Remission of Passport Fee Adjustments

Summary#

The federal government made a Remission Order that cancels unpaid fee increases tied to the Passport and Other Travel Document Services Fees Regulations for services provided between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2025. The order remits $34,597,462 in foregone fee adjustments and came into force on January 26, 2026.

What it does#

• Remits (forgives) the unpaid fee adjustments that were required by the regulations for the period April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2025.
• The total amount remitted is $34,597,462, split as:
  • $14,377,310 for the period April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024.
  • $20,220,152 for the period April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025.
• Affected services include various passport services (adult and child, in-Canada and outside Canada), refugee travel documents, and certificates of identity. Examples from the tables in the order:
  • 147,456 adult 10‑year passports outside Canada (foregone adjustment $9,732,096 in 2023–24).
  • 3,355,965 adult 10‑year passports in Canada (foregone adjustment $6,711,930 in 2024–25).
  • Other specific volumes and dollar differences are listed in the order’s breakdown.
• The Remission Order was made under the authority of the Financial Administration Act and takes effect on the day it was made (January 26, 2026).

Who's affected#

• People who applied for passports, child passports, refugee travel documents, or certificates of identity during April 1, 2023–March 31, 2025.
• Applicants both inside and outside Canada who would otherwise have been charged the small additional amounts from the automatic fee adjustments.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Passport Revolving Fund, because the government is formally recording and absorbing the forgone revenues.

Why it matters#

• Individuals who bought passport or travel-document services in the covered period will not receive retroactive bills for the missed fee increases.
• The government is absorbing $34,597,462 in revenue rather than trying to collect many small amounts from millions of clients — a step described in the order as reasonable because many clients would not be aware of the debt.
• The order follows a departmental review that found the existing automatic adjustment formulas did not reflect most Passport Program costs (about 85% of costs were outside the formula). That review and the remission together affect how fee changes are handled and reported for the Passport Program.