According to a recent Global Passport Ranking report, Canada is in a tie for eighth place alongside Australia, Greece, Malta and the Czech Republic.
The report adds that Canadian passport bearers can travel to 185 countries without needing a visa. The report ranked Japanese passports as being the number one passport in the world, which provides the bearer with the ability to enter 193 countries. Singapore and South Korea are in a tie for second place at 192. The lowest ranked passport on the report was Afghanistan, which permits visa-free entry only to 27 countries.
Easy Traveling With Canadian Passports
Once you have a Canadian passport, you may travel in and out of Canada without any limitations, permits or visas. But, Canada only provides passports to citizens. Permanent residents and those on temporary status do not qualify for a passport.
Acquiring a Canadian passport does not mean that you will need to give up your current passport. Canada permits you to bear more than one passport as a dual citizen, so if your native country also permits more than one passport, you are able to hold as many passports as you are qualified for.
Get Canadian Citizenship
To get a passport, you have to be a Canadian citizen. Following are a few steps you must take to get citizenship.
- Become a permanent resident
- Fulfill Canada’s requirements of physical presence
- File your taxes, if required
- Pass a Canadian citizenship test
- Provide evidence of your language skills
Irrespective of how you acquired permanent resident status, you should be able to provide evidence that you spent an equal of three out of the past five years being physically present in Canada, which is 1,095 days. So, basically, it takes three years minimum for you to become a Canadian citizen.
How To Apply For A Passport?
Once you have Canadian citizenship, you should wait until the citizenship ceremony has taken place and you have your certificate to qualify to apply. Every Canadian is eligible to apply, and it is highly rare that you might be deemed ineligible. This can happen in case your citizenship is terminated due to factors such as misleading information on your application or matters related to security, human or international rights violations, or organized crime.
The process of applying for Canadian citizenship is very simple if you have all the necessary and required documents. Your certificate of citizenship is one of the crucial documents, and you have to include the original copy with your application. Even natural-born Canadians are required to submit a birth certificate as evidence of citizenship.
Additionally, you must provide the following documents:
- Proof of Canadian citizenship
- Any valid Canadian passport or other travel documents such as refugee travel document or certificate of identity issued to you
- A document to support your identity
- Two identical passport photos
Canada’s government permits you the option to bring them to a passport office for processing or mail in your documents.
Processing duration
Currently, there is a great demand for new passports and passport renewals from Canadians. This is because travel restrictions that were imposed during the pandemic are being lifted around the world, and now it is possible to travel to meet your family and friends and go on a vacation.
The Canadian government has recently created a tool that tracks processing times. Per the data provided by the tool, it can take between 2 to 13 weeks to process an application, including mailing time for those who choose to mail it in. Hence, it is crucial to start the application process earlier if you are planning to travel outside of Canada in the near future.
What Are Other Benefits of A Canadian Passport?
More than 80% of permanent residents in Canada choose to become citizens, and there are many advantages to becoming a citizen and acquiring a Canadian passport.
Once you get a passport, you are already a citizen and eligible for all the freedoms and rights as every other Canadian. For instance, you can vote in elections, it will also be easier for you to find a job as there are many jobs in Canada that are not available for permanent residents.
Probably one of the significant benefits of becoming a citizen is that you no longer have to renew your status regularly. Those who decide to stay in Canada as permanent residents are required to renew their status with IRCC every five years. This means that you no longer have to pay any fees or have to file applications or ask for extensions with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
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