llbean

Does anyone know when Canadians can start getting new e passports?

I read they will store your frequent flier information which will mean that all your travel may automatically be credited to AE...

D582

1. Current target date is Spring 2013 - http://www.ppt.gc.ca/support/faq.aspx?lang=eng&id=q801

2. Hogwash. The ePassport chip only stores your photo and other information that is displayed on the picture page of your passport. This is standardised internationally.

llbean

Any idea when in the spring? My passport expires end of April, and I'd like the new 10 year version.

HerpaYvr

Yes those new passports will be cool, have to sell my current one on the black market before I get a new one....did I just say that out loud?

Funny watching the movie ARGO and seeing the old passports with the stick on pictures! One mistake though the size of the old passports in the early 80"s were bigger than that shown on the movie!

yscleo

What's your asking price?

Mavatar

Soon, I guess...

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10...ian-passports/

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/p...10-year-option

missjane

Where is the "like" button for this thread?

DJ Bitterbarn

I knew that the Harper Government would find some way to <disadvantage in a figuratively explicit and/or vulgar manner> expats on this one. Nothing surprising here.

And to think that at one point I gave them credit for extending the validity of a passport to ten years. I take it all back, now that I will have to pay more than I was paying before for the ten year passport and if I fill this one too soon, like the last one, SIGNIFICANTLY more.

EDIT: Also, no mention that I can see about how many pages in this one. So assuming the same sort of structure, it won't be $260 but more than that for the additional pages that MIGHT extend my passport to six years, if my travel keeps up. So let's then assume it will be more prudent to get five-year passports and "only" pay $380 for ten years, rather than a ten-year passport I'll have to replace after six and pay $520 in the same ten-year timeframe.

gglave

It's not that out of line. I live in Vancouver, and just renewed my ten-year British Passport. I was charged $211 USD + $33 USD for the courier fees. Cheaper to be sure, but not that much cheaper.

antirealist

Not to derail the thread, but how long did the renewal process take? Mine expires in Feb 2013, and I have a 9 week window when I won't need to use it. I'm wondering if that will be long enough.

gglave

I think so... It was earlier this year, so memory of the details are fading, but I think it was about 3 weeks from FedExing in the documents to receiving the new UK passport back.

DJ Bitterbarn

Still doesn't totally help considering that the overall fee for someone in the country drops significantly over the life of a ten-year passport, which they're advertising like mad, while the expat tax makes that rate go up. Plus, it seems they're actually cancelling the 48-page passport entirely. So the chance of filling a passport go way up now, meaning it's probably more economical to pay twice for the now-doubled cost of the five-year passport, rather than two expensive ten-year passports.

And still no recourse to this until expats somehow get back the right to vote.

gglave

Sorry, know I'm punting things over to P/R here, but expats who have lived overseas for less than five years have the right to vote.

I think most Canadians living in Canada are fine with the fact that people who have been gone for 5+ years can no longer vote in elections. You aren't paying taxes. If you want to vote, move back to Canada.

From a logistical point of view, into which riding do you think you would register? Which MP would represent you?

As a dual British citizen living in Canada I don't feel I have the right to vote in UK elections.

DJ Bitterbarn

You're right, I can't actually write a response to that without diving firmly into P/R. So here's the short version only.
1) I did pay taxes because through some quirks of the student process I could still be classed as a resident.
2) I stopped paying after it was clear I would receive virtually no services regardless of if I paid taxes or not and regardless of prior residency status, I couldn't vote anyway after the 2006 re-interpretation of expat voting status.
3) 5 years is not an unreasonable amount of time to be out of the country. I spent 5 years on a postgrad, let alone getting experience.
4) Move to a system like Australia where you have to actively maintain your voting privileges and it will make sure the people who are engaged and interested keep voting, this seems like the reasonable solution in a global society. We're still citizens, we're still affected by Canadian laws, many of us have no other citizenship. The "expats shouldn't be allowed to vote" argument rarely addresses the fact that a number of expats are far more informed about their own nation's political scene than people living in the country. So aside from arguments about taxation (vs taxation without representation) I question why any responsible government would want to exclude typically the most educated and mobile from participating in the political process.
4.1) If I can argue the Italian parliament does only one thing right it's to recognize its diaspora with representation. There's enough Canadians living in the US to probably get one or two MPs based on population alone.

As an expat solely-Canadian citizen, I have no right to vote in ANY elections.