Canadians Can Get 'Partial Refunds' For Late Passport Services, But Here's Why Most Won't Qualify
Canadians are sometimes entitled to refunds when service standard are not met.
Hundreds of thousands of people have recently experienced long wait times for Canadian passport applications and renewals, but getting a refund for delayed services is a little complicated.
According to the Toronto Star, as many as 295,789 Canadians have recently faced delays when it comes to passport services between April 2021 and 2022.
Of those, as many as 217,139 people received their travel documents up to ten days late, while 78,650 received theirs late by 11 days or longer.
Right now, the passport service standard is 10 business days for in-person services, 20 business days by mail and the end of the next business day for urgent services. Express services are expected within 2 to 9 business days.
An update to Canada's Services Fees Act — brought in by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2021 — says that when an individual pays for a government service and the service standard is not met, they are entitled to a partial refund.
In these cases, a partial refund is issued by July 1 of the following fiscal year via the original payment method, or via cheque for payments that were not made online.
However, many of the almost 300,000 Canadians who faced passport service delays are unlikely to qualify for any sort of money back, due to the nature of what has been causing the backlog.
The policy states, "Should it be determined that the service standard in relation to a fee paid is not met primarily due to exceptional circumstances, the fee payer is not eligible for a remission."
As the delays and backlogs for passport services are related to the COVID-19 pandemic — which is considered to be an "exceptional circumstance" — most will not qualify for a refund.
Among the circumstances considered to be "exceptional" are things like natural disasters, unexpected system disruptions and "emergency situations that cause a closure of an office, a reduction in the service capacity or a surge of applications outside the department’s control."
Narcity has reached out to the IRCC for comment. This article will be updated if and when a response is received.
Per the Toronto Star, applicants who got their passport ten-or-less days late would get a 25% refund under different circumstances, while those who waited 11 days or longer would get 50%.
It means IRCC would have had to fork out over $11.2 million in refunds for those who received substandard service.
Since April, Service Canada offices all over the country have been slammed by an "unprecedented surge in demand."
On July 7, the feds laid out an enhanced triage system that prioritizes people who have urgent travel needs. They also committed to training new, specialized staff and modernizing Canada's passport system, which aims to reduce the passport backlog "significantly" by the end of the summer.
