Lost your passport?

Zoomer | December 2nd, 2008

If you lose your passport, be prepared for a long wait before it is replaced. Your replacement document will be identified as replacing a valid lost or stolen passport. Also, you will not be eligible to apply for a replacement using the simplified renewal process.

According to Service Canada’s handy website (http://www.pptc.gc.ca) before a lost or stolen passport can be replaced, Canadian authorities will conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Here’s the checklist of what to do if your passport is lost or stolen:

1. Report the loss or theft as soon as possible to Passport Canada. If there is a passport centre near you, go there once you have filled in a Statutory Declaration (Form pptc203.) Otherwise, contact the government through the number available at the Service Canada website.

2. File a report with the local police.

3. Apply for a new passport as soon as you can and

4. complete a Statutory Declaration concerning a Lost, Stolen, Damaged, Destroyed or Inaccessible Canadian Passport or Travel Document form. A police report should be submitted along with the following documentation:

– A completed passport application, which includes:

two passport-sized photos;

the appropriate fee;

supporting identification; and

documentary proof of Canadian citizenship (your birth or citizenship certificate).

– A completed Statutory Declaration concerning a Lost, Stolen, Damaged, Destroyed or Inaccessible Canadian Passport or Travel Document form.

In case of urgent travel needs, assistance may be obtained at a Passport Canada service location, or at a Canadian government office abroad.

Remember, Canadians who fail to properly safeguard passports may be denied access to passport services. For more information, visit www.passportcanada.gc.ca or call 1-800-567-6868 (toll free within Canada or the US) or 819-997-8338 (outside the continental US and abroad).

Gemini award nominee, journalist and broadcaster, Dale Goldhawk has earned Canada’s trust by his four decades of work exposing fraud and greed in the marketplace. To read more of his articles, go to www.Goldhawk.com (now part of the ZoomerMedia family of websites).

Don’t miss Goldhawk Fights Back , on the New AM740 Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.