The Canadian High Commission

Am I the only one that has a real hard time getting through to the Canadian embassy? All I want is a passport application and even getting in touch with them seems to take forever.
Getting the pictures are the hardest part but thankfully I am returning home for the holidays soon so I can go to a passport office or somewhere to get them done.
Has anyone else had these problems?
Ben
CCR UK Chapterhead

www.canadian-republic.ca
uk_ccr@yahoo.co.uk

I have to agree, the embassies are in a pretty sad state.

My girlfriend, who's from Budapest had to go to Vienna to get her student visa for Canada. Why the embassy in Budapest couldn't do this, I don't know. Also, she was very dissapointed in the embassy staff.

There was one very old looking security guard, who kept taking ten minute smoke breaks every twenty minutes. And none of the staff even spoke english well, with very heavy accents. Not to mention being quite rude. She walked in the door, and the first thing she saw was the woman behind the counter say to another visa applicant "No visa for you!" And then turn away. When the woman asked why she was denied, the embassy official told her to take a pamphlet.

I was totally embarrassed when I heard about that, what kind of an impression our embassy gives to foreigners looking to come to our country.

Another thing! The lack of passport offices in Canada. I had to get my passport renewed in a hurry before travelling overseas. They told me it could take 6 months to get it! Or, I could go to my local passport office and have it done in three days, for an extra fee. So when I asked where the closest passport office was, it turns out Vancouver and Surrey, pratically the same city. And that's it, for the entire province of BC. So I can't imagine what it must be like for people who live up north in more remote communities, even for me living in Kelowna at the time there's no way you can drive 350km to go to their offices. They should be more accessible, both at home and abroad.

Anyhow, that's my little rant

Matt

I sent an email to the Canadian High Commission (ldn-cs@dfait-maeci.gc.ca) telling them who I am and asking for the application form, which came in the post a day or two later.

You can also download the forms on:

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/canadaeuro ... sy3-en.asp

The pictures are indeed a pain, unless you find a photographer
who already understands the unique requirements. (A photo shop chain
called Snappy Snaps seems to be in the know.) You can amuse the
photo-shop staff no end by pointing out the ban on smiles on Canadian
passport photos that came into effect last year.

You can also expect to do some explaining to lawyers if you have to
get a statuatory declaration (aka "stat dec") in lieu of a guarantor's signature...

RoM

I'm in London, so I spend a lot of time at Canada House in Trafalgar Square. I have no problem finding it. Then again, since my phone got stolen and I've been without one for the better part of the last few years off and on anyway, I've never tried to call them, I just go in person. Or email.

I want a "Canadians outside of Canada" support group!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been in the United States for too many years, and then came HERE over the same so-called Math teacher job shortages that I got screwed around about in the United States for many years as well, so I'm just FED UP and almost ready to call it quits and just teach at a First Nations school on ANY reserve!!! I'm so sick and tired of going to these large world cities where they're crying out for Math teachers and getting the runaround for being "Red Indian" and so on, and so on, that I'm tempted to just start screaming "you Yankee-fied bigots" and swinging with a hockey stick at the next one that calls me an "American."

Allow me to share my living nightmare:
On December 22nd 2004, I had my passport, birth certificate, driver's licence, money, credit cards and mobile stolen from where I worked. (Yes, it was locked up) I had brought these things with me because I had an appointment earlier that day to get my NI.
As this was discovered around 5:30 pm, I had no choice but to go home and cry my eyes out. I was living in Cambridge. I had never felt so hopeless and devastated. Not only was it 3 days before Christmas, but I was broke and had no way of proving my identity.
The next morning, a new friend offered to take me to London as I hadn't been there before apart from when I landed. I'm from small town Northern Ontario.
I remember walking into the embassey feeling RELIEF and a sense of home. There was a display of Douglas Coupland and even through my misery, I still felt a sense of pride.
First I was told to wait, as I didn't have an appointment and "wasn't a priority".
I waited 4 hours as I watched people saunter in and out. One person was working the counter.
When it was finally my turn, to say the woman was rude was an understatement. She wanted to know what the problem was, as I wasn't planning on going home for another year or so. She demanded to know if I had pictures, and as I feebly pulled out the standard UK pictures taken from a photo booth that morning, she laughed and told me they were unacceptable, and beside that I looked terrible in them anyway. (Maybe she was trying to lighten the situation, but in my experience telling someone they're ugly doesn't help matters)
After all of that, I was given the "appropriate" forms and told to apply for my birth certificate as soon as possible as there was a 6-8 week delay in processing them in Canada. I laugh now as they are currently advertising 15 day delivery "or your money back".
To make a long story short, I went to the solicitor's, got new photos done, got my birth certificate--every thing you are supposed to do. I even had my MP's office phone them as it seemed to be taking a long time. My application was rejected and returned because I was missing a form, which I finally downloaded off the internet. The woman had never given it to me.
8 MONTHS LATER.I received my new passport. 3 days later--I flew home.