Adjustment of Certain Fees Under the Passport and Other Travel Document Services Fees Regulations Remission Order: SI/2026-12

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 160, Number 7

Registration
SI/2026-12 April 8, 2026

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION ACT

Adjustment of Certain Fees Under the Passport and Other Travel Document Services Fees Regulations Remission Order

P.C. 2026-300 March 30, 2026

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, considering that the collection of certain amounts is unreasonable, on the recommendation of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, under subsection 23(2.1)footnote a of the Financial Administration Actfootnote b, remits

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order.)

Proposal

The Governor in Council, considering that the collection of certain amounts is unreasonable, on the recommendation of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (the Minister), has made the Adjustment of Certain Fees Under the Passport and Other Travel Document Services Fees Regulations Remission Order (the Remission Order), pursuant to subsection 23(2.1) of the Financial Administration Act (FAA).

Objective

The objective of the Remission Order is to remit the actual and anticipated outstanding debts resulting from the non-collection of passport fee increases. The Remission Order remits the debt for uncollected Passport Program fee increases resulting from IRCC’s non-application of the adjustment formulas found in the previous version of the Passport and Other Travel Document Services Fees Regulations (the Regulations) from April 1, 2025, to January 25, 2026. It also remits the debt for uncollected Passport Program fee increases resulting from IRCC’s non-application of indexation requirements under the Service Fees Act (SFA) for three Passport Program fees from April 1, 2019, to March 30, 2027.

Background

The Revolving Funds Act (the Act) establishes the Passport Revolving Fund to account for the application and service fees collected from applicants that are used to fund the Passport Program. The Act ensures that Passport Program expenditures do not exceed revenues from passport fees.

The Passport Revolving Fund operates on a 10-year business cycle, which means that revenues and costs must balance out at the end of every 10-year cycle. The current fee structure is established in the Regulations, which took effect in 2013. This fee structure was set to account for projected inflation at 2% per annum, covering all Passport Program fees over the course of the Program’s first 10-year business cycle, from fiscal years 2013–2014 to 2022–2023.

To account for the uncertainties of costs outside the Program’s control, such as mail and courier rates, the previous version of the Regulations included formulas for adjusting fees up or down each year. The adjustment formulas took effect on April 1, 2016, and required fees to be assessed each fiscal year and adjusted annually, as required. The adjustment formulas applied to the in-Canada adult regular 10-year and 5-year passport fees, the in-Canada child regular passport fee, the abroad adult regular 10-year and 5-year passport fees, the abroad regular child passport fee, the adult and child refugee travel document fees, and the adult and child certificate of identity fees.

One year later, in June 2017, the SFA came into force, introducing an obligation to adjust fees annually based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), beginning on April 1, 2019, or on the anniversary of a date that is selected by the responsible authority, unless specific criteria are met, including that a program’s fees are already adjusted periodically by existing legislation. Due to the specific design of the Program’s fee structure and how it accounted for annual inflation, and because of the existence of the adjustment formulas within the Regulations, all of the Program’s fees were deemed to meet these criteria.

However, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC or the Department) decided not to change the fee amounts that it collected for each service according to the annual adjustment formulas within the Regulations, and instead maintained the base fee structure established in the Regulations. The Department assessed that the adjustment formulas did not accurately reflect actual program costs and that the inclusion of general inflation in the 2013 fees meant that any increased costs to deliver the Program were largely accounted for. Furthermore, in the first half of the business cycle, the Passport Revolving Fund had accumulated a significant surplus, which was projected to sustain operations through to the end of the cycle. An increase to fees at a time when the Program had sufficient resources to cover its current and projected costs was deemed to be unfair to clients and inconsistent with the cost-recovery provisions of the FAA. A Remission Order to address the foregone revenue accumulated between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2023, for the fees subject to the adjustment formulas was published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, on February 14, 2024.

As communicated in the Department’s 2023–2024 Fees Report, from April 1, 2023, and onwards until the repeal of the adjustment formulas, the Department continued charging unadjusted fees. The adjustment formulas were determined by IRCC to be an inappropriate mechanism to adjust Program fees, given that the formulas only account for less than 20% of Program costs, such as freight, receiving agents and Global Affairs Canada’s services abroad. In contrast, the greatest contributor to Passport Program expenditures are domestic processing costs, including support costs (such as salaried employees), materials, and information technology (IT) project costs.

A regulatory amendment to repeal the adjustment formulas was approved by the Governor General in Council on January 26, 2026, as well as a Remission Order to address the foregone revenue as a result of the non-collection of fee increases under the adjustment formulas between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2025, which was published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, on February 11, 2026. A third and final Remission Order is required to remit the foregone revenue from April 1, 2025, to the day before the repeal of the adjustment formulas on January 25, 2026, totalling $9,685,140.

During the Department’s preparation for adjusting fees in line with the SFA’s annual adjustment requirement, it was determined that three fees, the urgent pickup fee ($110), the weekend or statutory holiday service fee ($335) and the temporary passport fee ($110), were not subject to the exemption from the SFA’s annual adjustment requirement due to their lack of inclusion within the adjustment formulas of the previous version of the Regulations. As a result, they should have begun adjusting in line with the CPI as of April 1, 2019. The foregone revenues associated with non-application of the SFA adjustments represent a debt to the Crown. It would be unreasonable for IRCC to collect small amounts of fee increases from clients that are unaware of the debt. Consequently, a Remission Order is required to account for the foregone revenue for the non-collection of CPI adjustments for these three fees from April 1, 2019, to March 30, 2026.

Even though these three fees had accounted for inflation at a rate of 2% per annum over the course of the Passport Program’s first business cycle (2013–2014 to 2022–2023), the SFA’s provision that its annual adjustment requirement does not apply to fees when fixed in a manner that takes into account inflation was not added to the SFA until April 1, 2024.

Applying CPI adjustments in line with the SFA prior to April 1, 2023, would result in double counting for inflation for these three fees. Finding that it would be unreasonable to charge clients for inflation that has already been accounted for in the base fees, these three fees will be adjusted on March 31, 2026, by 14.5%, representing the CPI adjustments required under the SFA from April 1, 2023, through to March 31, 2026.

Under the SFA, the increase on March 31, 2026, should be higher than 14.5%, accounting for inflation from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2023. Remittance is required to account for foregone revenue from the portion of the adjustment associated with the April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2023, period. In total, this Remission Order will remit foregone revenue associated with non-application or partial application of SFA adjustments from April 1, 2019, to March 30, 2027, totalling up to $5,703,413. IRCC will seek a solution to address this issue as part of the Comprehensive Fee Review it is currently undertaking for the Passport Program.

Subsection 23(2.1) of the FAA allows the Governor in Council to remit any debt owing to the Crown, on the grounds that the collection of the debt is unreasonable or unjust, or that it is otherwise in the public interest to remit the debt. In this case, the collection of the debts already incurred is considered unreasonable, as it would require small amounts to be recovered from millions of individual clients who are not aware of the debt. As well, it would be unreasonable to collect debts associated with adjustments that would double count for inflation.

Implications

Uncollected Passport Program fee increases pertaining to the adjustment formula

The Remission Order remits the debts owing to the Crown resulting from the non-collection of fee increases that should have been charged by application of the adjustment formulas set out in the previous version of the Regulations from April 1, 2025, to January 25, 2026. The total foregone revenue from remitting these fees totals $9,685,140.

Table 1: Summary of the fees under the Regulations where the mandatory fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2025, and January 25, 2026
Fee waived / Service provided Volume Amount collected as per the fee set in 2012 Adjusted fee Total foregone revenue
Adult regular passport, outside Canada service, 10-year validity 174 386 $235.00 $283.00 $8,370,528.00
Adult regular passport, outside Canada service, 5-year validity 10 798 $165.00 $199.00 $367,132.00
Child regular passport, outside Canada service, 5-year validity 47 374 $100.00 $120.00 $947,480.00
Total 232 558     $9,685,140.00

Note: The adjustment was determined via adjustment formula.

Uncollected Passport Program fee increases pertaining to adjustment under the SFA

The Remission Order remits the debts owing to the Crown from the non-collection of fee increases that should have been charged under the SFA from April 1, 2019, to March 30, 2027. The total foregone revenue from remitting fees payable to the crown for the period covered by this Remission Order is $5,703,413.

Table 2: Summary of the fees under the Regulations where the mandatory SFA fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020
Fee waived / Service provided Volume Total foregone revenue
Urgent — expedited services fee 28 852 $69,821.84
Same day or out of hours fee 1 448 $10,671.76
Temporary passport fee 7 554 $18,280.68
Total 37 854 $98,774.28

Note: Fees were adjusted by April 2018 CPI — 2.2%.

Table 3: Summary of the fees under the Regulations where the mandatory SFA fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021
Fee waived / Service provided Volume Total foregone revenue
Urgent — expedited services fee 8 050 $37,580.62
Same day or out of hours fee 171 $2,431.18
Temporary passport fee 2 524 $11,783.04
Total 10 745 $51,794.84

Note: Fees were adjusted by April 2019 CPI — 2.0%.

Table 4: Summary of the fees under the Regulations where the mandatory SFA fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022
Fee waived / Service provided Volume Total foregone revenue
Urgent — expedited services fee 31 556 $140,079.08
Same day or out of hours fee 906 $12,248.18
Temporary passport fee 5 204 $23,100.88
Total 37 666 $175,428.15

Note: Fees were adjusted by April 2020 CPI — 0.2%.

Table 5: Summary of the fees under the Regulations where the mandatory SFA fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023
Fee waived / Service provided Volume Total foregone revenue
Urgent — expedited services fee 98 723 $822,361.74
Same day or out of hours fee 1 116 $28,311.37
Temporary passport fee 9 643 $80,326.11
Total 109 482 $930,999.21

Note: Fees were adjusted by April 2021 CPI — 3.4%.

Table 6: Summary of the fees under the Regulations where the mandatory SFA fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024

Fee waived / Service provided

Volume

Total foregone revenue

Urgent — expedited services fee

43 756

$716,567.10

Same day or out of hours fee

1 629

$81,244.22

Temporary passport fee

10 766

$176,308.65

Total

56 151

$974,119.98

Note: Fees were adjusted by April 2022 CPI — 6.8%.

Table 7: Summary of the fees under the Regulations where the mandatory SFA fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025
Fee waived / Service Provided Volume Total foregone revenue
Urgent — expedited services fee 55 135 $1,199,186.25
Same day or out of hours fee 1 973 $131,697.75
Temporary passport fee 11 453 $249,102.75
Total 68 561 $1,579,986.75

Note: Fees were adjusted by April 2023 CPI — 4.4%.

Table 8: Summary of the fees under the Regulations where the mandatory SFA fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2025, and March 30, 2026
Fee waived / Service provided Volume Total foregone revenue
Urgent — expedited services fee 44 281 $963,111.75
Same day or out of hours fee 1 506 $100,525.50
Temporary passport fee 10 619 $230,963.25
Total 56 406 $1,294,600.50

Note: Fees are consistent with 2024–2025 (adjusted by April 2023 CPI — 4.4%)

Table 9: Summary of the fees under the Regulations where the mandatory SFA fee adjustments are projected to not be collected between March 31, 2026, and March 30, 2027
Fee waived / Service Provided Volume Total foregone revenue
Urgent — expedited services fee 43 388 $412,186.00
Same day or out of hours fee 1 496 $43,384.00
Temporary passport fee 14 962 $142,139.00
Total 59 846 $597,709.00

Note: Remission is determined by difference of base fee adjusted by compounded CPI April 2022 to April 2024 compared to theoretical fee adjusted by compounded CPI April 2018 to April 2024.

Accountability

All remissions associated with the Remission Order will be reported in the IRCC Fees Reports and IRCC Public Accounts.

Contact

Kathryn Fredericks
Director
Passport Program Policy
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Email: Kathryn.Fredericks@cic.gc.ca