January 28, 2004

Source: Passport Canada

The Passport Office issues approximately 1.3 million travel documents annually, most of which are passports. There are five types of passports:

• Regular Passport
• Frequent Traveller Passport
• Diplomatic Passport
• Special Passport
• Emergency Passport

Regular Passport

Canadians are most familiar with the 24-page passport. This passport is issued to Canadian citizens, and it is used for occasional travel, such as vacations and business trips. It accounts for 98 percent of all travel documents.

Frequent Traveller Passport

The 48-page passport is much like the 24-page passport, but with extra pages for frequent travellers, such as business people.

Diplomatic Passport

The Passport Office issues diplomatic passports to Canadian diplomats, top ranking government officials, diplomatic couriers and private citizens nominated as official delegates to diplomatic international conferences.

Special Passport

The Passport Office issues special passports to people representing the Canadian government on official business. These include members of the Privy Council who are not members of the Cabinet, members of Parliament, provincial Cabinet members, public servants and private citizens nominated to conferences that are not diplomatic in nature.

Emergency Passport

Canadians stranded abroad may be issued emergency passports by Canadian diplomatic and consular missions on behalf of the Passport Office.