Passport application procedure and processing times - caution!
 

I haven't seen this discussed on here, but I had been putting off renewing my son's passport, and about a month or so before our upcoming trip it became clear that I may have waited too long.

It appears that the default way to apply for a passport now is via Canada Post. Within so many days of your trip (I think 20 business days), you can request an in-person appointment. Well, for Edmonton, there aren't any slots for the next 20 business days. With the 10 days' or so processing times, you can miss your trip. Sending docs with Canada Post you would in theory get the passport back in 3 to 4 weeks. I don't trust Canada Post based on some crazy mail times the past year or so.

If you are travelling within the next two days, they will somehow squeeze you in. But ONLY then. The agent on the phone said that I could go at like 6 am and line up and maybe get in. Then I saw an article about Edmonton, that only people whose travel is imminent were let in if they lined up early in the morning.

Anyway, I booked a dummy fully-refundable trip to Seattle for the boy and me (they do require you show proof of travel), and got his passport done same day. The additional $100 (or whatever it was) was well worth it from my perspective, especially since when I first encountered this problem I thought there was a good chance our trip would be ruined. I went at 6:15, there was already a line of 20 people. By 8 am, there were probably close to 80. Thankfully Edmonton's Canada Place doors were open and we all waited inside.

I managed to get through the toll free number early in the morning (I got inexplicably disconnected twice), while waiting in line, and she sent a note to the local office and advised they would call once they find a spot for me. At around 10:00, when I was already at the window submitting the paperwork I got the call and we all had a laugh.

I am sure some of this is people whose passports expired over the past couple of years rushing to renew them now that travel is a bit easier, but I wonder how much of it is the covid (work) rules.

Someone from the passport office did triage, and sent a few people home. Looked like anyone travelling two weeks from now was let in. There is an expedited option, where instead of having the passport mailed back to you, for an extra $20, you have the privilege of picking it up yourself 10 (business?) days later.

Just a word of caution.

Thanks for sharing! How utterly ridiculous!! :td::mad::mad:

So one basically has to spend ~$300 and line up for ~3h to maybe get a new passport within a reasonable time frame. What a joke!

During the 1st few months of the pandemic this may have been understandable, but at this point there is no excuse whatsoever for Canada being more dysfunctional than many 3rd world countries.

Results will vary apparently as someone I know was able to stand in line at Passport Office for a few hours Tues. to get a new passport in her married name to match all her other I.D. including vaccine records, got through and was advised her new passport will be ready in a week. Her departure date is 14 Dec.

Canada seems to be sort of like the US in having passport processing issues nowadays. Is it better with applications at Canadian embassies/consulates beyond North America?

This is a global problem. I work around the edges of several foreign passport systems and Passport Agencies have been on edge for month as they have started to see application volumes increase. Some countries are starting to restrict applications to those with a passport expiring soonish, others for imminent travel.

One example from a country in the southern hemisphere:

• estimated backlog of 1.8 million applications based on historical issuance volumes
• From spring 2021 to Oct 2021, weekly applications have risen from 2000 to 8000 (still below normal)
• They are very afraid to receive a tsunami of applications when their borders fully open.
  
  

How did you provide them with proof of travel? Did you just show them the booking confirmation email?

very simple work around
steps as follows;

1. go to https://eservices.canada.ca/en/service/
   1. complete it saying you are travelling in the next 7 days and need an urgent passport renewal
   2. you will be giving a reference number after completing the form, take note of it
2. travel to your nearest passport processing office. Arrive prior to it opening if possible and explain to the commissionaire (security staff) you are travelling in 7 days and need passport renewed
   1. they will ask if you registered with service canada, give him a note with your name, phone number and the service canada reference number from above
   2. he will pass it along to local passport canada staff who will call you and give you an appointment ideally for that day
3. wait for your appointed time
   1. see agent
   2. pay expediting fee
4. they will have your passport ready in as little as two days
   1. do not pay the emergency 2 day fee.

I have a passport appointment for tomorrow. On the phone I told them it was because I had misplaced my passport and wanted to get it expedited. They said I can just tell them that when I get there. Would that still work?

Walk-ins are allowed at Passport offices, depending on where you are it may be easier to get it done by walking in rather than trying to get an appointment.

Depends on the location. For people traveling in the next 7 days, they said they would do it a couple of days. The walks in are the best I agree.

Walk-Ins
 

I did a walk in at the passport office in Mississauga, ON earlier this week.

I was advised over the phone by Services Canada to walk in at my local office on either a Thursday (16th) or Tuesday (21st) in December based on my travel date, as these days are less busy than Mondays and Fridays. The earliest confirmed appointment I could have been offered was 10 January 2022.

Upon arrival as a walk in I was quickly told my travel date of 13 January 2022 was not in the date range of walk in applications being considered (contradicting the phone advice I received) the main walk in line was for people travelling up to 11 January. I was invited to wait in the secondary line for walk ins, and might be processed after the main walk in line was allowed into the office. Bit of a administrative joke really. The main line processed into the office quickly and the 4 of us in the secondary were moved up after about 20 minutes.

Inside the office they check your documents and application paperwork, give you a ticket and send you off to wait in another part of the office to see an agent. It took over an hour of waiting around but it was faster than I was expecting.


All up just under and hour and a half to see the agent, from when I joined the secondary walk in line, then around 5 -10 mins with the agent for them to enter data into the system. I was told the processing date for return was going to be 7 January 2022, no options for quicker processing but that suited my travel timing fine.

Good luck to anyone applying for a passport in the next few weeks.

I would have bought a one way January 1-10 flight on the spot and then refunded it after leaving the passport office.

I considered that, but based my experience with the time it takes to receive flight refunds over the last year, I decided not to. 😊

Sorry for reviving an old thread...

I need to renew my passport and I can't get an appointment for at least the next month at any passport office in the country.

I would probably need expedited service anyway... any recent experiences with walk-in times? Thanks...

It depends on the location. As far as I know the one in NB in Fredericton had walk ins but they won't give you any appointments but you have to go in the morning and walk in.