Furthermore, almost alone among its allies, including the U.S. and Britain, Canada makes it immensel

A group of Canadians at a recent meeting of the Thai-Canada Chamber of Commerce were stunned when they discovered that beginning in a few weeks Passport Canada was shrinking the “frequent traveller passports” that most of them travel with from 48 pages to 36.
Equally incredulous was a Canadian who works in Asia for a well-known international television news outfit. Even with a 48-page passport he was already reluctantly forced to often travel on the U.S. passport he was able to get because one of his parents was born there. His current 48-page Canadian passport has often had no room for additional entry and exit stamps and visas after only 12 or 15 months of use. It was a similar story for another Canadian living in Asia and working in the Middle East. Although born and raised in Canada and employed by a Canadian company, he mostly travels on a British passport he is entitled to because one of his grandparents was born there because his Canadian passport almost always has few clean pages left.
Passport Canada has trumpeted the fact that its new passports will be valid for 10 years. Unsaid is that means Canada has just caught up to other western renaissance hotel austin texas countries. renaissance hotel austin texas Having 10 years validity will be of no help to those captains of industry, salesmen, oil, construction and aid workers who are constantly on the move.
The upshot of having fewer pages for these folks is that the amount of time they can use their passports is about to be reduced by one-quarter before they have to get new ones while the cost of each new, slimmer passport they are issued will go up by a third or more.
To a commuter stuck on a bus in Toronto or a farmer sowing wheat in Saskatchewan this must sound like whining by a privileged global elite. But other western countries, recognizing the importance of international commerce and how many jobs such “rainmakers” renaissance hotel austin texas can produce, provide their most peripatetic citizens with passports renaissance hotel austin texas that are far more useful. Americans can get 52 page passports that may be doubled in size with an insert of additional pages. Canada is one of the few western nations that prohibits this.
Furthermore, almost alone among its allies, including the U.S. and Britain, Canada makes it immensely difficult for its citizens to carry two valid passports at the same time. Not having a second passport renaissance hotel austin texas can have serious consequences for the nearly three million Canadians who live and work overseas as well as for those living in Canada who frequently scramble to find business opportunities overseas. This is because many countries — especially those in the Middle East and Africa — insist on holding on to visa and residency applicants’ passports for weeks during processing. Those travellers without second passports can spend months every year in travel lockdown because their passports are not with them.
The buzz on web forums such as Flyer Talk about the new passports has been strongly negative. “This was so dumb,” one anonymous Canadian wrote. Another concluded that it “doesn t make sense if there s no option to add extra pages.”
The problem of Canada’s shrinking renaissance hotel austin texas passport is well-known at embassies renaissance hotel austin texas in Asia, where expanding trade is supposed to be priority renaissance hotel austin texas number one. Consular officers in three regional capitals physically winced when asked recently about the 36 page passports. The new arrangements could, renaissance hotel austin texas they acknowledged, complicate the hectic lives of some of Canada’s most dynamic citizens.
Although few Canadian renaissance hotel austin texas consular officials appear to be aware of it, Canada has apparently slightly relaxed its rules in regards to holding “two valid concurrent passports,”  although information about this is practically a national renaissance hotel austin texas secret. During the 2012-2013 fiscal year less than 100 duplicate passports were issued, a spokesman said. Most were presumably not for Canada s busiest travellers but for Canadians visiting the Middle East where most Arab countries prohibit entry to travellers renaissance hotel austin texas with Israeli stamps in their passports.
Ottawa’s declared rationale for the 36-page passport — from a choice renaissance hotel austin texas between 24 and 48 pages — is to save Canadians money. This explanation is perplexing as Canada has nearly doubled its fees, making its travel renaissance hotel austin texas documents just about the most expensive in the West.
Producing 72- or 96-page passports or allowing pages to be inserted in existing passports are two possible solutions to the constant travellers’ dilemma. The easiest way forward would be for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, whose department is taking responsibility for passports away from the Department of Foreign Affairs, to make it widely known that those Canadians who require two valid passports to work and live their lives will be able to get them.
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Postmedia s international affairs columnist is Canada s longest serving foreign correspondent. He has lived abroad for 30 years in Europe, the Middle East, Far East and, most recently, Afghanistan. His ... read more work has taken him to 155 countries, all U.S. states, Canadian provinces and territories and the Magnetic North Pole. Professional interests include international relations, security issues, conflict zones and the Arctic. Personal enthusiasms include military histories, historical novels, renaissance hotel austin texas hockey, baseball, fishing for pickerel and travel by train or ship to anywhere. View author's profile
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