Daily Archives: 6/9/2007
Canadian Passport System to be Simplified
| 6/9/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Now that our American neighbours have decreed that Canadians will be required to have passports to enter the US likely by 2008 (air passengers into the US are required to have them now) the Canadian government is experiencing a backlog of passport applications. The response is to ‘streamline’ the system by changing the requirements to make the process easier.
Under the current system an applicant needs a professional like a doctor, clergy, accountant etc to sign as guarantor. Under the new rules, an adult with a current passport may sign as guarantor for a first time applicant.
Passports can be renewed without submitting proof of citizenship or the guarantor’s signature if the applicant had been resident in Canada at the time of both the previous application and this one and was over the age of 16. As well the previous passport had to be issued after Jan 2002, never been damaged or reported as lost or stolen.
It seems to me that when nations start streamlining and simplifying the process that the opportunity for obtaining a passport illegally rises. Isn’t the purpose of the American decree to increase their border security?
I don’t have a passport, nor do I expect to be even applying for one in the foreseeable future. I have rarely crossed the border in my life even though I live right across one of the Great Lakes from the US. The few times I have crossed the border have been a spur of the moment event like an outing with my niece which took place the day of the Great Blackout.
If I have to go to the trouble of obtaining a passport for spur of the moment trips then I’ll not be doing any. There is lots to do north of the border, I have no need to travel south and no need of a passport. So, other than securing their border against those who would make infrequent, spur of the moment trips across the question is… will the Americans have truly secured their borders?
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