Canadian passports expire after five years. Today, I sent off my application. It was actually a real pain to pull together. Now, I understand that it's important to make faking passports difficult. But I was annoyed the various hoops I had to jump through.
It's also scary to send off my existing passport and my birth certificate in the mail. At this moment, I don't have any official proof that I'm a Canadian. What happens if I need to make an emergency return to Canada? I'm not sure.
I'm hoping that I just worry too much!