FREDERICTON (GNB) – A limited number of Service New Brunswick centres will reopen on Monday, March 23, for essential services only.

However, to help ensure the safety of staff and the public, New Brunswickers are urged not to visit a centre unless necessary. Customers are urged to go online as their first option.

The number of customers allowed into the centres at one time will be restricted and customers will be expected to use social distancing from other customers and staff. Cash payments will not be accepted. Customers looking to receive non-essential services will not be permitted to enter.

All licences, registrations, certificates and permits issued by the Province of New Brunswick (drivers’ licences, motor-vehicle inspections, and vehicle registrations) valid as of March 16, 2020, will remain valid until May 31, 2020, so those transactions will not be available at the service centres. This does not include those suspended by a court or by other authority under an act of the provincial government. However, vehicle registration renewals are one of the hundreds of services that can be completed online at any time.

Service New Brunswick is continuing to work on a plan to safely open more centres in the coming weeks. In the meantime, customers are encouraged stay home and to check what services can be conducted online. TeleServices is also available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1-888-762-8600.

The new operational hours for these locations will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday to Friday. There will be no Saturday hours.

The centres that will reopen on Monday are:

  • Campbellton
  • Bathurst
  • Miramichi
  • Moncton
  • Saint John
  • St. Stephen
  • Woodstock
  • Fredericton
  • Edmundston

The essential services that will be available are:

  • motor vehicle transfers;
  • road test for class 1/3/4 licences only;
  • International Fuel Tax Agreement Decal applications;
  • Medicare Application for Registration, replacement cards or renewals;
  • Family Support payments;
  • Request for Divorce certificate;
  • fine payments after court date/due date;
  • IRP transactions (International Registration Plan)
  • transit markers;
  • Restoration of Driving Privileges application;
  • rent payments (only those ordered to be paid at Service New Brunswick by the Residential Tenancies Tribunal);
  • vital statistics: marriage licences (only for marriages scheduled up until April 30, 2020);
  • housing loan and rental payments (Social Development); and
  • damage deposit payments (Social Development).

Services not available at the centres because they can either be done online or are not considered an essential service include:

  • fine payments (before court/due date);
  • water/sewer payments;
  • property tax payments;
  • driver abstracts;
  • motor vehicle renewals (can be completed online and by phone);
  • parking placards
  • lottery permits/licences;
  • written driver tests;
  • driver road tests (tests available for commercial licences only);
  • technical inspections (can be done online);
  • security deposit payment;
  • birth, death, marriage certificate applications (can be done online);

Customers are reminded that a majority of services are online and that payments are fully secure. For services not offered online or currently at the centres, there are other options. For example, there are multiple ways to pay property taxes including:

  • the customer’s financial institution through online banking, telephone banking, or the automated teller machine (ATM);
  • by mail to Finance and Treasury Board, P.O. Box 100, Fredericton, NB, E3B 1B0. Write your property account number on the cheque and make it payable to the Minister of Finance; or sign up for the Equalized Payment Plan - a convenient voluntary payment plan that allows eligible homeowners to pay their annual property tax in 12 equal monthly payments without incurring a penalty.