Pick-up and final steps — travel documents

Travel documents can include:

1. passports
2. refugee travel documents, and
3. certificates of identity

In general, new travel documents are mailed to you. However, if you apply in person at a passport office, you can pay an extra fee to pick them up in person when they are ready. 

Regardless of whether the travel documents are mailed to you or picked up, when you receive your or your child’s travel document, a few  steps must be taken before it can be used.

Step 1: Verify the information

Make sure that all the personal information listed is correct. Contact the Passport Program immediately if you find an error.

Step 2: Sign your passport or other travel documents

Sign your name in ink on the signature line on page 3 of the adult travel document. Please note that Canadian travel documents no longer contain a pre-printed digital signature on page 2.

Parents/legal guardians must never sign a child’s travel document. Signing your child’s travel document will make it invalid. Although children under the age of 16 do not need to sign the travel document, children between the ages of 11‒15 are encouraged to sign it. If it is not signed by a child, the signature block on page 3 must be left blank. A signature by a child under the age of 11 does not invalidate the travel document.

Step 3: Add your address and emergency contact information

At the bottom of page 4, write your address in the space provided. In the space below, write the name, relationship to you and contact information of someone who does not usually travel with you and whom we can notify in case of emergency.

Update your address or emergency contact information if necessary:

If your address or emergency contact changes, you can update it yourself by:

• Crossing out your old information with a pen and writing your changes in the space above the old text.

If there is not enough space above the old text, write your new address or emergency contact information on a separate piece of paper and insert it loose into your travel document; do not attach it in any way.

Do not:

• cover the old text in any other way, such as with liquid paper or white correction tape;
• write over the old text;
• write on any other page (doing so may be considered damaging your travel document);
• glue or staple a piece of paper with your address or emergency contact information onto your travel document.