Canadian Transit Visa - Passport Delivery Fee

Question

I applied for a Canadian transit visa, and I received a message from them requesting me to send them my passport within the next 30 days. I am an Indian citizen, and I live in America. The documents that I am required to send are: passport, VAC consent form, contact information, prepaid courier envelope, and the VAC fees.

On the NYC VAC webpage, they mention in Step 2 that the VAC fees (passport delivery/e-Application fees) is $31.99. I am a little confused here because I thought the transit visa application was free?

If the passport delivery fee is the only fee I need to pay, I wanted to know if the following is the procedure for the VAC fee payment and passport return service?

Obtain a money order for $31.99, send it to the CSC Consular Services lockbox in Philadelphia, and send a photocopy of the money order with the envelope containing my passport, other documents, and a prepaid airway bill for passport return. The NYC VAC webpage is a jumbled mess of words, so can somebody please confirm?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Okay, so I contacted the NYC VAC and asked them if the procedure above is correct, and they said that it is indeed the right way to proceed. I hope the following helps.

The documents that need to be sent are:

• VAC Consent Form (Note: they require 2 copies)
• Valid passport listed in the application
• Contact information
• Original letter received through the "MyCIC account” that requests a passport submission.
• VAC Service Fee for passport submission -- $31.99 per applicant, regardless of age.
• Prepaid mailing envelope for passport return (if you want your passport to be returned via mail)
• A copy of your payment for applicable fees (if you want to mail in your payment instead of paying in person. See below "Options for paying fees".)

Options for paying fees:

A) Pay at the Visa Application Centre with a credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover)

B) Pay by bank draft, cashier’s check, certified check, or money order made out to “CSC Consular Services, Inc.” They do not accept personal checks. Send this payment to a lockbox, whose address is different from the VAC's address. Check the VAC website for the lockbox's address.

If you pay with option (B), the application package that is to be mailed to the VAC must contain a photocopy of the completed check/money order used to pay the VAC Service Fee – the photocopy will serve as proof of payment. They cannot continue processing the passport without it.

Options for receiving back your passport by mail:

A) Submit a prepaid USPS, UPS, or DHL envelope (must be larger than letter-sized) to the VAC office.

B) Submit a fee of USD 20.13 for the VAC to create a FedEx shipment (US addresses ONLY).

If you choose option (B), the fee can be can be paid by Visa/Mastercard at the VAC OR by bank draft, cashier’s cheque, certified cheque, or money order directed to CSC Consular Services Inc. A photocopy of the check or money order must be included when the passport is sent, as well as the name, address, and phone number you would like on shipping the label. They do not accept personal checks or cash.

The original cheque(s) must be sent to a lockbox, whose address is different from the VAC's address. Check the VAC website for the lockbox's address.

Processing time for passports may be anything up to 15 business days.

Answer 2

Looks like you will need to send only 19.90$ for package transmission fee.

This is from the chat with the VAC person:

Representative: Package transmission $19.90. Can deposit Cashier/Banker check or Money order. Payment instruments should be made in favor of “TT Visa Services Inc.”