Under Canadian rules, you need a Guarantor for your Canadian passport or other travel documents. If you are not sure when you need a passport guarantor, you can find out by patiently reading this article and getting the ultimate guide to Canadian passport guarantors.

What is a Guarantor? 

A guarantor is a person who can verify your identity and confirm the true information that was stated about you in the document. This means that a guarantor can guarantee your identity.

When do you need a passport guarantor?

If you are applying for a passport for the first time, you will need a sponsor to ensure that you are a Canadian citizen. And the government will contact your guarantor during the passport application review. Usually, if you want to renew a passport, you don’t need a guarantor. However, you are required to have a passport guarantor when you are not eligible to renew your passport.

These are the situations where you are not eligible to apply for a renewal:

• If your child passport expires and you are over 16, you must apply for an adult passport.
• If you want to change your name, place of birth, date of birth, or gender on the new passport.

Who can be a guarantor?

To be a qualified and acceptable guarantor, you must meet the specific requirements set by the government. Usually, if the guarantor has complied with the requirements, it can be anyone, a family member, a friend or a household. However, you should be aware that the requirements of a guarantor will change depending on the type of passport, such as a Canadian passport inside or outside Canada, a military personnel passport or a refugee travel document.

Guarantor requirements when applying for a passport in Canada

• A guarantor must have known you for at least 2 years.
• A guarantor must be available when officials need to contact them.
• A guarantor must be a Canadian citizen 18 years of age or older.
• A guarantor must provide the required information in their passport.
• A guarantor must have a valid 5-year or 10-year Canadian passport.

Guarantor requirements when applying for a passport outside Canada

When you apply for a passport outside Canada, your guarantor can be anyone who meets the above sponsor requirements when you apply for a passport in Canada. In addition, you can look for job-based guarantors as long as the person meets the following requirements.

They are registered or licensed with the appropriate authority to practise their profession.

They are currently working in one of the following professions:

• judge
• dentist
• pharmacist
• veterinarian
• police officer
• notary public
• lawyer
• medical doctor

If your occupation-based guarantor retired, you can use them if your guarantor’s name is still on the professional association list.

Guarantor requirements when applying for a passport as a military personnel 

If you’re Regular Force personnel, Regular Military Force officers can be your guarantor if they have known you personally for over 2 years. These officers may be your guarantors.

• NDHQ directors
• base commanders
• commanding officers
• NDHQ career managers
• NDHQ directors general
• Personal administrative officers

They won’t write down how many years they have known you, but they must write, “through service records that I have verified.”

Guarantor requirements when applying for an identity document or refugee travel document

• Your guarantor must live in Canada now.
• Your guarantor will be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
• Your guarantor must be available during the verification process.
• Your guarantor has personally known you for more than 6 months.
• Your guarantor must be an occupation-based person who has been registered/licensed with the appropriate local authority to practise their profession, such as mayor, pharmacist, postmaster and optometrist , etc.

Who can not be a Canadian passport guarantor?

You cannot act as a guarantor, if you do not meet the above requirements. For example, you have not known the person for more than 2 years. In addition, parents or legal guardians who apply for passports on behalf of a child are not allowed to be guarantors.

What if I can’t find a guarantor?

Unfortunately, you can’t find anyone who is eligible to be your guarantor. Don’t panic, you can apply for your passport by completing the Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor form. And you must find someone who has the authority to administer an oath and sign the form.

• In Canada, it can be a notary public, justice of the peace, commissioner of oaths.
• Outside Canada, this may be a Canadian or British diplomatic or consular representative and qualified local official.

What must the guarantors do?

When you need to complete the guarantor section of the application form, such as the guarantor’s name, most of the time it can be done by you or your guarantor. However, your guarantor must be responsible for the following 4 areas.

• Signature of the Guarantor
• Signed at
• Date
• The number of the years that you’ve known the applicant

image resource: Services aux Autochtones Canada / Indigenous Services Canada

In addition, your guarantor must do the following.

• They need to write on the back of one passport photo “I certify this to be a true likeness of (your name or your child’s name)”
• They must write their names on the back of the same photo.
• If this is for an adult application, the guarantor must sign and date the photocopies of each supporting identification document that you submit. But if you submit original documents, there is no need to sign every document.

Do I need to pay a guarantor?

No, you don’t need to pay a guarantor. A guarantor can’t charge a fee for helping you apply for a passport. In addition, you also can’t help the guarantor do any of the tasks listed above. 

Conclusion

All in all, when you apply for a Canadian passport, a guarantor is an important person to verify your identity. Besides that, there are other vital things you need to pay attention to, such as the passport photo. Because your guarantor needs to sign the back of the photo. If you take a photo at home, you can upload it to passport photo editor to make a qualifed passport photo.

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