Latest news with #passport
CTV News
11 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Are job cuts impacting passport wait times?
The new Canadian passport is unveiled at an event at the Ottawa International Airport in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) After laying off more than 800 Service Canada employees last month, Ottawa says the number of passport applications has stabilized, according to Noovo Info. Nearly 400 people were affected by these cuts in Quebec. Friday was their last day on the job. According to Alisha Kang, president of the Union of National Employees, the wave of layoffs will have a significant impact on Canadians applying for passports. 'It's difficult for members of the public to know how long it will take. You'll walk into a passport office and there will be a queue,' she says. 'These are major cuts in terms of services to Canadians.' However, Service Canada is seeing a downward trend in passport applications. During the pandemic, in 2020, only 3,000 passport applications were made in May. That number jumped to nearly 470,000 applications for the same month in 2024. This year, 100,000 fewer people tried to renew their travel documents at the same time. Éric Boissonneault, vice-president of the Quebec Travel Agents Association, explains the decline in part by the fact most Canadians apply for a 10-year passport. 'So we're in a transitional period where people don't need to renew their passports every five years as they did before,' he says. He also mentions that travel agencies have seen a slight decline in sales, which could also explain the drop in passport applications at Service Canada. Other factors could include inflation and the boycott of the United States due to the trade war, which is disrupting Canadians' travel habits. Currently, the wait time to obtain a passport has been reduced by 55 per cent compared to 2024, but it remains to be seen whether the layoff of 800 employees will have an impact on future wait times. With files from Noovo Info's Lila Mouch and Laurie Gervais
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Beat the summer rush: Simon Calder reveals everything you need to know about renewing your passport
On the eve of the peak summer season, one sad certainty is that some British travellers will be turned away from their holiday flights due to post-Brexit rules on passport validity. Sometimes airport staff will make a mistake but in the vast majority of cases the passenger will be at fault. Thankfully renewals are taking around two weeks. So people who spot a problem now and who are holidaying from the second half of July onwards should be able to rescue the situation without resorting to the expensive and inconvenient fast-track route. These are the key points for passport contentedness this summer. European Union – almost all of it Most British summer holidaymakers are going to destinations in the EU or wider Schengen area (including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland). After Brexit, the UK opted to become a 'third country', placing UK passport holders on a par with those from Venezuela. That means for all EU/Schengen countries bar Denmark and Ireland, a UK passport must: Be under 10 years old on the date of entry. Have at least three months remaining on the intended day of departure. For example, a British passport issued on 1 August 2015 and valid until 1 May 2026 can be used to enter the EU up to and including 31 July 2025, for a stay of up to 90 days (but less if the holder has already spent some time in the Schengen area in the past 180 days). What's different about Denmark and Ireland? Denmark, for reasons known only to itself, imposes a stricter rule that breaches Schengen area regulations. Officials say the passport must be under 9 years 9 months on the day of arrival. The Independent has made repeated representations to Copenhagen and Brussels for Denmark to align with the Schengen rules, but to no avail. British travellers to Ireland do not need passports to enter – though Ryanair demands passengers carry valid passports, with no date stipulation. How long will it take me to get a replacement passport? Andy Anderson, who runs the Passport Waiting Time website, says: 'We've seen passport processing times for both first-time applications and renewals increase slightly over the past couple of months. However, turnaround times remain relatively quick. 'First adult passports are currently averaging 19 calendar days, while renewals are taking around 14 days.' He has developed a passport validity checker that aims to help travellers prepare for their journeys. Will I need an Etias permit? No. The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias, also known as an 'e-visa') cannot take effect before October 2026 at the earliest. Etias will be introduced at least six months after the EU's much delayed entry-exit system (EES) is running smoothly. The latest plan from Brussels is that the EES will start in a limited way in October 2025, with a six-month roll out. Can I use the e-gates across Europe? Who knows? Ministers have talked plenty of tosh about Brussels agreeing to let British passengers use e-gates on arrival and departure from the Schengen area. Each nation makes its own decisions, and so the bureaucratic landscape is a patchwork. Gradually more countries are adding the UK to nationalities that can use their e-gates, but there is no uniformity. Thanks to Brexit, you will also need to be manually stamped in and out in addition to the e-gates. Incidentally, hundreds of airports across Europe have now installed entry-exit system kiosks, which some arriving passengers have confused with e-gates. They are entirely separate; the kiosks are simply to take fingerprints and facial biometrics before proceeding to the border. For many countries, your passport is valid up to and including its expiry date. These include Australia, Barbados, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Tunisia and the US. For the avoidance of doubt, the only part of the world that cares when your passport is issued is the EU. Elsewhere, only the expiry date is relevant. Ignore anyone who tells you 'British passports run out after 10 years'. Which popular destinations have trickier red tape? Turkey: "To enter Turkey, your passport must have an 'expiry date' at least 150 days after the date you arrive and at least one blank page,' says the Foreign Office. Oddly, if you apply for a visa for Turkey, the minimum validity drops to 90 days. Morocco: 'Your passport must have an 'expiry date' at least three months after the date you arrive,' says the Foreign Office. UAE (including Dubai and Abu Dhabi): 'Your passport must have an 'expiry date' at least six months after the date you arrive … If you're travelling through the UAE and not passing through immigration, your passport must have an expiry date at least three months after the date you will transit.'
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
‘Help': Aussie fashion CEO Jane Lu in turmoil over passport detail
Aussie fashion boss Jane Lu has issued a warning to fellow travellers after a tiny passport detail put her entire Europe trip on the line. In a four-part series of clips posted to social media, the Showpo CEO looked anxious as she grasped her chest in front of the service desk at Sydney's International Airport. 'I'm here with all my luggage and I cannot get onto my Paris flight,' she begins. 'I'm at the airport and they're telling me that I can't get onto my flight to Paris because my passport has water damage.' She then pans to a quickly depleting line as the rest of the flight boards while she stands nearby while revealing her work campaign trip may be in real jeopardy. In the next part of the gripping adventure, the business owner reveals she successfully made it through but was made to sign a waiver. 'I just got through, so she said that I have to sign a waiver to say that if Paris turns me away I'll just have to come back 'So I signed it but I still might get turned back. Hopefully the French are chill 'It's a really long flight to get turned away but I have to try,' she added. After waiting an entire day for the update – it finally came. 'We've just touched down in Paris and this is the moment of truth,' she says from the cosy business class pods. 'Oh my god, oh my god, it worked!' she declares. It's a tale as old as time, but not everyone has been so fortunate Just last year, a tiny mark on one woman's passport kept her from boarding a flight to a much-anticipated holiday in Bali. Sean Ferres and his partner Brooke were headed to the popular holiday destination when she was stopped because of a 'microscopic coffee stain' on her passport. 'Virgin Australia decided that this microscopic coffee stain on Brooke's passport made it 'unreadable' and denied us boarding our flight to Bali,' they said on social media. Another woman was left in tears after being turned away from her flight just hours prior to boarding. Sydney woman Elyse Elmer said that after arriving at the airport ahead of her flight to Bali, she was denied entry due to a small tear in the spine of her passport. 'That is literally … all it took for them to totally refuse entry,' she said of the relatively small tear. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website states that 'even minor passport damage can stop you from travelling.' 'Damage that might require you to replace your passport includes water damage, unofficial markings on the data page, missing visa pages or tears,' it stated. As of 1 January 2025, the going rate for an adult passport is $412. If you're after a fast-track passport (5-day processing), you're looking at an extra $104 on top of that. And last but not least, if you need priority (2-day processing), that's an additional $300 on top of your original fee. Affordable!
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Aussie fashion boss' travel plans are thrown into turmoil at the airport after shock discovery on passport
The boss of an Aussie fashion brand has revealed how she was almost stopped from flying to Paris because her passport had water damage. Showpo CEO Jane Lu shared her horrifying experience on TikTok on Monday, revealing Australian customs officials initially told her she wouldn't be able to board her flight. 'I'm at the airport and they're telling me that I can't get onto my flight to Paris because my passport has water damage,' she said. Officials warned her French officials may reject her passport on arrival and send her straight back to Australia. Ms Lu said she was eventually allowed to board the plane, but she had to sign a waiver to 'say that if Paris turns me away, I'll just have to come back'. 'So I signed it, but now I've got this 24-28 hour flight journey, and I still might get turned back,' she said. 'So hopefully the French are chill. It's a really long flight to get turned away but I got to try it, right?' Ms Lu explained that she was heading to Paris for Showpo's homecoming campaign and that she had all the gear for the shoot on her, so if she didn't make it through customs, the campaign wouldn't happen. She also said she was surprised Aussie officials initially denied her access, given she had previously flown twice to the US with the same water-damaged passport. Ms Lu appeared visibly nervous as she waited to disembark after her plane landed in Paris. 'This is the moment of truth: let's see if I get in or not,' she said. 'Maybe they'll be super chill, or maybe I'm going straight back to Sydney.' Ms Lu managed to make her way through customs without a problem. Social media users sympathised with Ms Lu and blamed the poor quality of the Australian passport, which costs $412. 'It's so annoying because Australian passports are such poor quality and so expensive to replace as well,' one person said. 'They compared it to German and Japanese passports that were five years old and they stayed flat while our new expensive ones curled in two weeks,' another said. Others said it was an important lesson to always double-check the quality of the passport before heading overseas. 'This is why you must make sure your passport doesn't have any damage like this,' one wrote. 'Some countries are ruthless and will not accept passports with water damage.' 'The airline gets fined if the country you're flying to won't accept your passport and you're not allowed in,' a second added. 'It's your responsibility to check it's in good condition prior to travel.' The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) trumpeted the new passport upon its launch in 2023, previously boasting it was manufactured in Australia. 'The next-generation passport is packed with advanced security features designed to keep Australians' identities safe,' the department said. But since its release, questions have been raised about the expensive document's quality. Sydney woman Natalie Vellozzi, 28, compared her old and new passports and accused the government of skimping on quality. 'The quality definitely does not match the price of this passport,' she said. After the Sydney woman put both passports next to each other, the difference could be seen straight away, with the new one's cover curving upwards. 'This is my old passport I have had for 10 years. It is definitely better quality,' Ms Vellozzi said.
Times
7 days ago
- Times
Now, in which idiot-proof place did I put my passport?
I was on my way to the airport on Sunday when, quite sensibly, I decided to check I had my passport. It would have been even more sensible to check before leaving the hotel, but hindsight's a wonderful thing. So is having a passport, which, at that moment on that pavement in Stockholm, I did not. Normal people would panic at this point but I'm not normal. I always lose my passport and then, a few minutes later, I always find it again. No cause for alarm. I took a deep breath and had another look. Still no passport. I tipped everything out of my bag and on to the pavement. Nothing, but I still didn't panic. There are people who are good at losing things and people who are good at finding things. I'm one of the former. Harriet is one of the latter. She knows where everything is at all times and it's such an amazing skill that I enjoy testing her. I'll say, 'Do you know where the Euro plug is?' and she'll say, 'Fourth drawer, cabinet, shower room.' I'll say, 'Have we still got that book about mushrooms?' and she'll say, 'One's in the green box in the loft and one's in the office next to the book about bees.' • Matt Rudd: We're off for a walk is everybody? Harriet was not in Stockholm and this was both good and bad news. It was good news because I could get on with the search without the eye-rolling. It was bad news because if she was here, the passport would be as well. I still didn't panic. Obviously I must have left it at the hotel. I packed my bag again and started running, not because I was panicking but because if I didn't run I'd miss the flight. So maybe panicking a little. The room was as I'd left it — tiny, sparsely furnished, not obviously containing a passport. I went through the bedding, I shook out the curtains, I looked in the mini-fridge and the bin. Nothing. I emptied my bag again. Still nothing. • Matt Rudd: How to beat the scammers? Bore them to death Then I decided to panic. I pulled off the bedsheets, flipped over the mattress, lifted up the cupboard and the rugs. Then I asked myself the world's most irritating question — 'Where did you last have it?' — and, to my astonishment, it helped. I last had the passport in this room yesterday morning. I had taken it out of my bag because I didn't want to lose it in the city because I know what I'm like. Of the people who are good at losing things, there are those who just accept it and those who adapt. I have tried to adapt. With some success I have trained myself to put my wallet and keys on the hall table the minute I get home. As a result I am proud to say that the frantic morning wallet-and-key search is now an exception rather than the rule. I have a list on my phone of Where Weird Things Are. It says things like 'rugby boot stud spanner next to shoe polish' and 'shoe polish next to rugby boot stud spanner'. And when I check into a hotel I make a mental note of where I put my passport. This system relies on good recall, which, in that sweaty, stressful moment, I did not have. All I could remember was that I'd put it 'somewhere clever' where burglars would least expect it — but the hotel room was tiny and I'd looked everywhere, clever and not clever. • Matt Rudd: I'm helping my son with his GCSE revision. But what's the point? The UK government website says it takes at least 48 hours to process an emergency travel document. I tried hard not to think about all the logistical repercussions of spending 'at least' two more days in Sweden. I ransacked the room again. Nothing. I looked at the bin. A flicker of a memory of a mental note. The newspaper? Maybe I'd put the passport inside to outfox the burglars and apparently myself. I grabbed it from the bin and shook it. No. I went back to the application: £125. Ouch. Plus a new flight. Ouch again. And hotels. Maybe one last look. And there it was, at the very bottom of the bin. It had dived out of the newspaper, commando-style, and snuck under a Coke can at exactly the wrong moment. In seconds I'd packed my bag again and was running. Could I still make the flight? I reached for my phone to check the time. No phone! Normal people would panic at this point but…
