How to Get a Canadian Passport After Citizenship by Descent

Your citizenship certificate is the finish line for the CIT 0001 process and the starting gun for everything else. Once it arrives, you can apply for a Canadian passport, open Canadian bank accounts, travel internationally on a Canadian document, and access consular services abroad. This guide covers applying for your first Canadian passport from the United States.

There is no way to run the citizenship certificate process and the passport process in parallel. IRCC issues your citizenship certificate first; you then present that certificate as proof of Canadian citizenship when applying for the passport.

Current CIT 0001 processing is approximately 11 months. If you are planning a trip and hoping to travel on a Canadian passport, factor that timeline in early. For details on what happens between submitting your CIT 0001 and receiving your certificate, see our post-submission guide.

Gather these before starting:

• The original citizenship certificate issued by IRCC. If IRCC issued an e-certificate (a digital version), print a copy to include with your application.
• Completed PPTC 153 form (Adult General Passport Application). Always download a fresh copy from canada.ca. IRCC may reject old form versions, so do not reuse a form printed months earlier.
• Two identical passport photos (50mm x 70mm). The same specifications you used for your CIT 0001 application.
• A guarantor (see below).
• Two references who have known you for at least two years. References do not need to be Canadian citizens.
• Payment for the passport fee.

First-time passport applications require a guarantor. Renewals do not, but since you have never held a Canadian passport, you are applying as a first-timer.

Your guarantor must meet all of these criteria:

• Canadian citizen, 18 or older
• Holds a Canadian passport that is currently valid or expired by no more than one year
• Has known you personally for at least two years
• Is not your spouse, common-law partner, parent, sibling, child, or housemate

The guarantor signs the back of one of your two photos and completes the guarantor section on the PPTC 153.

For many Americans who recently discovered their Canadian ancestry, this is the one part that requires planning. Think through your network: a Canadian friend from university, a colleague who immigrated to Canada years ago, a cousin who is Canadian and has a passport. Canadian relatives work as guarantors unless they fall into the excluded relationships above. A sibling who holds a Canadian passport they received several years ago is eligible.

Your two references are separate from the guarantor and have no citizenship requirement. Any two people who have known you for two years qualify.

Passport applications from the US are mailed to the Passport Program processing centre in Quebec:

• By courier (FedEx, UPS, DHL): Government of Canada Passport Program, 22 de Varennes Street, Gatineau, QC J8T 8R1
• By regular mail: Government of Canada Passport Program, Gatineau, QC K1A 0G3

Use tracked, insured shipping. Your original citizenship certificate is in that envelope, and you want proof of delivery and insurance coverage if something goes wrong in transit.

As of March 31, 2026, Canadian passport fees are:

• 10-year adult passport: $163.50 CAD
• 5-year adult passport: $122.50 CAD

Fees apply based on when IRCC receives your application, not when you mail it. For mail-in applications from the US, accepted payment methods are: credit card (Visa, Mastercard, or American Express), embossed prepaid card with raised letters, or a certified cheque or money order. Fill in your payment details on the PPTC 153 or include the cheque or money order with the application package.

IRCC targets 20 business days to process a passport application once they receive it. Add mailing time in both directions when estimating your total wait: typically two to four business days each way between the US and Gatineau.

Starting April 1, 2026, Canada introduced a 30-business-day processing guarantee. If a complete application is not processed within 30 business days of receipt, IRCC issues an automatic, full refund of the passport fee. No request is required. This guarantee applies to mail-in applications.

Marcus, a software engineer in Columbus, Ohio, submitted his CIT 0001 in February 2026 through MaplePass. His citizenship certificate arrived 11 months later, in January 2027. He downloaded a fresh PPTC 153 the same week, got his two passport photos taken, had his college friend (a Canadian citizen with a valid passport) sign as guarantor, and mailed the package to Gatineau by FedEx. IRCC received it two business days later. His Canadian passport arrived in Columbus six weeks after that, well within the 30-business-day window.

A Canadian passport is a 10-year document that lets you enter Canada without a US customs declaration, work in Canada without a work permit, and receive emergency assistance from Canadian embassies and consulates anywhere in the world. It also lets you register children born after your citizenship is confirmed as Canadian citizens, which carries its own set of future options.

The passport is the practical benefit most citizenship-by-descent holders use first. Getting your CIT 0001 application right is what makes it possible.