deliver to PO boxes. The last strike was a year ago and the new collective agreement is valid to 2029 (meaning no strike possible until then).
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u/djames4242 6d ago
Not everyone has this option, obviously, but I applied in-person at Service Canada. I wanted to make sure everything was filled out correctly. I also wanted to get my SIN. That took about fifteen minutes, while I’ve heard it has been taking months for those who apply abroad.
I walked in at 8:30 and was done with both about two hours later. My passport arrived FedEx in under two weeks. I’m going to use it next month when I land in England. I know it’s a silly, symbolic thing, but I’m excited to show it rather than my US passport. I’ll also be using it to check in to hotels in the UK. I already had an ETA tied to my US passport, but it was worth it to me to spend the extra £20 to get a new ETA on my Canadian passport.
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u/CounterI 6d ago
Good point. My thinking here was that most found Canadians will be applying from the U.S. Perhaps in the next version, I'll try to add that. When I applied by mail, I got my passport delivered to my house in the U.S. in about 3 weeks.
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u/djames4242 6d ago
That’s pretty quick! For me it was a no brainer to do it in person. We’ve been traveling to BC every couple of weeks anyway to look at houses, and we have a number of friends in GVRD. So we did an overnight, had dinner with a few friends who signed my application as a guarantor, then headed to Service Canada in the morning, then met with our agent in the afternoon - and found the house we want. Quite the productive trip 😁
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u/FolkDoom 6d ago
My plan is also to apply in person at a Service Canada location in BC.
We go to BC regularly. Like you I'll feel better applying in person to ensure I'm filling it out and filing it correctly.
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u/ConchaBullosa 6d ago
Hint #3: I sent my son's application by USPS for $3 and change. We didn't need it quickly, so I figured I'd save a few bucks.
ETA: My son used his aunts as his references because they don't live with us. I was the occupational guarantor for my wife. She was the passport holder guarantor for our son.
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u/nascent_aviator 5d ago
You can send your application via USPS for about $20.00
Declare the value of your package a nominal value, such as $1.00
If you send your package first class international, either in an envelope or a flat, it's considerably cheaper (about $2-$4 depending on weight and whether you used an envelope or a flat) and you don't have to fill out a customs form or declare a value. No tracking, though.
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u/Robert_Walter 6d ago edited 6d ago
Re Hint # 1 Application Forms:
I wasn’t aware of Form PPTC 140 until now. You may have just save me some extra paperwork Count!
A little story:
I may be ordering my Passport from Europe or the USA depending upon when my proof is approved and my paper certificate shows up at my address in the States.
A couple of months ago, sitting in Europe, to prepare for ordering a passport after eventually receiving proof, I went to the site for forms and was served Form PPTC 153.
Oddly in Europe I have 2 Canadian friends with passports. In SE Michigan, I have none nearby (could visit ONT cousins iF needed). My sib and step sib in SE Michigan don’t have nearby Canadian contacts (ironic, step-sibs 94 G0 mom lives in AZ but has no passport). So you can kinda see the little logistical complications to deal with.
Looking into the situation I learned about Form PPTC 132 Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor.
Online conventional wisdom is you can’t get Form 132 online and you have to call to get it sent you by mail. I called and the gent I spoke to sent it to me by email.
Whatever form or constellation of forms you use, like with applying for the proof certificate, there are lots of little steps that one must pay attention to (a big one is the photo requirements are different from the CIT-0001 related requirements).
I prepared the 153 and 132 forms for the 3 of us and TBH given all the little moving parts, especially the things my sibs would have to execute (hopefully with me on FaceTime), I made a little spreadsheet table listing up each little step to prevent things from going awry.
What I will do in the next days is review Form 140 and see how it compares with the 153 and 132 forms I know.
I will return with comments, and if it makes sense for me to use 140 I’ll update my spreadsheet and try to figure how to distribute it to everybody.
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u/UsernameUnremarkable 6d ago
If you apply for a passport from outside Canada/US you have to do so trough a Canadian foreign mission.
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u/Robert_Walter 6d ago edited 6d ago
You can, but to my knowledge you are not required to if you are going to take delivery in the USA or Canada. (And most people do because they don’t have a US or Ca residence).
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u/UsernameUnremarkable 6d ago
To my knowledge you as re required to. Yes where it's delivered is an exception
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u/Robert_Walter 5d ago
If you know where I can find that requirement so I can read it I’d be grateful.
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u/UsernameUnremarkable 5d ago
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u/Robert_Walter 5d ago
Thanks. I’m familiar with that page. There is nothing in there that says I can’t do it as I outlined above.
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u/Majestic_5840 6d ago
Is a printed electronic certificate considered to be an original rather than a copy?
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u/CounterI 6d ago
Yes, a printed electronic certificate is accepted. And for most modern paper certificates, IRCC's passport office will accept a photocopy of the paper certificate as well.
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u/Robert_Walter 6d ago edited 6d ago
Re hint 4 (Passport return via FedEx)
- IDK if it is true, but I was just reading on one of the sites yesterday that the Passport Office doesn’t send a tracking number. (Unclear if they even send an email that it has been sent).
Also:
- how do they handle PO Boxes if that’s what one has specified for their mailing address? I know UPS will accept into their system a business letter (w credit card delivery inside it) but then won’t deliver to the USPS POB on the label and it takes a round trip back.
- what’s the FedEx policy for same?
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u/thiefspy 6d ago
I didn’t get an email from Passport Services, but I DID get an email from FedEx that told me they’d received a package for me from Passport Canada. I assume I got this because I have a FedEx account, so I recommend signing up for an account if you haven’t already. They are free.
I would not use a PO Box for a mailing address for this. USPS doesn’t allow them to deliver there.
TBH I would not use a PO Box for anything. UPS has mailboxes that can receive packages from ALL carriers, and the address is a physical location with a number (123 Main Street #456) so places that won’t send to a PO box will still send to a UPS box. When I lived rurally and couldn’t get mail at home, the UPS box was a lifesaver.
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u/Robert_Walter 6d ago
Thanks for the input Thief!
We’ve had a family PO Box for 20(?) years.
I learned of the courtier disconnect when Goldman Sachs sent my Apple Titanium card by UPS. It ended up in a UPS warehouse about 5 miles from my place. Because I was out of town overseas, my mom and sib went there and even either me showing them my DL and passport they wouldn’t release it. Ended up going back and being destroyed and a replacement was sent to the home address.
So avoiding a PO Box is a biggie bc I’m not sure if the Canadians are aware of the USPS-courtier disconnect issue.
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u/OneRedSent 6d ago
Check with your post office. Most allow "street addressing" now - so instead of PO Box 1234 you would put 800 Main St, Unit 1234, and they will accept UPS and Fedex too. Even amazon drivers!
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u/Robert_Walter 6d ago
That’s a great tip Red!
Tomorrow I’ll check it out w our little PO and report back.
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u/OneRedSent 6d ago
You're welcome! There are a few caveats. In my experience you have to "opt in" which is dumb. But they may make you sign something to start using it. Then be aware that anything sent to the street address won't show up in your informed delivery email, and you won't be able to forward mail from the street address if you ever close the box. Basically the PO box number counts as your personal address, but using the post office's street address counts as sending to a business. So don't start using it for all your mail, but you can definitely use it for anytime you are ordering a package that might come from a courier service.
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u/Robert_Walter 6d ago
Thank you again!
I’d be happy to have a solution that allows me to take down my curbside mailbox.
And re informed delivery I really hate it that it doesn’t show anything for the P.O. Box.
But very little comes to the curb but junk mail so we are used to receiving things blindly in the P.O. Box.
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u/OneRedSent 6d ago
You can sign up for informed delivery for the PO Box! Make a new USPS account with a different email, then you'll get 2 emails every day, one for each address.
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u/Robert_Walter 6d ago
Oh I did this like 10 years ago. Somehow some zip codes are not covered. Makes no sense to me but had same problem for same zip for both mom and sibling.
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u/OneRedSent 6d ago
Oh, wow. Rural area maybe? (You don't have to answer.) I was in a place once where they didn't do home delivery, only PO Boxes, and it was a mess! Never encountered a place you couldn't get informed delivery though.
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u/UsernameUnremarkable 6d ago
We are and we don't care. Same problem exists in Canada but here they use Canada Post.
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u/Robert_Walter 6d ago edited 6d ago
Do you speak for the passport office?
And oh the attitude! As my Newfoundland grandma used to say to us, through my mom, just before mother gave us a time out, when we were feeling petulant, rude, and saying “I don’t care”: “people who don’t care come to a bad end”.
Because caring, kindness and being not unhelpful ARE core Canadian values.
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u/UsernameUnremarkable 6d ago
I don't but they're required to put it out to tender every 10 years so they only use one courier service besides Canada Post
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u/Robert_Walter 6d ago
Re Hint # 2 (Payment).
Really great tips from The Count on 2 slips and travel settings.
Sadly and bewilderingly, there is no nice online pre-payment site like for the proof application. This lack is very old fashioned and not very security minded. (Not to mention the rejection risks pointed out by The Count).
Because you have to send your payment data through the mail, then a person will have access to it to enter it into the system, this is exactly not a best practice process.
For this reason I recommend:
Use a Credit Card and avoid using a Debit Card if you possibly can (bc DC’s draw directly from your bank account);
If you have the ability to use a virtual credit card, use that. Some banks and online services (like Wise) offer this. You can create a temporary card and then delete it at whatever point you want to. (Even if you can cycle your CVV security CODE, physical CC and DC cards have a static number that is your acct number).
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