Last updated: April 4, 2026

PPTC 132 Guarantor Declaration: When a Notary Helps in Ottawa

Quick answer: PPTC 132 is the Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor, the form Service Canada accepts when a Canadian passport applicant cannot find an eligible guarantor. The applicant signs PPTC 132 in front of a notary public or commissioner of oaths, who identifies the applicant, administers the oath or solemn affirmation, watches them sign, and applies the seal. The same notary also signs the back of one passport photo with a short identity attestation. Service Canada decides whether the completed PPTC 132 file is acceptable for the application — the notary commissions the declaration, but does not approve the passport. In Ottawa, a notary public can usually finish the appointment in fifteen to twenty minutes, often the same day.

If you searched for PPTC 132 guarantor declaration Ottawa, you are probably staring at a passport application that has stalled on the guarantor section. The instructions ask for a Canadian citizen who has known you for at least two years and who works in (or recently retired from) one of the listed eligible professions — a doctor, dentist, lawyer, professional engineer, mayor, magistrate, principal, postmaster, signing officer of a bank or credit union, and so on. You have no one. Maybe you became a citizen this month. Maybe you immigrated three years ago and your closest Canadian friends are co-workers who do not fit the profession list. Maybe your guarantor of twenty years passed away and you have not had time to find another. So you scroll further, find a line about a "statutory declaration in lieu of guarantor," and now you are trying to figure out what that actually means and whom to take it to.

This article explains the notary side of PPTC 132 in Ottawa, Ontario. It covers what the form is, when Service Canada accepts it, what the declaration says, what a notary public does in the appointment (and what the notary deliberately does not do), what to bring, the photo-back attestation, the most common mistakes, and the small set of cases where you are better served by a lawyer or a Service Canada officer. It does not promise a particular outcome on your passport file — Service Canada makes that decision — and it does not walk through the rest of PPTC 153, PPTC 155, or any of the other adult or child passport forms. We link to the official Government of Canada pages and stay on the notary side of the line.

Caption: PPTC 132 is the Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor — the sworn document a notary public commissions when a Canadian passport applicant cannot supply a guarantor.

Key Takeaways

What PPTC 132 Is

PPTC 132 is a one-page Government of Canada form titled "Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor." It is published by the Passport Program — administered by Service Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada — and you can find the current version on canada.ca under the passport forms list. The form sits in a small family of passport-related declarations and applications: PPTC 153 is the standard adult application, PPTC 155 is the child application, PPTC 203 is the declaration for a lost, stolen, inaccessible, damaged, or found Canadian travel document, and PPTC 132 is the one used when the guarantor section of the application cannot be completed. Reading the right number off your file before you book is worth thirty seconds of effort, because the photo-back wording and the appointment look slightly different for each.

The reason PPTC 132 exists is practical. The default passport process asks an applicant to nominate a Canadian citizen who has known them for at least two years, who holds a valid Canadian passport (or had one valid within a defined period), and who works in — or recently retired from — one of the eligible professions Service Canada lists on the application. The list is broad but specific: medical doctor, dentist, optometrist, pharmacist, chiropractor, professional engineer, lawyer, notary in Quebec, judge, magistrate, mayor, principal of a primary or secondary school, postmaster, police officer, minister of religion, professional accountant, signing officer of a bank, credit union, trust company, or financial institution, and so on. The guarantor signs the back of one of the applicant's passport photos and signs the application form, and Service Canada uses that signature to vouch for identity.

That model works for most applicants. It does not work for everyone. New Canadian citizens, recent immigrants whose Canadian network is still small, applicants whose long-term guarantor has died or moved, Canadians living abroad who do not happen to have an eligible-profession Canadian within reach, and adults who simply lost touch with the friend who used to do this for them — all of them need a different door. PPTC 132 is that door. Instead of a guarantor's signature, the applicant swears or solemnly affirms a short statutory declaration in front of a notary public, a commissioner of oaths, or another person authorized to administer oaths in Canada. The notary or commissioner then signs the back of one passport photo with a short identity attestation, and the file goes in.

The legal mechanism behind the form is the same one behind any other statutory declaration. In Ontario, statutory declarations are commissioned under the Canada Evidence Act and the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act. The declarant signs in person, swears or solemnly affirms that the contents are true, and signs again under the jurat. The person commissioning the declaration is responsible for confirming identity, administering the oath or affirmation, and applying their signature and seal. A statutory declaration is sworn under the same penalty regime as an affidavit — making a false statutory declaration is an indictable offence under the Criminal Code, punishable by up to fourteen years' imprisonment. That is why Service Canada is willing to accept PPTC 132 as a substitute for a guarantor's vouching: the sworn declaration carries real legal weight.

What PPTC 132 is not is an automatic approval. The form is described in Service Canada's own guidance as a route that "may be acceptable" when an eligible guarantor is unavailable; it is the Passport Program, not the notary, that decides whether the application is approved. We will come back to that point, because it shows up in almost every common mistake on a PPTC 132 file.

When You Need PPTC 132

PPTC 132 is not the default route. The default is the guarantor route, and if you can use it, you should — it is faster, the file is simpler, and the chance of a back-and-forth with Service Canada is lower. Use PPTC 132 when the default genuinely is not available. In our Ottawa appointments, the same handful of patterns come up over and over.

You are a brand-new Canadian citizen. You took the oath at one of the citizenship ceremonies held at the IRCC office on Catherine Street, or at a community ceremony elsewhere in the city, and you want a Canadian passport now. You have a citizenship certificate and a stack of permanent-resident-era ID, but the people who know you well — the ones who would actually qualify as guarantors under the eligible-profession list — are mostly back in your country of origin. The Canadian friends and co-workers you have made do not happen to be doctors, lawyers, principals, or signing officers of a bank. PPTC 132 is built for this case. A sworn declaration in front of a notary public is a recognized substitute for a guarantor you do not yet have.

You are a recent immigrant — landed three or four years ago — and the eligible-profession list still does not match your network. You have built a life in Ottawa, you have references for housing and work, you may even have a Canadian-citizen friend who has known you the whole time, but they work in a sector that is not on Service Canada's list. You can still file with PPTC 132. It is not a judgement on the friendship; it is a documentation problem with a documented solution.

Your long-term guarantor passed away or moved. This is a quiet, common situation in Centretown, the Glebe, Westboro, and Sandy Hill, where retirees, professors, and long-time residents tend to lean on the same one or two contacts for years at a time. The guarantor moves into care, passes away, or relocates out of Canada, and the next renewal cycle finds the applicant without anyone obvious to ask. Rather than press a casual acquaintance into service, a statutory declaration via PPTC 132 keeps the file clean.

You are a Canadian living abroad and there is no one nearby. The Government of Canada has a parallel set of instructions for applicants outside Canada, but if you happen to be home in Ottawa for a visit and want to sort the renewal here, PPTC 132 is the route most adult applicants use when there is no eligible Canadian-citizen guarantor in the place where they actually live. Same form, same notary appointment, different mailing address on the application.

You are renewing an expired passport and the eligible-profession list has thinned. Renewals normally use a streamlined process, but if your last passport expired more than a year ago — or your circumstances no longer fit a renewal — Service Canada may push the file back into the regular adult application stream, where the guarantor section reappears. PPTC 132 closes that gap.

You are applying for a child and the family does not have a guarantor either. PPTC 132 is also available where the parent or legal custodian completing PPTC 155 has no eligible guarantor for the child's file. The parent swears a declaration on the child's behalf in front of the notary, and the photo-back attestation refers to the child. This case is less common, but it does come up — especially with newcomer families whose children were born abroad.

If you are not sure whether your situation fits one of these patterns, it is worth checking the canonical Service Canada guidance before you book. The page "Apply for a passport when you do not have a guarantor" on canada.ca is the official starting point, and it links straight to the PPTC 132 form.

Caption: New Canadian citizens, recent immigrants, and applicants whose long-term guarantor is no longer available are the most common PPTC 132 files we see in Ottawa.

What the Declaration Says

The text on PPTC 132 itself is shorter than people expect. The form is one page, with a header identifying it as the "Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor," a series of fields for the applicant's information, a paragraph of declared statements, and a jurat at the bottom for the person commissioning the oath. The form is published by the Government of Canada on canada.ca and you should download the current version directly from there — third-party copies and old PDFs floating around forums sometimes lag the official one. We will not reproduce the wording line-for-line, both because the official text is the source of truth and because it does change from time to time, but the structure of the declaration is steady and easy to describe.

The applicant identifies themselves. Full legal name, date of birth, place of birth, current address, occupation, citizenship. The names should match the application form (PPTC 153 for adults or PPTC 155 for children) exactly. If you go by a short form of your name day-to-day, the legal name on PPTC 132 still has to match the name on your citizenship certificate or birth certificate, because Service Canada will be cross-referencing them.

The applicant declares why a guarantor cannot be provided. This is the heart of the form, and the wording matters. The declaration is not a free-form essay; it is a sworn statement that the applicant has been unable to find an eligible guarantor as defined in the application instructions, and a short explanation of the circumstances. New citizen with no Canadian-citizen contacts who fit the eligible-profession list. Long-term guarantor deceased. Recent immigrant whose Canadian network does not include eligible professionals. Living abroad with no eligible Canadian guarantor in place of residence. The notary will not coach the applicant on what to say beyond confirming that the explanation is truthful and matches the rest of the file — but the notary will read the form and check that the field is filled in, because Service Canada needs that field.

The applicant declares that the photographs submitted are a true likeness of them and have not been altered. This connects directly to the photo-back attestation the notary signs in the same appointment. Service Canada is looking for a chain: the applicant swears the photo is theirs, and the notary independently confirms (on the back of the photo) that the photo matches the person who appeared in the appointment.

The applicant declares that the identity documents submitted with the application are authentic and belong to them. Service Canada lists the identity documents required for the application path — citizenship certificate, prior Canadian passport, birth certificate, provincial photo ID, and so on. The PPTC 132 declaration is a sworn statement under penalty of perjury that those documents are real and apply to the declarant. This is one of the reasons Service Canada is willing to consider the form a substitute for guarantor vouching — the consequences of lying on it are serious.

The applicant signs the form in the presence of the notary or commissioner. This is a hard rule. PPTC 132 is not the kind of form you sign at home and bring in for sealing. The Notaries Act and the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act both require the declarant to be physically present and to swear or solemnly affirm in front of the person commissioning the document. Pre-signed forms are rejected, and at our office we ask applicants to leave the signature line blank until we sit down together.

The notary completes the jurat. The jurat is the small block at the bottom that records who took the declaration, where, and on what date. The notary writes in the city and province ("City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario"), the full date, signs, prints their name, prints their notary or commissioner number, and applies the seal. Some notaries also include their address and phone number in the jurat block, because Service Canada has been known to call back through the notary if anything on the file is unclear.

That, plus the photo-back attestation, is the entire notarial contribution to a PPTC 132 file. Short document, real legal weight, narrow notary role. If you read the form on canada.ca once before your appointment, you will know exactly what to expect when you sit down.

What a Notary Does (and Cannot Do)

The clearest way to think about a notary's role on a PPTC 132 file is to separate the appointment into the things the notary is responsible for and the things the notary deliberately stays out of. Both lists matter, because confusion between them is the single most common reason people end up disappointed by the appointment.

The notary identifies the applicant. Before any sealing happens, the notary looks at one — preferably two — pieces of government-issued photo identification, compares the photo on the ID to the person sitting across the desk, compares the name on the ID to the name on PPTC 132 and on the underlying application, and confirms a date of birth. In Ontario, this is the basic identity step every notary public is trained to perform. If something does not match, the notary asks. If it cannot be reconciled, the notary stops the appointment rather than commission a document that would be unreliable.

The notary administers the oath or solemn affirmation. The applicant is asked to swear, on a religious text of their choice, or to solemnly affirm — they have the same legal weight, and Service Canada accepts either — that the contents of PPTC 132 are true. The applicant says "I do" or "I solemnly affirm." This is not theatre; it is the moment that turns a piece of paper into a sworn declaration. Without the oath or affirmation, there is nothing to commission.

The notary witnesses the signature. The applicant signs PPTC 132 in front of the notary. The notary watches — not from across the room, but next to the page — and confirms that the signature on the form matches the signatures on the identity documents.

The notary completes the jurat and applies the seal. Date, location, name, notary or commissioner number, signature, seal. The seal is the visible mark Service Canada looks for. In Ontario, both notaries public and commissioners of oaths can commission statutory declarations, and either is acceptable for PPTC 132. The differences between the two roles are explained in our piece on notary public vs commissioner of oaths in Ontario, if you want the long version.

The notary signs the back of one passport photo. This is the second piece of the appointment — the photo-back attestation — and it is treated in its own section below. From the notary's perspective, it is part of the same job: an identity attestation, signed under the same authority, on the back of the photo Service Canada will use to verify the applicant.

Now the second list, the things a notary on a PPTC 132 file does not do.

A notary does not approve the passport application. This bears repeating because almost every applicant arrives wishing it were not true. Service Canada's Passport Program decides whether PPTC 132 is acceptable in your specific file. The notary commissions the form correctly so that Service Canada is in a position to decide. That is as far as the notary's authority goes.

A notary does not act as a guarantor. A guarantor is a Canadian citizen who has known the applicant personally for at least two years and who meets the eligible-profession criteria. The notary almost certainly does not know the applicant in that personal sense and is not vouching for the applicant's character — only for the fact that the declaration was sworn correctly. The two roles are different, and conflating them on the form is one of the surer ways to get a file kicked back.

A notary does not give legal advice on the passport application. We can describe what the form is and how an Ontario notary commissions it. We cannot tell you whether your specific file is going to succeed, whether you should apply by mail or in person, or what to put in the explanation field. For tactical advice on the application, you need a lawyer or a Service Canada officer.

A notary does not contact Service Canada or follow up on the file. Once the seal is on PPTC 132 and the photo, the document is yours. You file it with the rest of your application. If Service Canada calls back, they may call you and they may call the notary to confirm the appointment took place — but the notary will not initiate contact on your behalf.

That is the line. It is narrow on purpose, and the narrowness is what keeps PPTC 132 reliable.

Five Ottawa Scenarios

The patterns above are easier to see in the actual files we commission at our office near downtown Ottawa. Names and details are anonymised; the situations are not unusual.

Scenario one: a brand-new citizen on Catherine Street. A permanent resident took the citizenship oath at the IRCC office on Catherine Street two weeks ago. Their citizenship certificate is fresh, and they want a Canadian passport in time for a family wedding in Toronto. Their network in Ottawa is mostly co-workers from a tech employer in Kanata; none of them happen to be doctors, lawyers, professional engineers, or signing officers. They meet the citizenship requirement themselves, but they cannot find an eligible guarantor for their application. We commission PPTC 132, sign the back of one of the two passport photos with the identity attestation, and they walk to the Service Canada centre with the rest of the file. Service Canada accepts the route; the wedding gets attended.

Scenario two: a Centretown renewal after a guarantor's death. A long-time Ottawa resident in their seventies has used the same Glebe doctor as a guarantor for three passports in a row. The doctor passed away last winter. The applicant's passport is expired beyond the renewal window, which puts them back in the regular adult application stream — guarantor section and all. There is no obvious replacement; their other Canadian-citizen friends are retired teachers and a retired civil servant, none currently active in an eligible profession. PPTC 132 is the cleanest path. The appointment takes about twenty minutes, and the applicant leaves with the form sealed and a photo signed on the back.

Scenario three: three-year landed PR, recently sworn in. A family that landed in Ottawa as permanent residents three years ago took the citizenship oath last month. They want passports for the parents and a child. The parents have neighbours and friends, but no one fits the eligible-profession list. They use PPTC 132 for the adults and a separate PPTC 132 for the child's PPTC 155 application, with the parent declaring on the child's behalf. Three forms, three sets of photos, one appointment. Service Canada processes the file in the standard timeline.

Scenario four: an Ottawa resident whose passport expired five years ago. Pandemic disruption, work-from-home, no travel — a common story. The passport is well outside the renewal window, the old guarantor has moved to British Columbia, and the applicant works in a field (small-business owner) where their professional contacts do not happen to fit the eligible-profession list. They considered asking a customer who is a lawyer, but the lawyer has only known them for eight months. PPTC 132 is the clean route. The applicant brings their old expired passport, a current Ontario driver's licence, and their citizenship certificate to the appointment.

Scenario five: a child file with no family guarantor. Newcomer family in Hintonburg. The parents are landed permanent residents, not yet citizens; they cannot serve as guarantors for the child's Canadian passport, because neither holds Canadian citizenship. The child was born in Canada and is a citizen by birth. The parents have lived in Ottawa eighteen months and have no eligible Canadian-citizen contact who has known the family for two years. The custodial parent completes PPTC 155, swears PPTC 132 on the child's behalf in front of the notary, and the notary signs the child's passport photo. Service Canada accepts the route; the child gets a passport for an out-of-country family visit.

The thread running through all five scenarios is the same. The default guarantor route has failed for an honest reason. PPTC 132 is the documented alternative. The notary's job is to commission it correctly. The acceptance decision still belongs to Service Canada, and in our experience — when the file is otherwise clean and the supporting identity documents are in order — the route works as designed.

If your situation does not fit one of these patterns, that is not a problem on its own. The cases above are illustrative, not exhaustive. The official Service Canada page on applying without a guarantor is broader than five scenarios.

Caption: A typical PPTC 132 file: the form unsigned, the application underneath, two passport photos, citizenship certificate, and a piece of government photo ID — ready for the notary.

What to Bring to Your Appointment

A PPTC 132 appointment is short — fifteen to twenty minutes for most adult files — but only if you arrive prepared. The list below is what we ask Ottawa clients to bring. It is built around two goals: the notary needs to commission the form correctly, and Service Canada needs a clean file.

The PPTC 132 form, downloaded from canada.ca, printed, and unsigned. Always download the current version directly from the Government of Canada passport forms page. Forms cached on personal computers from a year or two ago are not always identical to the current release. Print it on plain white paper, single-sided, in colour or black-and-white — both are accepted. Leave the signature line blank and leave the jurat at the bottom blank as well. The signature line is filled in during the appointment in the notary's presence. The jurat is filled in by the notary.

Government-issued photo identification. A current Ontario driver's licence, an Ontario Photo Card, a permanent resident card, a previous Canadian passport (even if expired, as long as Service Canada accepts it for your application path), or another government photo ID. Two pieces of ID are better than one when you can manage it — one piece with photo and one piece confirming address or signature is a common combination. The ID has to be current, not expired (with the narrow exception of a previous Canadian passport for some application paths).

Your citizenship documentation. For PPTC 132 specifically, the notary wants to see proof that you are entitled to apply for a Canadian passport: a citizenship certificate, an old Canadian passport, or a Canadian birth certificate. Service Canada will also be looking at this in the application file itself.

Two passport-quality photos taken within the last six months that meet Service Canada's photo specifications. The specifications are exact — size, background colour, head position, expression, glasses, eyewear — and they are published on canada.ca under "Passport photos." Pharmacies and photo studios in the ByWard Market, Westboro, and along Bank Street take Service Canada-compliant passport photos for a few dollars. Bring two physical prints, not digital files. Leave the backs of the photos blank. The notary signs one of them in the appointment.

The application form itself — PPTC 153 for an adult, PPTC 155 for a child — completed up to the guarantor section and left for Service Canada. The notary does not sign the application; the notary signs PPTC 132 and the photo. But it helps to have the application in front of you so the names, dates of birth, and personal details on PPTC 132 match the application exactly. Mismatches are a common reason Service Canada returns a file.

The applicant in person. The applicant is the person swearing the declaration. Statutory declarations have to be commissioned with the declarant physically present. We cannot commission PPTC 132 by video, by phone, or with a representative standing in. For child files, the parent or legal custodian who is signing the application is the person who attends and swears on the child's behalf — Service Canada's published guidance treats this as the correct path. Bring the child's identity documents (birth certificate, citizenship documentation if any, a recent photo of the child).

Payment for the appointment. Statutory Declarations at Minute Notary start from $25. The photo-back attestation is part of the same appointment when you are doing PPTC 132 with us. We accept the standard payment methods at the time of the appointment.

Anything Service Canada specifically asked for. If you have already been in touch with the Passport Program — for example, after an earlier file was returned — and they asked for a particular item to be addressed in the declaration, bring their letter or email. The notary will not draft new wording into PPTC 132, but the existing fields can usually accommodate the explanation Service Canada wants to see.

If you are not sure whether you have everything, you can also ask when booking. We answer this question several times a week, and a sixty-second phone call before you head over saves an extra trip. The phone is (613) 434-5555.

What Service Canada Needs from the Notary

The notary's contribution to a PPTC 132 file lands in two places: on the form itself, and on the back of one passport photo. Both have to be done correctly, and both are visible at a glance to the Service Canada agent who later picks up the file.

On PPTC 132 itself, the notary completes the jurat. The jurat captures four pieces of information that Service Canada looks for:

• The place the declaration was sworn — written out as the city and the province. For an Ottawa appointment, that is "City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario." Some notaries write "Ottawa, Ontario" and that is also accepted.
• The date the declaration was sworn — written out fully, with the year. We avoid abbreviations.
• The signature, printed name, and number of the notary public or commissioner of oaths. The number is the notary's appointment number issued by the Government of Ontario, or the commissioner's number, depending on which capacity is being used. Both are acceptable for PPTC 132.
• The seal of the notary, applied to the page. In Ontario, notaries public use an embossed or inked seal that includes their name and "Notary Public, Province of Ontario." The seal is the visible mark Service Canada uses to confirm the document was commissioned by an authorised person.

On the back of one passport photo, the notary writes a short identity attestation. The exact wording Service Canada accepts is straightforward: an attestation that the photo is a true likeness of the named applicant, the date the photo was signed, the notary's name, the notary's number, and the seal. In practice, the back of the photo ends up with something close to:

"I certify that this is a true likeness of [Applicant's Full Legal Name]. Signed at Ottawa, Ontario on [Date]. [Notary's Name], Notary Public, Province of Ontario, [Notary Number]."

The seal goes on the photo back as well, applied gently so it does not push through and damage the photo image. Only one of the two passport photos is signed and sealed — Service Canada is explicit about this. The second photo stays clean and is used by the Passport Program to print on the new passport.

A few practical notes from our Ottawa office. First, the photo has to be the actual photo Service Canada will use; signing the back of a printed copy of a digital photo is not equivalent. The original print, on photo paper, with the correct background and dimensions. Second, the date on the photo back should match — or at least not contradict — the date on PPTC 132 and the date on the application's signature line. Service Canada does occasionally cross-check dates, and a photo signed three weeks before the declaration draws unhelpful attention. Third, the same person who commissions PPTC 132 signs the photo. Splitting the two — one notary for the form, another for the photo — creates a file that is technically valid but unfamiliar to Service Canada and tends to slow processing.

Service Canada also keeps the notary's contact details on hand. The form itself captures the notary's number and seal, and Ontario's notary registry is publicly searchable. If anything on the file is unclear, a Service Canada agent can call back through the registry to confirm the appointment took place. We make sure the contact information embedded in our seal and our jurat is current and matches the file the Government of Ontario holds.

A clean PPTC 132 file, from Service Canada's perspective, has: the right form (PPTC 132, not 153 or 203), all fields completed, a sworn signature in the notary's presence, a complete jurat with date, place, name, number, and seal, and one passport photo signed and sealed on the back with a matching identity attestation. When the file looks like this, the Passport Program processes it under the no-guarantor route the same way they process a guarantor-signed file. When something is off — wrong form, missing photo signature, mismatched names — the file gets returned, and the applicant ends up scheduling a second notary appointment they did not budget for.

If you want to avoid that second appointment, the next section is the one to read.

Common Mistakes

The PPTC 132 files Service Canada returns for correction tend to fall into a small number of repeating patterns. None of them are exotic. All of them are avoidable.

Pre-signing the form. A statutory declaration has to be signed in the presence of the person commissioning it. Forms that arrive at our office already signed cannot be commissioned in their current state — the applicant has to either sign again under the existing signature with a clean note, or, more commonly, reprint the form and sign during the appointment. We always ask: leave the signature line blank.

Wrong photo specifications. Service Canada's passport photo rules are exact: size, background colour, head position, neutral expression, no glasses (with limited exceptions), no shadows. Photos taken at home, on a phone, on a coloured background, or printed on regular paper are rejected at intake. Use a photographer who takes Canadian passport photos regularly. ByWard Market, Westboro, the Glebe, and most of Ottawa's photo shops do this every day.

Missing notary attestation on the photo back. This is one of the more common reasons Service Canada returns a PPTC 132 file. The form itself was sealed correctly, but only the form — the photo went in clean. Service Canada needs both. The notary signs the back of one passport photo with the identity attestation, the date, the notary's name and number, and the seal. If you only ask for the form to be commissioned and forget the photo, Service Canada cannot accept the file.

Expired identification. The notary needs to identify the applicant before commissioning anything. If the photo ID has expired, the notary cannot rely on it. A previous Canadian passport that expired six years ago is not adequate identification on its own. Bring a current Ontario driver's licence, an Ontario Photo Card, a current PR card, or another current government-issued photo ID.

Wrong PPTC form. PPTC 132 is one form in a small family. PPTC 132 is the no-guarantor declaration. PPTC 203 is the lost or stolen travel document declaration. PPTC 153 is the adult passport application. PPTC 155 is the child passport application. Showing up with PPTC 203 when you needed PPTC 132 means a return trip. Confirm the form number before you print.

Names that do not match. If the citizenship certificate says "Mohammed" and the application says "Mohamed" and the PPTC 132 says "Mo," Service Canada has three different names for the same person on a single file. The notary will catch this in the appointment if it is visible across the documents, but it is faster if the applicant fixes it before arriving. Write the legal name from the citizenship document on every form.

Skipping the explanation field. PPTC 132 asks why a guarantor cannot be provided. Leaving the field blank or writing "N/A" is treated as an incomplete declaration. A short, honest sentence is enough — "I am a recently sworn Canadian citizen and have no Canadian-citizen contact who has known me for two years and meets the eligible-profession criteria" is the kind of explanation Service Canada accepts.

Trying to substitute a different document. Affidavits sworn before a lawyer, statutory declarations on letterhead, and notarial certificates of identity are not the same as a sealed PPTC 132. Service Canada wants the form they published. The notary commissions the form Service Canada wants.

If any of these mistakes are showing up on a returned file, a second appointment of fifteen minutes is usually enough to clear them. Bring the Service Canada return letter — it spells out which item the Passport Program flagged.

When You Need a Lawyer or Service Canada Officer Instead

PPTC 132 is a clean route for the common case — applicant has no eligible guarantor, identity is straightforward, the file is otherwise complete. There is a smaller set of cases where a notarised declaration is not the right next step, and pretending otherwise wastes both the applicant's time and the notary's.

An open identity dispute on the file. If Service Canada has previously written to you raising questions about your identity — names that do not appear to match across documents, a previous file flagged for review, an ongoing investigation — PPTC 132 is unlikely to resolve the dispute on its own. The Passport Program needs to work through the identity question with you directly, sometimes through a Service Canada officer at one of the passport-issuing offices in the National Capital Region. A notary cannot resolve an identity dispute by sealing a sworn statement; the notary can only confirm that the person in front of them is the person on the ID they have shown.

A past passport refusal or a flagged previous application. If the Passport Program has refused or revoked a passport in the past, the route forward is governed by the program's own appeal and reconsideration procedures, not by re-swearing a PPTC 132. In some of those cases, applicants are required to file additional documentation, attend in person at a passport office, or work with a lawyer. A notary will commission a fresh PPTC 132 if Service Canada specifically asks for one as part of the reconsideration, but the strategy on a refused file should not be set by the notary.

Misrepresentation concerns. The Criminal Code consequences for swearing a false statutory declaration are real, and we take them seriously. If the applicant is uncertain whether the explanation on PPTC 132 is fully accurate — for example, whether the eligible-profession Canadian friend they have in mind would actually qualify — the right step is to talk to a lawyer or to Service Canada before swearing the form. The notary will not commission a declaration that the applicant is not comfortable swearing under oath, and it would not be ethical for us to do so.

Complex name-change history. Applicants who have changed names through marriage, divorce, formal name change, gender marker change, or immigration sponsorship often have a stack of legal documents that need to align with the passport file. PPTC 132 can sometimes form part of that file, but it is not a substitute for the Ontario name-change certificate or the IRCC document that originally established the change. A lawyer or a notary with name-change experience can advise on which documents the Passport Program will want to see.

Applicants under guardianship or with capacity questions. If the applicant cannot independently understand the oath being administered — because of cognitive impairment, language barriers severe enough that interpretation cannot bridge them, or other capacity issues — the notary cannot ethically take the declaration. In those cases, the file may need to go through Service Canada with the assistance of a substitute decision-maker, a public guardian, or counsel.

Anything Service Canada has explicitly told the applicant to take to an officer. If a return letter says "please attend a Service Canada office to discuss this file" — that letter is the instruction. PPTC 132 is not a workaround for it.

The honest version of this section is short. A notary can commission PPTC 132 cleanly. A notary cannot resolve identity disputes, refusals, or misrepresentation concerns. When the file points at one of those, the right next call is to Service Canada or to a lawyer, and we will say so during the booking conversation rather than at the appointment.

Caption: For straightforward no-guarantor files, PPTC 132 is the right route. For identity disputes, refusals, or capacity concerns, the next call is to Service Canada or a lawyer.

Pricing and Booking

Pricing for a PPTC 132 appointment at our Ottawa office is straightforward. The declaration itself is commissioned under our Statutory Declarations service, which starts from $25, and the photo-back attestation is part of the same appointment when you are doing PPTC 132 with us.

Booking is by phone or through the contact page. Most weekday appointments are confirmed for the same day or the next morning. Statutory Declarations from $25 covers the standard PPTC 132 file — bring the form, your ID, two passport photos, and your application, and the appointment will run for fifteen to twenty minutes.

If you also need certified copies of your citizenship certificate, your previous passport, or any of the supporting documents, ask when you book and we will combine them in one visit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Service Canada accept my passport application if I file PPTC 132 instead of a guarantor's signature?

Service Canada makes that decision, not the notary. PPTC 132 is the official route published by the Passport Program for applicants who cannot find an eligible guarantor, and Service Canada's own page on applying without a guarantor links directly to the form. In our Ottawa office, properly commissioned PPTC 132 files are the route most no-guarantor adult applicants use, and the Passport Program processes them under that route. We cannot guarantee a particular outcome on any individual file. What we can do is commission the form correctly, sign and seal one passport photo, and make sure the file leaves our office in the shape Service Canada expects.

Can a commissioner of oaths in Ontario sign PPTC 132, or does it have to be a notary public?

Either is acceptable in Ontario. PPTC 132 needs to be sworn before a person authorised to administer oaths in Canada — that includes notaries public, commissioners of oaths, commissioners for taking affidavits, and justices of the peace. In Ontario, every notary public is also a commissioner of oaths by operation of the Notaries Act and the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act. The seal looks slightly different in each capacity, but Service Canada accepts both. If you would like more on the difference, our explainer on notary public vs commissioner of oaths in Ontario covers it.

Do I need to be a Canadian citizen to swear PPTC 132?

PPTC 132 is part of an application for a Canadian passport, which means the applicant has to be a Canadian citizen — by birth, by descent, or by grant. The declaration confirms identity and explains the absence of a guarantor; it does not establish citizenship. The supporting citizenship documents (citizenship certificate, prior Canadian passport, Canadian birth certificate) carry that part of the file. If your citizenship status is itself uncertain, that is a question for IRCC, not for the passport file, and the notary cannot resolve it through PPTC 132.

How long does the appointment take, and can I get same-day service?

Most adult PPTC 132 appointments at our Ottawa office run fifteen to twenty minutes. That includes verifying identity, walking through the form, administering the oath or affirmation, watching the signature, completing the jurat, and signing and sealing the back of one passport photo. Same-day appointments are usually available on weekdays, and Saturday morning slots are common. Call us at (613) 434-5555 before you head over, or use the contact page — a brief booking call also lets us confirm you have the right form and the right ID, which saves an extra trip.

Can my friend who is a Canadian citizen sign as my guarantor instead, even if they are not a doctor or lawyer?

Only if they meet the criteria Service Canada publishes for guarantors: Canadian citizen, has known you for at least two years, holds a valid Canadian passport (or had one valid within the period Service Canada specifies), and is in (or recently retired from) one of the eligible professions. The list is on canada.ca and changes from time to time, so check the current version. If your friend does not meet all the criteria, asking them to sign as a guarantor anyway is misrepresentation and can put both of you at risk under the Criminal Code. PPTC 132 is the documented alternative. That is what it exists for.

Final Recommendation

If you have already concluded that you have no eligible guarantor, the practical path forward in Ottawa is short. Download the current PPTC 132 from canada.ca and leave it unsigned. Get two passport-quality photos taken at a photo shop that prints to Service Canada specifications — Bank Street, Westboro, or the ByWard Market are all fine. Pull together a current piece of government photo ID, your citizenship documentation, and the relevant adult or child application form. Then book a short appointment with an Ottawa notary public — fifteen to twenty minutes is enough — to swear the declaration, sign the back of one passport photo, and apply the seal.

The route is documented, the form is simple, and the notary's role is narrow on purpose. Service Canada decides the file; the notary makes sure the no-guarantor route is sworn and sealed correctly so the file is in a position to be decided. When the file is otherwise clean — names matching, ID current, photo specs right — the route works the way the Passport Program designed it to work.

When the file is not straightforward — past refusal, identity dispute, capacity question — the right step is a call to Service Canada or to a lawyer rather than another notary appointment. We will say so on the booking call rather than waste an appointment that cannot do the job.

For the standard case, statutory declarations from $25, same-day in most weeks, and you walk out ready to file.

Book Your Appointment

If you are ready to swear PPTC 132, we can usually fit you in the same day or the next morning at our Ottawa office.

• Service: Statutory Declarations — from $25, includes the photo-back identity attestation for PPTC 132 in the same appointment.
• Phone: (613) 434-5555 — call ahead to confirm the form, ID, and photo specs before you head over.
• Online: Book or send a question through the contact page.
• Hours: Weekdays 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Saturday 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Sunday closed.
• Location: Ottawa, Ontario — central, transit-accessible, with parking nearby.

If you also need certified copies of your citizenship certificate or supporting ID, mention it when you book and we will combine them in one visit. For background reading, our explainer on statutory declarations, the related lost passport statutory declaration post, and the notary public vs commissioner of oaths in Ontario piece all touch on parts of the same workflow.

Sources

• Service Canada — Passport application without guarantor
• PPTC 132 — Statutory Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor
• Notaries Act (Ontario)
• Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act (Ontario)