Renewing Cdn passport..any tips?

[soon2batexan 3]

Hi all,

My CDN passport is due to expire in June of this year, and as I'm now living in the States I have a couple questions about renewing it.

First question: My guarantor. Back when I applied for my last one, I believe it had to be signed by a Dr (ie dentist, chiropractor), engineer, lawyer, etc who was also a Canadian citizen and had known me for at least 2 years. But, I seem to recall hearing that this has since changed. When I went to passport.gc.ca, it looks like ANY Canadian citizen can be your guarantor - friend, relative, etc. Am I reading it wrong, or is this correct? The instructions say it CAN be a friend or a relative as long as they meet the "criteria". Does that criteria include being a Dr/lawyer/engineer, or do they just have to be a Canadian citizen who has known you for at least 2 years? If not, we have a family friend down here who is a dentist who could do it but he is a US citizen..hopefully that's not a problem.

Also, since my current passport has my visa and I-94 in it, should I wait for it to expire so that I can hang onto it? Not sure if the USCIS will have any further use for it, but the instructions say that I have to turn in an existing passport if it is less than 5 years old.

Any advice is appreciated! My Dad is going to have to renew his too and lives in the same city, so this will help us both. And if he can be my guarantor, even better!

[YuAndDan 153]

I would suspect that would be a requirement to apply for one, not to renew it.

When you use the Simplified Renewal Application Process, you do not have to resubmit proof of Canadian citizenship, supplementary identification or guarantor information.

http://www.ppt.gc.ca/cdn/ren.aspx?lang=eng&region=USA

[warlord 72]

Yeah they made it easier to do now. I did mine a few years ago and no longer had to get a Canadian to sign it. Actually think I had my coworker who was a notorized public to sign and it was fine. Before that it was next to impossible for me as my parents in Canada had to find a family friend that was a vet to sign my thing as I haven't lived there for well over a decade, and had noone that could actually sign it, so they found a family friend that used to be a vet and that worked.

Well if you do turn in your passport to get it renewed, you just shouldn't leave the country at all until you get a new stamp. Of course this depends on your US status though. If you need the I-94 as your only valid proof, then if you left the US you would need that to re-enter. If not then I don't see why you couldn't just send in the passport since you get the old one back anyways with a hole punched in it along with your new passport...

[soon2batexan 3]

Well that's good news - thanks! From this distance, I wouldn't want to have to send a bunch of stuff to Canada to get it reviewed and signed by a guarantor. This is much better!

I have my green card now and don't plan on traveling outside the US anytime soon, but want to make sure I keep a current passport since it's a widely accepted form of ID and the best proof of my Canadian citizenship.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Well that's good news - thanks! From this distance, I wouldn't want to have to send a bunch of stuff to Canada to get it reviewed and signed by a guarantor. This is much better!

I have my green card now and don't plan on traveling outside the US anytime soon, but want to make sure I keep a current passport since it's a widely accepted form of ID and the best proof of my Canadian citizenship.

Your guarantor has to hold a Cdn passport (and known you 2 yrs etc etc...) and it can be anyone - I am my daughter's guarantor (she's 19) on her renewal which we just completed this morning. We happen to be back visiting family this week so we took it right into the passport office and that was fine. You can also do the mail-in thing and that's fine too. Yes - you might have to mail your stuff to a family member to sign and then have them send it back.