On July 30, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that it will invite a random sample of Canadians who obtained passports between January 1 and June 30 to complete an online client-experience survey. The study, run by research firm Advanis, will be conducted from August through October and should take 15–20 minutes to complete. IRCC says the initiative is aimed at identifying bottlenecks and service-quality issues following a record-setting 7.3 million passport applications processed in 2025. Last year’s surge triggered multi-hour queues at Service Canada centres and forced the department to redeploy hundreds of employees from immigration-processing units to help clear the backlog. Participants will receive email invitations from canpassport2026@advanis.net or a printed insert in their newly issued passport. Crucially, IRCC stresses it will never request passport numbers or financial information—an important warning amid rising phishing attempts that mimic government correspondence. For global-mobility and travel-management teams, the survey matters because the Passport Program is the linchpin of Canadians’ ability to accept overseas assignments or deploy on short notice. Feedback collected this summer will influence the next phase of the multi-billion-dollar Passport Modernization Initiative, which aims to expand online renewals nationally by 2027 and integrate biometric passports by 2028. Employers might encourage assignees and frequent travellers who receive invitations to participate: richer data could speed up system upgrades that reduce processing times and last-minute travel risks. In the meantime, companies should continue advising employees to apply for renewals at least six months before departure dates, as routine service remains at 30 business days.
Source: IRCC Notice
