Why are Passports so Expensive?

[The Old Medic]

A passport from Canada costs $85 or more from the US or Bermuda, for a document that is only good for 5 years. This cost is way out of line, compared to other countries.

Can anyone explain just WHY the fees are so high?

 

[TenPenny]

Market forces. No competition, so charge whatever you can get away with.

 

[gerryh]

You're an american anyways so what does it matter what we charge.

 

[DaSleeper]

When I applied for my passport I had to send two photos taken at a studio, and they only use one...birth certificate, signatures from two people who know me, and one from someone who already has a passport etc. etc.
Why is it, if I call revenue canada, I just give my S.I.N., they already have my name address phone #, my income and taxes for the last ten years...
I give another dept. my Ontario health card #, they know my whole medical record from doctors' visits to any medication I'm taking.

Hell....even Radio Shack and Sears Canada...with my phone #...can tell me what I purchased in the last 5 years at their store.

 

[EagleSmack]

Wow...my Bermuda, Mexico, Canada passcard was so much cheaper. I paid about $45.

 

[MHz]

So the poor have to stay at home.

 

[gerryh]

So the poor have to stay at home.

How does that work.... you don't need a pasport to "leave home", you just need one if you're planning on leaving the Country. If you can't afford a passport, then you sure as hell can't afford a vacation outside of the Country.

 

[bill barilko]

So the poor have to stay at home.

And well they should-look at the idiotic bull they post here daily-embarrassing both themselves and their country.

 

[MHz]

...can tell me what I purchased in the last 5 years at their store.

Too bad they won't e-mail you when the 'all perils' insurance is about to run out on one of your gadgets.

And well they should-look at the idiotic bull they post here daily-embarrassing both themselves and their country.

It would be better if we didn't have to put up with tourists and travelers, like we are in 'their road'

How does that work.... you don't need a pasport to "leave home", you just need one if you're planning on leaving the Country. If you can't afford a passport, then you sure as hell can't afford a vacation outside of the Country.

Got tricked into taking a seasonal job, Should have gotten the boat and did the 6 months working double shifts and the 6 months to do a loop around the Pacific from some South American port back just in time for the road bans to be lifted. Would that even qualify as a 'vacation'?

 

[gerryh]

Got tricked into taking a seasonal job, Should have gotten the boat and did the 6 months working double shifts and the 6 months to do a loop around the Pacific from some South American port back just in time for the road bans to be lifted. Would that even qualify as a 'vacation'?

either way, 85 dollars for a passport that is good for 5 years isn't that much.


I see the original whiner hasn't come back to his thread.

 

[lone wolf]

Musta been wanting to go to Cuba....

 

[bobnoorduyn]

either way, 85 dollars for a passport that is good for 5 years isn't that much.

Actually it's $87 for us Canucks, plus a minimum of $10 for the photo, and if you have a wife an kids you have to shell out for them too unless you want to leave them at home, (at least kids under 16 go for half price). I'm more miffed that they are only good for 5 years where US and Brit passports are good for ten. The lame excuse I got from the passport folks is that it's because of this that Canadian passports earn more respect, I guess that's why they are most sought after by fraudsters.

 

[EagleSmack]

Actually it's $87 for us Canucks, plus a minimum of $10 for the photo, and if you have a wife an kids you have to shell out for them too unless you want to leave them at home, (at least kids under 16 go for half price). I'm more miffed that they are only good for 5 years where US and Brit passports are good for ten. The lame excuse I got from the passport folks is that it's because of this that Canadian passports earn more respect, I guess that's why they are most sought after by fraudsters.

So they can squeeze more money out of you... that is why you have to renew every 5 as opposed to our 10 years.

 

[JLM]

A passport from Canada costs $85 or more from the US or Bermuda, for a document that is only good for 5 years. This cost is way out of line, compared to other countries.

Can anyone explain just WHY the fees are so high?

I don't think $85 is high considering the amount of checking and scrutiny necessary to obtain an absolutely fool proof document. Renewing a drivers license can cost as much as $75, and we know how foolproof they are! :smile:

 

[Niflmir]

I don't think $85 is high considering the amount of checking and scrutiny necessary to obtain an absolutely fool proof document. Renewing a drivers license can cost as much as $75, and we know how foolproof they are! :smile:

It's way too high considering they only called 1/4 of my references. I need 4 since I don't know anybody that qualifies as a guarantor, and applying from outside of the country I can't file for the simplified renewal form.

The guarantor is the most ridiculous aspect of the whole application, and if you don't happen to have known a doctor, dentist, mayor, lawyer, police officer etc. in the country where you apply from then you have to pay an additional $100 or so and find 2 more people who can act in lieu of the guarantor. Honestly, what is the purpose of that? They go out of their way to state that "the list above is not a recognition or endorsement by Passport Canada of professional status or superior qualifications," but what the heck is it a recognition of? If it is just someone that a person is bound to have met living somewhere, wouldn't a hair dresser make more sense?

Then the 5 year expiry date is retarded. Literally, retarded; most countries have moved to 10 year dates by now. Heck, my EU visa lasts longer than my passport, and cost 1/4 of the price.

As I said about the witnesses, they don't call them. I even applied for emergency services at one point: they called exactly 1 person, and asked them if they knew the name of my wife. The security is laughably non-existent.

 

[TenPenny]

It's way too high considering they only called 1/4 of my references. I need 4 since I don't know anybody that qualifies as a guarantor, and applying from outside of the country I can't file for the simplified renewal form.

The guarantor is the most ridiculous aspect of the whole application, and if you don't happen to have known a doctor, dentist, mayor, lawyer, police officer etc. in the country where you apply from then you have to pay an additional $100 or so and find 2 more people who can act in lieu of the guarantor. Honestly, what is the purpose of that? They go out of their way to state that "the list above is not a recognition or endorsement by Passport Canada of professional status or superior qualifications," but what the heck is it a recognition of? If it is just someone that a person is bound to have met living somewhere, wouldn't a hair dresser make more sense?

Then the 5 year expiry date is retarded. Literally, retarded; most countries have moved to 10 year dates by now. Heck, my EU visa lasts longer than my passport, and cost 1/4 of the price.

As I said about the witnesses, they don't call them. I even applied for emergency services at one point: they called exactly 1 person, and asked them if they knew the name of my wife. The security is laughably non-existent.

You say they call witnesses, and then say they don't call witnesses.

I've been called when I've been a guarantor before.

If you don't like the passport, don't get one. Who gives a ****?

 

[Niflmir]

You say they call witnesses, and then say they don't call witnesses.

I've been called when I've been a guarantor before.

If you don't like the passport, don't get one. Who gives a ****?

I care, because I need one. Liking it is irrelevant. If you don't care, then I don't really understand why you are responding?

But read what I wrote again and read what I was replying to, if you are confused. I say that they call 1/4 witnesses in relation to JLM's claim of high level of scrutiny. If you did 25% of a job, I would call it a job not done. I am not sure what your boss expects out of you, however. Calling 1/4 witnesses and talking for 5 minutes when I paid $200 doesn't make much sense.

They simply charge that much because they can get away with it.

 

[TenPenny]

It's way too high considering they only called 1/4 of my references.
...
As I said about the witnesses, they don't call them.

So they call 1/4 of them, but they don't call them.

I call it as I see it, but I don't call it as I see it.

 

[DaSleeper]

My next door neighbours signed as guarantor, but they never got a call...probably because I got the forms filled out at the local M.P.'s. (It's a service they provide here). They even mailled it for me with the MP letterhead..(No stamp necessary)
That might have also speed things up:smile:

 

[Niflmir]

So they call 1/4 of them, but they don't call them.

I call it as I see it, but I don't call it as I see it.

I don't know what your point is exactly. Apparently you are unable to interpret written words in any other manner except a literal one? I think most people would understand that "they never call them" means that they rarely call. Especially given the context.

My next door neighbours signed as guarantor, but they never got a call...probably because I got the forms filled out at the local M.P.'s. (It's a service they provide here). They even mailled it for me with the MP letterhead..(No stamp necessary)
That might have also speed things up:smile:

Yeah, the very nice lady that helped me in the Hague mentioned that often they only call for emergency services.