Canadian officials are bracing for a potential onslaught of passport renewals now that the border between Canada and the United States is poised to reopen. Urgent passport services have been available throughout the pandemic, but with borders closed and public health measures in place most people had little use for them.

Service Canada issued more than two-million passports in the year before the pandemic began, but handed out just over 360-thousand the year after that.

Already demand is climbing, with nearly 470-thousand passports issued this year as of Sept. 30.

The Canadian government still recommends against non-essential travel outside of the country because of the risk of contracting COVID-19 abroad and bringing it home.

But with the US border set to reopen to vaccinated travellers on Nov. 8, the federal government is preparing for a rise in demand for passport services.