As a Canadian, I will provide some context around our application for passport process. I went through it a year ago (got my passport 2 days before lockdown), so it's still fresh in my head.
To get a passport, you have to go to the post office, get the paper forms (and a spare or two in case you mess up), and fill them out. They need info about where you were born, the doctor who delivered you, your current address and previous addresses, your employer, and your family.
Then, you need to go get your photo taken. With a (provincial) drivers license, you just go to the license office and they take your picture. For (federal) passports, you're kind of on your own. You have to go to _a guy_ and get the photo taken that conforms to their specs. If it's not correct, they make you do the whole process again. Most pharmacies and photo stores have gear on hand to make these, but not all do it correctly.
Finally, you need a public servant of some sort who has known you for at least two years to sign the back of one of the photos and fill out the back page of the application. They also need to be available to be interviewed about you to verify your identity during the approval process.
All in all, it took us about two weeks to get the details together, than another six weeks to get the paperwork processed. It's not a very easy process, and it's a huge bar against people who have never applied before. Having the system more user-friendly would be a massive help to the under-serviced in our country, so something like this is greatly needed. Of course, this solution is awful, but it's certainly worth the effort in my opinion.
I'm also a Canadian and my experience has been much different.
I've done the process many times, and it takes a couple hours max to gather everything you need.
You can download the forms from the Government of Canada website and complete them using the free version of Adobe Reader, or you can print them out and do them by hand.
Probably the most annoying part is getting the photos, but nearly every pharmacy can take the passport photos for you, and they all know how to do it because it's very common. I've never had a photo rejected by the passport office.
You don't need to know who the doctor who delivered you was.
You don't need a "public servant of some sort". The passport application clearly says they just need to have known you for 2 years and have a Canadian passport already.
It's also rare that they ever call the guarantor, or the references. I've never heard of it happening to any of my family or friends.
It's a pretty simple process and you only have to do it every 10 years.
For someone who "just went through this" your memory is off. As a Canadian the process is far easier than for a refuge or landed immigrant.
* You don't need to go to the post office and get multiple copies of the form, it's available online.
* You don't need to know the doctor who delivered you. That would be pretty tough based on many people not being delivered by a doctor, or born in a hospital.
* Driver's licenses are issued by either provincial agencies or registries; passport photos and application are reviewed & issued by federal agencies.
* You do not need a public servant (they qualified but you never needed them) as your reference, or even a registered professional - these rules changed several years ago. They need to be available to be contacted but not "interviewed" beyond a phone call.
* You need 2 references and a guarantor; the qualification are very modest.
* If it took 2 weeks for you to prepare you were not in much of a hurry, and 6 weeks for processing and approval seems reasonable (even fast) based on historical wait times. Regardless I can't see the approval time being improved as it will still be done by hand.
* If you need your passport quickly you can pay extra for priority rush and get the entire process done within a week.
Getting a Canadian passport quickly and easily should not be
a measure of success of this system as far as I'm concerned. Keeping the process analog with intentional slower, manual steps is a security feature.
Canada seems to have more requirements than the US does. In the US, you just fill out a form that's available for download, attach a photo that you can have taken in lots of places, write a check, put it all in an envelope with your old passport, send it off, and get it back in a month or two. (There are expediting services you can use if you're on a tight schedule though they're fairly expensive.)
Not that different but no requirements for references or a guarantor.
In the UK, there are many photo booths, which also give you a reference number along the prints, which you can provide to the home office as part of the passport application so they get the digital copy from the photo booth company.
Though I am sure there must be hundreds of photo booth apps already.
My wife just went through this (first time passport after she became a citizen) a few months ago and the process is largely unchanged from when I did it like 15 years ago.
If I'm being polite I'd call your representation here "intentionally misleading".
You can print the forms at home or anywhere else (https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/englis...). If you're unable to print a copy yourself at home or work, print them at your library, get a friend to print them, get a copy shop to print them, or figure out literally any possible way to turn a PDF into paper then yes, you can get a copy of the application from the post office or Service Canada.
There was no information requested about "the doctor who delivered you".
Your guarantor does _not_ need to be a public servant. It's literally anyone with a Canadian passport that has known you for two years, including family. Public servants (doctors, judges, lawyers, police officers, dean of a university, signing officer of a financial institution, etc) are an _alternative_ if you cannot find literally a single person in your life that has known you for two years with a passport and have no relatives with a passport. And if that fails, you can just fill out a form saying you literally know nobody.
As to the rest, the actual requirements[0] are:
You need to provide:
- Proof of Canadian citizenship (birth certificate, certificate of citizenship, etc)
- A piece of photo ID from any local or foreign government entity. You can submit a photocopy if a guarantor signs it.
- Two passport photos but they're really not as difficult to obtain as you're trying to imply. Walmart does them for like $8. Pretty much any drug store will do them. Costco does them. You need to get one of them signed by your guarantor.
- Two references: Literally any two adults that have known you for at least two years that aren't related to you. They do not need to be citizens. They don't need to sign anything. Just write down two people you've known for two years.
Then you mail it in.
My wife ran to the Shoppers down the block and got her photos in ten minutes, took us maybe 30 minutes to print and fill out the application and a ninety cent stamp to mail it.
To get a passport, you have to go to the post office, get the paper forms (and a spare or two in case you mess up), and fill them out. They need info about where you were born, the doctor who delivered you, your current address and previous addresses, your employer, and your family.
Then, you need to go get your photo taken. With a (provincial) drivers license, you just go to the license office and they take your picture. For (federal) passports, you're kind of on your own. You have to go to _a guy_ and get the photo taken that conforms to their specs. If it's not correct, they make you do the whole process again. Most pharmacies and photo stores have gear on hand to make these, but not all do it correctly.
Finally, you need a public servant of some sort who has known you for at least two years to sign the back of one of the photos and fill out the back page of the application. They also need to be available to be interviewed about you to verify your identity during the approval process.
All in all, it took us about two weeks to get the details together, than another six weeks to get the paperwork processed. It's not a very easy process, and it's a huge bar against people who have never applied before. Having the system more user-friendly would be a massive help to the under-serviced in our country, so something like this is greatly needed. Of course, this solution is awful, but it's certainly worth the effort in my opinion.