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Canada Babies
I need a passport for DD this summer
and I have learned a couple of things that I thought I would share to save some people time on the phone.
You need to fill out the form for kids under 16. It's a quick form takes about 3 minutes to fill out. It is however very poorly worded so I guess they get lots of questions about it. So here are some answers that I got from the internet and from calling the passport office.
If your child is under a year you can renew the passport for free one during the 3 years that the passport is valid for. So if you get a passport for a 6 month old you can renew it to update the picture when they are 2 for nothing.
It says on the appilcation that the applicant has to know the guarantor for two years or you need to get a form signed by a lawyer/notary in lieu of a guarantor. So if your kid is under the age of 2 you have to get that signed right? Nope you don't. This is because technically you are the applicant and not your kid. The form is worded poorly. Apparently they get asked that question 20 times a day.
Under the section that tells you what documentation you need, it says that you need a long form birth certificate or some form of official documentation that lists both parents on it. This is only if you aren't/weren't married when the baby was born. A regular birth certificate is fine otherwise.
Finally, when you get the passport photo done, this is going to sound wierd but this is what the guy on the phone told me and it doesn't say it anywhere on the forms, they are more likely to accept the picture at the passport office if your child is wearing gender specific clothing. So make sure that if you are getting a picture for your daughter she is wearing something obviously girly. For boys something more masculine. Oh and most places that do passport photos will guarantee that the picture will be accepted for an adult or they will do another picture for free. They will not guarantee the photo for kids under 2.
Hope that is a bit helpful!
Oh ya, I forgot, if you call the passport office on a weekend or after hours their 24 hour help line is useless. It basically just reads the application instructions to you.
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Re: I need a passport for DD this summer
Very helpful. We had to rush our son's birth certificate and passport because we were traveling with him when he was just under two months of age. If anyone needs any advise on that, I blogged about it here:
https://future-mom.com/2011/02/24/obtaining-a-passport-for-a-minor/
Okay, helpful, but probably would have been better to post this on any of the US boards. Your blog is well written, but doesn't apply to applying for a Canadian passport. Our processes in obtaining birth certificates are very different, and the policies regarding passport photos are very specific. OP was dead on in the things that the Canadian passport applications don't clearly explain.
Also good to note that under 16 need their own passport, it's been a long time since they could simply be added to their parent's passport. And yeah, the picture requirements are a pain when trying to take a picture of a newborn. I've put off getting all of ours redone...guess it's time, lo can sit now so no excuses here.
That's silly. We got Jake's when he was 3 months, and they put him on his back on a white board, then the photographer stood over him to take the picture.
Getting Jake's passport was easy, I was just sweating because it took longer than expected to get the birth certificate despite paying extra for speedy service.