IRCC Deputy Minister Transition Binder 2024 – Passport Program

Context

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) – in partnership with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC) – issues travel documents, including passports, to Canadians. The Department also issues travel documents to permanent residents who are unable to obtain a national passport and protected persons.
• Canadian passports are internationally compliant and interoperable, aligning with global standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency. Compliance with these international standards ensures Canadians continue to enjoy safe, secure, and visa-free travel access to over 180 countries.
• Approximately 67% of all Canadians hold a valid passport and there are over 26.7 million passports in circulation.

Impacts

• IRCC is accountable for the overall Passport Program, but the Department works closely with key partners ESDC, Public Safety (PS), and GAC to deliver services to Canadians.
  • IRCC is responsible for overall policy setting, program management, issuing diplomatic and special passports, issuing travel documents for protected persons and permanent residents, and for decisions on any complex/special cases.
  • ESDC is responsible for delivering regular passport services in Canada, including application intake and processing.
  • GAC is responsible for delivering passports and other travel document services to Canadians living or travelling abroad.
  • The Minister of PS is responsible for cancelling, refusing to issue, or revoking passports in cases of terrorism or national security threats.

Current Program

• The Passport Program is funded from the revenues generated through the fees paid for passports and other travel documents and deposited into the Passport Revolving Fund. The Program operates on a 10-year business cycle, meaning its costs and revenues must balance out over 10 years.
• Legal authorities for the Passport Program stem from the Royal Prerogative, unlike other business lines that have legislative frameworks. Under the Royal Prerogative, there are two Orders in Council that constrain the activities of the Program:
  • The Canadian Passport Order defines who is entitled to a regular (blue) passport, how it is issued, and when a passport can be refused, cancelled or revoked.
  • The Diplomatic & Special Passports Order defines who is entitled to a diplomatic (red) or special (green) passport.
• Other legal frameworks impact the Program as well, outside of IRCC’s direct authorities. These include:
  • The Financial Administration Act; Service Fees Act: Authorities and requirements for the Minister to remit and/or waive passport and travel document fees.
  • The Passport and Other Travel Document Services Fees Regulations: Establishes how much Passport Program clients pay for their passports.

Recent Developments

• The Program faced challenges that have impacted service standards and delivery. Most notably, the return of passport demand following the re-opening of international borders and travel in spring 2022 combined with reduced in-person processing capacity created backlogs and delayed service delivery domestically.
• As of March 2023, the Passport Program cleared all processing backlogs and returned to service standards for services in Canada and abroad. However, demand for passport and travel document services is expected to remain high over the medium-term as 10-year passport holders, who received their first 10-year passport following its introduction in 2013, apply to renew.
• The Passport Program is currently reliant on paper-based, manual processes; as such, its nimbleness is limited and absorbing fluctuating volumes is challenging. Recent challenges, along with client and stakeholder expectations and demand for digital services, have underlined the importance of modernization to better serve clients, increase processing efficiency, and enhance the program’s resiliency.
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• A number of key modernization projects are already underway. Specifically, projects are underway to migrate the Passport Program from legacy issuance platforms and on to the Global Case Management System; introduce automated processing of low-risk adult renewal applications; introduce an online application channel for clients; introduce a new passport design and personalization equipment; and, update the Program’s legal authorities.
• This suite of initiatives are slated to be fully implemented within the next two years, laying foundation for further innovation with the Digital Platform Modernization (DPM) Programme.
• The Department hopes to leverage DPM infrastructure to begin issuing secure Digital Travel Credentials (DTCs) – digital passports tied to users’ smartphones and compliant with international standards. The DTCs would be issued alongside a physical passport. This work aligns closely with Canada Border Services Agency and Transport Canada for the future of travel, which feature touchless and biometrically enabled passenger journeys through airports and ports of entry, all anchored in a digital passport to identify travellers.

Upcoming milestones

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• The Passport Program Modernization Initiative, including migration from the legacy issuance system onto the Global Case Management System and automation for low risk applications, is currently being implemented. This would allow renewal applications to be processed using automation, without staff intervention before being printed and mailed to clients.
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• The Department is in the final stages of implementing the ePassport Next Generation project, including a redesigned book with state-of-the-art security features and modern laser engraving printers with increased capacity.
  • June 2023: domestic deployment began
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