Passport Fees Went Up in March — What That Means for Your Next Border Crossing

Travel Smart Canada — Before your next cross-border trip, verify the current passport fee for your application location, check destination validity rules, and recheck border waits, approach traffic, and port hours within 72 hours of departure.

Photo by Claude Laprise on Unsplash.

Your planning problem

You are planning a cross-border trip—perhaps a drive to Washington State, a winter flight south, or a family visit across the Detroit River—and your passport expires in 2027. Should you renew now, and what will it cost? If you are driving, what should you check before leaving?

This issue brings together two 2026 changes: the first Canadian passport-fee increase since 2013 and current land-border conditions that can affect timing. The practical answer is to check your document early, budget using the official fee page, and recheck your crossing close to departure.

What the sources confirm

Passport fees from March 31, 2026

The federal announcement dated March 3 says most passport and travel-document fees increased on March 31, 2026, reflecting inflation and the cost of producing secure documents and supporting applicants. For applications made in Canada, the official table lists these changes:

A 10-year adult passport, for age 16 and up, rose from $160 to $163.50.
A 5-year adult passport rose from $120 to $122.50.
A 5-year child passport rose from $57 to $58.50.

The applicable fee depends on when the Passport Program receives the application, not when you mail it. Applications received on or after March 31 use the new fee.

Applicants outside Canada, including in the United States, pay different rates. The official table shown in the research context lists $266.25 for a 10-year adult passport and $194.25 for a 5-year adult passport. Confirm the amount and payment method for your location before paying.

Fees will now be adjusted annually under the Service Fees Act. That makes the official fee page the right place to verify any amount before an application, even when the change seems small.

Two additional figures appear only in an independent informational source: $125.75 for urgent pickup, reported as available in person with the passport ready by the end of the next business day, and a $45 fee for replacing a valid lost or stolen passport, added to the passport fee. The same source reports a 30-business-day processing guarantee for complete applications beginning April 1, 2026. These details are not confirmed by the official pages supplied here, so do not plan around them without checking Canada.ca.

What is changing at crossings

The CBSA border-wait page covers 30 busy land crossings into Canada. It says Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, south of Montreal, is under redevelopment and that travellers should expect delays until Winter 2027. CBSA recommends monitoring traffic and adjusting your route.

Posted estimates are snapshots. The agency says major events, holiday visitors, enforcement actions, and other factors can change them. The estimates also do not include delays on roads leading to a port of entry. The page links to traffic conditions for crossings including the Ambassador Bridge, Gordie Howe International Bridge, Peace Bridge, Niagara-area bridges, and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

A CBSA announcement distributed through the Financial Post says opening and closing hours are being adjusted at nine British Columbia land ports to align with neighbouring U.S. ports. The supplied material does not identify every port or provide each new schedule. Travellers using a B.C. crossing should verify the specific port’s hours before departure.

A practical plan

For an international trip, start with the document rather than the fare. Check the expiry date, then check the destination’s entry requirements. Some destinations require validity beyond the travel dates; this issue cannot assess your individual eligibility or entry situation.

Before paying, open the current official fee table and use the rate for where the application is made. If applying outside Canada, do not use the in-Canada price as a planning shortcut. If you are considering urgent service, confirm the current amount, eligibility, office location, and timing through official guidance; the secondary figures above are not a guarantee.

For a road trip, make two checks:

Check the CBSA wait-time page on the day of travel and refresh it shortly before reaching the border.
Check pre-border traffic and the specific port’s operating hours. Add time or consider an alternate route if your trip uses Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, where redevelopment is expected to continue until Winter 2027.

For B.C. crossings, treat the October announcement as a prompt to verify hours, not as a complete schedule. Keep a practical buffer: an online wait estimate cannot predict the road, inspection, weather, holiday, event, or enforcement conditions you will encounter.

Seasonal and current checks

This is a fall and winter planning window. Border conditions can change by the hour and may be especially variable around holidays. The CBSA page supplied for this issue was updated October 21, 2026; recheck within 72 hours of travel, and again immediately before departure when feasible.

Confirm B.C. port hours within 72 hours of crossing. Verify passport fees on Canada.ca within 30 days of applying because annual adjustments now apply. Normal destination information should also be rechecked within 30 days; road, border, reservation, weather, closure, and safety details need the shorter 72-hour check.

Limits

I cannot guarantee passport processing times or border waits. The reported 30-business-day guarantee, urgent-pickup amount, and lost-or-stolen replacement fee require official confirmation before reliance. I cannot confirm the full list or schedules for the nine B.C. ports from the supplied sources. Posted border times exclude approach-road delays.

This is travel-planning information, not immigration, individualized insurance, legal, or medical advice. It does not determine passport-service eligibility, destination entry permission, or emergency arrangements. Check official destination advisories and operator or government updates before booking and before departure.