Passport Canada - Canadians Needing Help!

[Ephraim]

For those of you, like me, who are waiting for their passports from Passport Canada. I want to give you as much information as I have been able to get.

 

A form has been set up for asking the status of your application. It is at https://www.pptc.gc.ca/service/contact/status_request.aspx?lang=e

 

If you want to try to call, the contact numbers are:

 

Toll free:1 800 567-6868

Outside Canada and the United States: (819) 997-8338

TTY services: 1 866 255-7655

 

Please note that if you do get through (you are likely to get a busy signal for hours on end) if you choose status of your application it puts you in another queue that will likely be full and hangs up on you.

 

The minister in charge of this department is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Peter MacKay. (These are all the public information from http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/ProfileMP.aspx?Key=78752&SubSubject=1001&Language=E and is therefore public knowledge.)

 

His address is: House of Commons, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Public Office Telephone is: 613-992-6022

Public Office Fax is: 613-992-2337

His public email address is: MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca

And his public website is:http://www.petermackay.ca

 

I have been waiting since the 15th of January. They have now extended processing time from 8 weeks to 9 weeks.

 

Please, do not be surprised if your request for status comes back with no information. I sent my application with tracking and it was received on the 17th and the status request came back with no real information.

 

Anyone else having the same problem? Waiting for their passports? Upset about the fact that they indicated there is a 33% increase, but a 120% increase in the wait time?

[cruiseryyc]

Why did you wait until the last minute to get a passport? I applied for mine in October and received exactly it one week later.

[Ephraim]

My passport only expired at the end of December. Last minute? January for an April departure? That's definitely not last minute. And who knew that they were going to go from a normal one to two week delivery to a 9 week delivery?

[cruiseryyc]

What I meant by last minute was the fact that the new passport requirements came into effect in January (with lots of notice) and therefore a lot of people waited until then to get passports. My passport was not scheduled to expire until January but I decided to apply for a new one early in order to miss the stampede of folks getting theirs right before the new regulations came into effect.

[Ephraim]

The problem was getting a guarantor. I couldn't get mine signed until New Years.

 

In any case, that doesn't explain how a 33% increase in requests has resulted in a 120% increase in time to process.

 

I still have 5 more weeks before I go away, so I'm not worried. But if you have seen the email that they send back when you ask for status, I'm surprised that more people aren't in a panic. They basically can't seem to give people status on their requests or a reliable expected date. The department is a shambles and Peter MacKay is the Minister and therefore... responsible. So, I'm just making sure that those who are having problems know who to send of a letter of discontent to.

 

Or are you suggesting that Passport Canada is handling the increase properly? They had a year's worth of notice to have enough infrastructure in place to handle the influx.

[traveller123]

Thanks for the contact and other info. I, too, had to wait until February 1st to courier my renewal application to Ottawa. Sure hope I get it by Easter, as I need to get my passport info to the contact in Russia by mid-April for my visa for St. Petersburg. Easter will be 9 weeks, so that sounds about right.

[LeftcoastBC]

FYI

 

http://www.ppt.gc.ca/index.aspx?lang=e

 

Site now says 45 day or a 9 Week Wait

[Langley Cruisers]

Sorry you are waiting so long. We know well how it feels and it's not something we would wish on anyone.

 

Also, I started to inquire about our daughter's passport application, but then read this -

 

"Important: We highly recommend that you use this service only when the normal processing time has been exceeded. Requesting information about the status of your application during the normal processing time could result in a delay."

 

 

I'm pretty sure I heard once that if you inquire about your application, it gets pulled from the pile and put into another queue, possibly further delaying your application. My advice, difficult as it may be to hear, would be to just leave things alone. Tracing it won't make it arrive any faster.

 

 

Obviously, JMO. :)

[Ephraim]

At the rate they are going, we are going to have to apply for passports from the birth canal to get them on time for vacation by the age of 18.

 

They should have a better tracking system.

 

The reply that you get back from Passport Canada says basically that they don't know if they have it or not. It's essentially useless.

[Bramcruiser]

It took me just one day under three months for my passport to arrive. Right now, Passport Canada is bogged down and the system is overwhelmed. Expect a long waiting time. Plan well ahead.

 

David

[Ephraim]

There is a website that's attempting to collect the horror stories as well as asking the questions that the media doesn't seem to be asking. It's non-commercial. There is no advertising. It's called... Passport Canada Sucks

[cruiseryyc]

Yes I'm sure the Government is going to pay lots of attention to a website with that name!

[Ephraim]

Personally, I called my MP. They are telling me that I'm in the system and my passport is a few days away. My spouse's passport... they are suggesting that we put in for an expedited passport and it's just a week or two behind my application. They seem to be behind the 9 weeks already and stretching into 10 weeks, from what my MP is saying. And from the estimates, they are slipping a week behind every two weeks. They supposedly have more people coming online to help by the end of March (they were hired in November and are just finishing the security checks and training).

[RBOrrell]

Our passports were to expire this month. We were travelling while they were still valid but it is reccommended that you have a passport that is valid for 6 months after your return. So, I bit the bullet in January, filled out the forms, got the photos and went to the passport office in person. Waited the two hours and went back exactly two weeks later to pick up the new passports. This was during the media-induced hype about long passport office lines. I talked to the clerks in the office and they indicated that the lines were no worse than before the crunch.

 

For the extra $10, the piece of mind of having them was worth while.

[Ephraim]

In Montreal, the line at 7AM was alredy 2 hours long. At noon, they count and cut off the line for the day. Someone mentioned that in BC they start lining up at 4AM.

 

You were very lucky.

[traveller123]

In Vancouver, when I tried to go in person, the line up was 2 days long! I can't afford to take time off work to sit in line, so I ended up sending my passport application to Ottawa by courier. I could have hired a homeless/street person to sit in line for me, but I wasn't prepared to do that. Lots of other people were doing that though.

 

I wish I was retired, because then at least I would have the time to spend 2 days in a lineup.

[Ephraim]

Passport Canada put up a list of people who are allowed to stand in line for you because people were hiring the homeless to do it, to preclude people from hiring the homeless.

[Langley Cruisers]

This information is helpful for those British Columbians in the Greater Vancouver area. Here is what you can do, and it works and we have done it (at the Surrey, B.C. office):

 

Go to the website (

http://www.pptc.gc.ca/can/pol_on-line_form.aspx?lang=e) and fill in all your information online. Print out the application, get your photos, guarantor, fees, etc (all that you need), and then go to the office to line up. Yes, you will still need to go early - we were in line by 5:45 am and there were already people waiting. Once the doors open at 8 am and you get inside, you will be directed to another line for those who have already filled out their application online. This is the expedited line. We were given a number and told to have a seat; well, by the time we sat down our number was already called, and we were out of there by 8:15 am. Others who were behind us in the original lineup outside the building were still waiting. I'm scared to think how long they waited.

 

This is the fact: filling your application out online and then printing it out benefits you because then the staff don't have to spend time entering your information into the computer. It takes only minutes instead of hours. I am so glad we learned of this - it made our trip to the passport office as painless as possible, if that's possible. ;)

 

Thought I would mention it, as this option may be available in other cities as well. I suggest you phone and find out. It is so worth it.

 

~

[Ephraim]

My friend had to go to their office a few days ago, and it was a very long wait.

[Yves]

Which office did you go to ? In Montreal, I can confirm the lines were a lot worse than usual, as I work in the building next to it, and I saw the lines and the wait time of 5 to 6 hours. So I don't think it was "media induced"

 

I had to go to the office on tuesday morning, and at 7:00 AM there was already a good 2 to 2.5 hour wait, and the person at the counter told me it was mayhem: I was trying to bring a bit of humour in her work, but nothing would work... the employees all seem to be very down because of being overworked.