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Canadian Passport: New guarantor policy in effect

quote:

Gatineau, Qu�bec - The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Foreign Affairs today announced a new guarantor policy for Canadian passports. This new policy allows most Canadian adult passport holders residing in Canada or the U.S. to act as guarantors for passport applications. Today's announcement is the next step in the continued efforts by Canada's New Government to improve passport services. "Canada's New Government is taking positive action to improve passport services for Canadians. And unlike the previous government, we are delivering results. In only a few months, we have increased Passport Canada's capacity by 40%, we have launched the simplified passport renewal process and we are announcing today the new guarantor policy," said the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Under the new policy effective today, an eligible guarantor must: * Be a Canadian citizen 18 years of age or older; * Hold a five-year Canadian passport that is valid or has been expired for no more than one year; * Have been 16 years of age or older when they applied for their own passport; and * Have known the applicant personally for at least two years. Demand for Canadian passports has more than doubled over less than a decade. In 1999-2000, Passport Canada issued 1.7 million passports. In 2006-2007, it issued 3.6 million passports and this fiscal year, the figure is expected to reach more than four million. Now, any family member as well as any individual residing at the applicant's address may act as guarantor, provided he or she meets the requirements noted above. To simplify the verification of guarantor eligibility, Passport Canada will use its own database, thereby increasing the security and efficiency of the process. For more information on travel documentation required for travel to the United States and upcoming changes due to the U.S. Western Hemispheric Travel Initiative, please visit: http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/agency/whti-ivho/menu-e.html.

Source: HERE

this is absolutely ridiculous!!

any joe shmoe can sign your applications!?!

the reason for the previous rules was that if you choose to be a guarantor for someone, you better think hard about it because you can lose your job (lawyer, doctor, professor). Now, I can open a gurantor service because i have a passport?

crazy!

In the US u dont even need a guarantor. The whole thing is retarded, especially when:
A) you need to do this every time you renew
B) your passports only last 5 yrs

ON a side note, I just got a new US passport yesterday- it feels so 'thick'- I swear there's some serious hardware hidden in those pages now.

quote:

Originally posted by StereoPrincess this is absolutely ridiculous!! any joe shmoe can sign your applications!?! the reason for the previous rules was that if you choose to be a guarantor for someone, you better think hard about it because you can lose your job (lawyer, doctor, professor). Now, I can open a gurantor service because i have a passport? crazy!

you still have to know the person for 2 years.

The only reason the gov had higher requirements for guarantors is because they could revoke somthing worthy from the person signing.

For example, P.eng can loose their license, lawyers unable to practice etc etc

Now anyone with a passport can sign....should they fuck around...their passport will be revoked.

quote:

Originally posted by devnull you still have to know the person for 2 years. The only reason the gov had higher requirements for guarantors is because they could revoke somthing worthy from the person signing. For example, P.eng can loose their license, lawyers unable to practice etc etc Now anyone with a passport can sign....should they fuck around...their passport will be revoked.

that dont mean shit. i can go up to apu at kwik-e-mart and pay him $50 and he will sign my application.

the old process worked fine. if it aint broke, dont fix it.

quote:

Originally posted by devnull you still have to know the person for 2 years. The only reason the gov had higher requirements for guarantors is because they could revoke somthing worthy from the person signing. For example, P.eng can loose their license, lawyers unable to practice etc etc Now anyone with a passport can sign....should they fuck around...their passport will be revoked.

Question is how vigorously will this passport fraud thingy be investigated.

This would work if CSIS or RCMP can devote resources to investigate every case of possible fraud but right now, seems there's much security issues with this change.

Why not make the process of getting passport more strict, but increase the validity of passport to 10 yrs?

It's about time that they did away with the ridiculous antiquated notarizing policy. It really didn't make much sense that I had to get my passport validated by a doctor who's seen me maybe 15 times in total for 10 minutes at a time (over several years of course), as opposed to my Dad who's a CGA and a Canadian citizen and has known me my entire life.

The point of a guarantor is just to prove to the government that you're really, truly a Canadian citizen. There's no valid reason why they should have to be a member of a specific profession for that. If the supposition here is that their license could be revoked if they are dishonest - when was the last time you ever actually heard of that happening?

Passports just identify you as a citizen. It's not like you're applying for assault weapons.

I need a passport.

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut Passports just identify you as a citizen. It's not like you're applying for assault weapons.

im not? passports are fucking useless then.

We dont have guarantors in the US and yet we dont have a problem w/passport fraud as far as I know.

quote:

Originally posted by chinamon that dont mean shit. i can go up to apu at kwik-e-mart and pay him $50 and he will sign my application.

I'm actually LOL'd at this one.. well done.

Good, what a pain in the ass that old system is.

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut The point of a guarantor is just to prove to the government that you're really, truly a Canadian citizen.

I don't even think they do that, since when has your dentist ever been asked or been capable of verifying your citizenship? The guarantor just looks at the pictures, agrees it's you, and says yes I've known you for x amount of time. If you're an illegal immigrant, that's wonderful, they have no idea, nor anyway of finding out.

good to hear.

Finally

New Government

quote:

Originally posted by tatgirl We dont have guarantors in the US and yet we dont have a problem w/passport fraud as far as I know.

isn't that because it's so difficult to get American Citizenship? Not sure how it works, but I remember it took a friend more than 8 years to apply for a Green Card. is that true?

quote:

Originally posted by harcourt I don't even think they do that, since when has your dentist ever been asked or been capable of verifying your citizenship? The guarantor just looks at the pictures, agrees it's you, and says yes I've known you for x amount of time. If you're an illegal immigrant, that's wonderful, they have no idea, nor anyway of finding out.

I agree. You shouldn't need a guarantor at all if you have a valid birth certificate that shows that your parents were Canadian citizens (or landed immigrants) and that you were born somewhere in Canada. That type of ID is registered with the provincial government, so it's very easy to check on. And that's the point - guarantors are being reduced to just a formality now.

People forget that in order to successfully commit passport fraud, you would have to have already committed several other types of fraud. If somebody has already gone that far, then finding a crooked lawyer or doctor to sign a couple of papers and photos is going to be a walk in the park. Perhaps literally, accompanied by a couple of spliffs.

Oh and Misanthrope: it's also very difficult to get Canadian citizenship. It's not hard to enter and stay in the country, but if you actually want to pay taxes then you have to jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops, and it can take years too.

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut Oh and Misanthrope: it's also very difficult to get Canadian citizenship. It's not hard to enter and stay in the country, but if you actually want to pay taxes then you have to jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops, and it can take years too.

I can't remember but we had to wait 5 years to be eligible to get canadian citizenship. My parents had to write a test on canadian history and shit and pass it to get their citizenship. I didn't since I was under 16 at the time.

Writing a test seems kinda stupid. I can gurantee you that if I gave that test to 100 Canadian born citizens that at least 70% wouldnt pass i t.

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut Oh and Misanthrope: it's also very difficult to get Canadian citizenship. It's not hard to enter and stay in the country, but if you actually want to pay taxes then you have to jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops, and it can take years too.

it took me 9 months for immigration, four years to get my citizenship and 10 days for my passport.

that's why i'm curious.

quote:

Originally posted by Misanthrope it took me 9 months for immigration, four years to get my citizenship and 10 days for my passport. that's why i'm curious.

Almost 5 years doesn't count as 'difficult'?

quote:

Originally posted by tatgirl In the US u dont even need a guarantor. The whole thing is retarded, especially when: A) you need to do this every time you renew B) your passports only last 5 yrs ON a side note, I just got a new US passport yesterday- it feels so 'thick'- I swear there's some serious hardware hidden in those pages now.

If i remember correctly all new American passports have RFID chips embeded in them. The only way to disable these is to beat the shit out of your passport with a hammer(or any other blut object i suppose). This does not invalidate the passport nor is it illigal.... smashy smashy

however i doubt the RFID chip is responsible for passports thickness....?

quote:

Originally posted by harcourt Almost 5 years doesn't count as 'difficult'?

no. I was born and brought up in a country for 17 years, which doesn't even give citizenship out. 5 years is nothing!

quote:

Originally posted by Misanthrope isn't that because it's so difficult to get American Citizenship? Not sure how it works, but I remember it took a friend more than 8 years to apply for a Green Card. is that true?

I've been trying to get landed residency for 7 yrs. If its not one thing, its another. I've already applied twice, and now Graham's history blocked us. Back of the line again for me. (I'm aiming to break a Canadian record at this point).

quote:

Originally posted by harcourt Almost 5 years doesn't count as 'difficult'?

no, because waiting for the passport while you already have the immigrant status is really nothing, you already have all the rights and privileges of a Canadian minus the voting part
and if you hold a valid traveling document of another country, that even means you can travel
so technically, it's not 5 years

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