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Lebanese passport renewal in Montreal: fees, documents, wait time and RL passports
- What it is
- Getting a new Lebanese biometric passport while living in Quebec. You apply at the Consulate General of Lebanon in Montreal; the passport is produced by General Security in Beirut and sent back to Canada.
- What it costs
- CA$405 for 10 years (adult), CA$205 for 5 years (minor), embassy fee schedule valid in Montreal since 01.03.2026, recorded on 23.10.2026; DHL option extra.
- How long
- At least 3 months by diplomatic bag; up to 2 months with DHL, according to the embassy in Ottawa.
The steps
- before anything else
Check your case
Biometric passport: new passport (10 years adult, 5 years minor). Old RL passport: first biometric passport not yet announced in Canada on 23.10.2026.
- 1 day
Call the Montreal consulate
Appointment, how to apply, payment and wait time: the consulate's website is unreachable.
- a few days
Get the serial-numbered form
From the consulate or the embassy: it cannot be photocopied or printed. Blue pen.
- a few days
Gather the documents
Current passport and copy, civil status extract or identity card, status in Canada, photos, consent of both parents for a minor.
- 1 appointment
Apply and pay
Signature and fingerprint in front of the consular officer, exact amount. DHL option: register and pay on the DHL platform.
- 2 to over 3 months
Collect the passport
At the mission where you applied, or by post with a prepaid Xpresspost envelope.
What it really costs
| 10-year biometric passport (adult) | CA$405 |
| 5-year passport (minor) | CA$205 |
| 1-year passport or extension | CA$41 |
| DHL FastTrack option | DHL rate, not recorded |
| Xpresspost return envelope (by post) | Canada Post rate |
| Passport photos | variable |
| Observed total | CA$405 (adult, 10 years, diplomatic bag) |
Amounts recorded on 23.10.2026.
What most often gets stuck
- Old “RL” passport: cancelled on entry to Lebanon since 25.06.2026, and it can no longer be used to leave Lebanon since 01.10.2026. A one-year extension changes nothing.
- First biometric passport: no mission in Canada offers it on 23.10.2026; it is done in Lebanon.
- Photocopied or printed form: refused, only the serial-numbered form is valid.
- Cash sent by post: refused, money order or certified cheque only.
- Passport details that differ from the identity card or civil status extract: an extract less than 3 months old is required.
- Minor: consent of one of the two parents missing.
- Lost passport: prior authorisation from General Security, original police report.
Lebanese passport renewal in Montreal is handled by the Consulate General of Lebanon, which covers the whole of Quebec: CA$405 for a 10-year biometric passport (adult), CA$205 for 5 years (minor), under the Canadian-dollar fee schedule in force since 1 March 2026. Allow at least three months by diplomatic bag, or up to two months with the paid DHL option, according to the Embassy of Lebanon in Ottawa. If you only hold an old “RL” passport, no Lebanese mission in Canada has yet announced first-time biometric passports (situation on 23 October 2026).
Who goes to Montreal, who goes through Ottawa
According to the embassy, the Consulate General of Lebanon in Montreal covers the province of Quebec. It is at 40 chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montreal (Quebec) H2V 2A2, in the borough of Outremont; telephone: 514 276-2638 or 514 276-2639. It is open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 2 pm, and the embassy advises calling for an appointment before you go.
Outside Quebec, applications go through the embassy in Ottawa (640 Lyon Street South, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 3 pm) or an honorary consul (Toronto, Calgary, Halifax).
The Montreal consulate’s website could not be reached on 23 October 2026, as on 3 October. The rules below therefore come from the embassy in Ottawa, which publishes the documents, the form and the fee schedule for all Lebanese missions in Canada. Before you go, check by phone with the consulate how to apply, how to pay and how long it takes.
Which case are you?
- You are an adult and already have a biometric passport: you apply for a new 10-year biometric passport, the only validity accepted for adults according to the embassy. A biometric passport cannot be extended.
- Your child already has a biometric passport: new 5-year passport only.
- You only have an old “RL” passport (2003 model): the embassy still offers a one-year extension, but it no longer lets you travel to Lebanon. See below.
- Lost passport: specific procedure, below.
Fees since 1 March 2026
Embassy fee schedule, in Canadian dollars, valid “for the Embassy in Ottawa, the General Consulate in Montreal and the Honorary Consulates (Calgary, Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver)” from 1 March 2026:
- 10-year biometric passport: CA$405;
- 5-year passport: CA$205;
- 1-year passport (issue or extension): CA$41.
These fees have fallen by more than 40%: in 2023 the embassy charged CA$720 for 10 years, CA$360 for 5 years and CA$72 for one year (amounts quoted by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada). On 23 October 2026, the Arabic version of the embassy’s passport page still showed these old amounts: rely on the schedule dated 1 March 2026.
Payment, according to the embassy: cash if you apply in person, with the exact amount; by post, a money order or certified cheque payable to the “Embassy of Lebanon”, never cash. The Montreal consulate does not publish its payment methods: ask by phone. DHL charges, if you choose that option, are paid separately.
The serial-numbered form: why it cannot be photocopied
The passport form is supplied to the embassy by General Security, with a computer-generated serial number. It cannot be photocopied or printed: the sample on the embassy website is only an example and cannot be submitted. Fill it in clearly with a blue ballpoint pen, without folding or stapling it (a paper clip is fine).
When you apply, you sign and give your fingerprint in front of the consular officer. If you live far away, the embassy sends you the form once it has your full address (by email or fax), or refers you to an honorary consul or an Arabic-speaking notary who holds the form. At the notary’s or the honorary consul’s, fill in only the name section, then put your right thumbprint and sign in front of them, in the boxes provided. You then send the file by Canada Post, with the family file update form, which is mandatory.
The Montreal consulate does not say online whether it supplies the form in the same way, or whether it accepts applications by post: ask before you send anything.
Documents to provide
Embassy lists, recorded on 23 October 2026. The page and the form do not give exactly the same lists: bring everything.
- the serial-numbered form, completed;
- your current passport, with a photocopy of the first two pages;
- an individual civil status extract (ikhraj qaid fardi) less than five years old, or the new Lebanese identity card, with two photocopies; the form also asks for a recent family civil status extract;
- proof of your status in Canada: permanent resident card, citizenship certificate or Canadian passport, work or study permit;
- recent colour passport photos, white background, 4.3 x 3.5 cm (two or three, depending on the list);
- if you apply by post: a prepaid Xpresspost envelope, addressed to you, with your phone number, to return the passport and the originals.
The form gives 3.5 x 4.5 cm for the photos, the page 4.3 x 3.5 cm: ask the consulate which size it wants. General Security requires the details in the passport to match those on the identity card or civil status extract. If they do not, an individual civil status extract less than three months old is needed. The embassy issues an electronic civil status extract, which you can request on its website.
Minors
A consent letter from both parents is required, signed in front of the consular officer, or in front of a notary for a postal application. A minor’s passport is valid for 5 years (CA$205).
General Security sets out its rules for applications made abroad. Both parents must sign for any minor under 18. In the event of death, divorce or abandonment, the legal guardian or the person with custody signs. A parent who cannot attend provides a power of attorney or a travel authorisation certified by a Lebanese mission. A travel authorisation is valid for three months, a power of attorney for one year.
Wait times: diplomatic bag or DHL
Diplomatic bag: the file goes to Lebanon, where General Security produces the passport, then comes back the same way. Allow at least three months between application and collection, according to the embassy. The honorary consulate in Halifax gives the same wait time.
DHL: the embassy and the honorary consulates point to the DHL FastTrack platform for faster delivery. According to the embassy, allow up to two months from the time it hands the file to DHL. Shipping charges are paid to DHL, on top of the passport fee; we have not recorded them. On the platform, choose the mission where you submit your application: the finished passport is delivered there.
You only have an old “RL” passport
Since 25 June 2026, General Security has cancelled non-biometric 2003-model passports (numbers starting with “RL”) on entry to Lebanon. Since 1 October 2026, they can no longer be used to leave the country. The embassy in Ottawa relays this notice on its home page. See our alert on RL passports.
Yet the embassy’s passport page still offers to extend a 2003-model passport by one year, twice at most (CA$41). Such an extension changes nothing: the passport is still an “RL” one, cancelled on entry to Lebanon. In addition, General Security says it has not accepted applications for 2003-model passports since 16 July 2026, except in exceptional humanitarian cases. Ask the consulate what it still accepts.
First biometric passport from Canada: not yet announced. General Security is opening first-time applications from abroad mission by mission. According to the Ministry of Interior, on 20 October 2026 the service was running in Kuwait, Paris, Detroit, Washington and Qatar. On 23 October 2026, we found no announcement for Canada, and the embassy’s page still limits biometric passport applications to people who already hold one. In the meantime, General Security asks holders of “RL” passports to replace them at its regional centres in Lebanon.
If you travel to Lebanon for this, your “RL” passport will be cancelled on entry and will not let you leave again: plan a stay long enough to obtain the biometric passport.
Once Canada is added, the rules will probably change. In Washington, since 1 October 2026, first-time applications are by appointment, and even renewing a biometric passport means coming in person for fingerprints and a photo.
Lost passport
Report the loss to the police straight away and get a police report. The embassy issues a new passport only after General Security has authorised it. Documents required, in addition to the form (with the “replace or lost” box ticked) and the fee: the original police report, a photocopy of the lost passport if possible, a family civil status extract, an individual civil status extract or the new identity card, and three photos.
Have you renewed your passport in Montreal? Did the consulate ask for another document, or has the wait time changed? Let us know. To compare: renewal in Dubai.
Sources
- Embassy of Lebanon in Canada, “Passport” (serial-numbered form, documents, payment, wait times, DHL, 2003 passports, loss), undated, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Embassy of Lebanon in Canada, consular fee schedule in Canadian dollars (Ottawa, Montreal and honorary consulates), from 1 March 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Embassy of Lebanon in Canada, passport issue or renewal application form (sample, documents, photos), version modified 21 April 2026, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Embassy of Lebanon in Canada, home page (notice on 2003-model passports, electronic civil status extract), accessed 23 October 2026.
- Embassy of Lebanon in Canada, contacts and consulates (Consulate General in Montreal: address, opening hours, district), accessed 23 October 2026.
- Government of Quebec, Ministry of International Relations and La Francophonie, directory of foreign representations: Lebanon (in French; consular post in Montreal), accessed 23 October 2026.
- Consulate General of Lebanon in Montreal, official website (montreal.mfa.gov.lb), unreachable on 3 and 23 October 2026.
- Honorary Consulate of Lebanon in Halifax, “Passports” (fees, wait time, DHL), accessed 23 October 2026.
- Honorary Consulate of Lebanon in Calgary, “Passport”, accessed 23 October 2026.
- General Security, end of non-biometric 2003-model passports (in Arabic; 25 June and 1 October 2026), accessed 23 October 2026.
- General Security, 2003-model passports (in Arabic; no applications accepted since 16 July 2026), accessed 23 October 2026.
- General Security, rules for biometric passport applications abroad (first applications, minors, documents), undated, accessed 23 October 2026.
- General Security, biometric passports for Lebanese residents in the United States (in Arabic; since 21 September 2026), accessed 23 October 2026.
- Embassy of Lebanon in the United States, first-time biometric passport applications, 2 October 2026.
- Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, response LBN201564.E on Lebanese passports (former embassy fees), 2 August 2023.
- DHL FastTrack, shipping platform for Lebanese passports, accessed 23 October 2026.
Checked on 23.10.2026.