Expedite Canadian passport?

gregor
New Member



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 3
Location: Cary, NC

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:35 am

 

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fyi: I recieved 3 of 4 passports on June 28 (even though they charged me for 4 passports). Not sure what is going on with 4th one.

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BL
New Member



Joined: 10 Jul 2007
Posts: 2

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:01 pm

 

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What an absolute fiasco this whole passport thing is turning out to be. I sent mine in by courier on April 24, and I'm pretty sure right now that an Aug 4 overseas trip is going to have to be cancelled, as I have lost all faith in Passport Canada.

I called them yesterday (I found the 819-area code number easier to connect than the 800-number, for some reason) and the woman told me that if I gave them the tracking # of the package they could possibly do something for me, since I would be travelling in a month. Today, I called them back with the tracking #, and the woman said she would email some department there that deals with international renewals, and that I should also fax my particulars there as well. Still, there's absolutely no guarantee, and she told me frankly that I should think about changing my travel plans.

I am frustrated as h*ll with them right now, and all I need is for my picture to get rejected because of some stupid shadows or a shiny forehead or something. Not much I can realistically do but sit and wait, I guess.

B.

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rutibamba
New Member



Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 3

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:01 am

 

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Wow, I'm worried now. I had no idea that there were so many problems! The website for the High Commission in Australia says that processing time is 15 days plus local mail delivery time. My passport doesn't expire until March, but I need to travel in November, so needed to renew to have more than 6 months validity. I mailed my application last week. Wish I would have taken a magnifying glass to my photo before sending them in. < When I contacted the High Commission to request renewal information, they of course didn't tell me that the 15 day turn around had nothing to do with reality. I'm scared now. My international tickets have been bought and everything, on cheap tickets that can't be changed (I'm a backpacker).

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prao
New Member



Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Posts: 6
Location: Houston

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:54 am

 

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Enough! When you get your passport after multiple photo rejections, interminable long waits, and a hefty $100 fee, you will clutch it ardently to your bosom and marvel at the new highly-secure booklet of magnetically encoded and chipped paper. You will thank our esteemed public serpents for trapping you in a foreign country without a passport, birth certificate and other identifying documents and giving you additional opportunities to savor the local culture and cherish your experiences in explaining to local officials why you are without a valid passport (like when opening a bank account, registering in a hotel, renewing your local drivers license, enrolling your kids in school, etc.).

And you will look forward to doing it again in 5 years! I hope they don't take away this wonderful experience by introducing something like body micro-chips - like they do for dogs where they inject a chip containing identifying information that remains in the dog permanently. Please, please, do not complain about these life transforming delays - lets not give them the opportunity to say - due to overwhelming public demand and outcry over the delays in passport issuances, Passport Canada will move to a permanent body chip passports - this is a one-time effort (processing time expected to be about 1 year) but will remove your need to renew your passport.

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azulu
New Member



Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Posts: 1
Location: USA

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:40 am

 

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My application has been sitting in the Hull office for almost 6 months now (I reside in the US). Funny thing is that they rejected my daughters application, sent in the same Fedex package 3 months after they received it (a tooth was showing in the photo!).

Can the poster who used the 819 area code number to call the office also please give me that number?

Thanks

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colorgrower
New Member



Joined: 15 Sep 2007
Posts: 3
Location: idaho

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:12 pm

 

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It takes Gatinau at least 4 months to process complete passport applications add another month for every missing item. Calling PP Canada makes no sense as their phone que is packed and you cant get a straight answer from anybody. PP Canada does not respond to emails either. This summer I sent my son to renew his passport in person to Vancouver, it took him 6 trips over 2 weeks to the PP office and every time a new obstacle was thrown his way, his application documentation was not considered real despite the fact that he already had a slightly damaged passport with which he had travelled to Europe and the US. An excellent education how our Canadian goverment works.

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marazul
New Member



Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Posts: 3

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:38 pm

 

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I should post my nightmarish stories with Passport Canada and the canadian embassies and consulates. I try to avoid dealing with them because they have never helped me except for the one in Dusseldorf.

I don't know if Canadians don't help each other a lot but they were the opposite of helpful in very delicate situations. At Passport they told me a bunch of lies and I had to get my passport at the end by using my common sense. Everything they told me was a LIE.

Horrible! I think that you're filling out the forms with a constant fear of rejection. Not helpful at all!

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eddycurrents
CanuckAbroad Regular



Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Posts: 42

Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 4:05 pm

 

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FYI. because I didn't have time to re-apply by mail, in July I flew to Toronto and went through a company called Passports Express. We got my passport done in about 3 hours.

I was able to get same day service by saying I was flying back to the US the next day, and I needed my passport for my job, and I had a letter from my company and a plane ticket to prove it. I also paid about $100 more I think.

Passports Express cost me a few hundred dollars, plus the expedited passport fee, plus I had to fly to Toronto and be in line by 7:30 in the morning. But they were the only good part of a trip from hell, which included three canceled flights, a midnight cab ride from Detroit to Toronto with a driver I didn't know, and the worst experience yet renewing a TN visa.

As far as I could tell, Passports Express didn't do anything special, they just knew exactly what to do and where to go -- the downtown Toronto passports office is not as busy as the airport office, for example. They checked my application for errors (there were none), told me where to stand, then took me to a professional photographer for shadow-free pictures. The photographer is in the same building as the passport office in downtown TO, so he knew exactly what to do as well.

One thing they did that normal people couldn't: one of the passport office workers recognized my gal from Passports Express while we were standing in line, since she is there so much, and he took my application up with him. So he got started on it even before the office opened. He was especially nice. I don't think many of them would do that.

My advice: make sure the pictures are perfect -- no shadows or highlights whatsoever. Use a professional photographer, not AAA. Also make sure the application is perfect and complete. Finally, make sure your notary and your references are available by the phone number in your application, because they will call them. For same day service, this is vital.

Ironically, because my passport was so close to expiring when I flew to Toronto, the airline didn't want to let me leave. There is some rule about people flying with almost expired passports. The fact that I was going to renew my passport was irrelevant. Fortunately I had my birth certificate as well, which apparently tipped the scales -- after 5 minutes of arguing and manual overrides.

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