emcampbe

So, just sent in an application for a new Canadian passport for my daughter (we live in the US). She is 6, so the first one is expiring later this year, and kids in Canada can not do a renewal - they have to apply basically as if they've never had one before.

As required, we included her original citizenship certificate and current Canadian passport in the envelope with the application, and sent via Fedex Ground last week. Well, Fedex Ground seems to have lost the package - they still claim it will arrive in Gatineau tomorrow, but the last scan was a week ago in Tracy, CA (about 25 miles from where we live), and Fedex doesn't seem to have their act together - no one can seem to get a hold of the local station where it was last scanned, a trace hasn't revealed the package, and no one seems to be able to find the darn thing. (I also wonder why Canada won't accept notarized doc copies vs. requiring originals....but that is for another thread...).

I'm going to give it to early next week, but at this point, without any scans, and Fedex unable to locate, I'm assuming at this point the envelope is lost. This is a real PITA since, a) the original citizenship certificate is the only thing we can use to prove her citizenship to get a new passport, and they require the original and b) the supposed processing time for a new one is showing 15 months (no, that is not a typo!). The only saving grace is she is a dual citizen with Nexus, so at least she has her US passport she can use, however, we were planning on coming back to Canada in the fall, and with current restrictions, even though theoretically she should be able to enter with us on her US passport (as immediate family of Canadian citizens), I'm worried this will add to the process. Plus, I just want to have control of her actual documentation.

Given the loss of the passport and proof of citizenship though, I'm assuming I need to report this somewhere? and if so, how? I want to wait a few days to see if these turn up somewhere, as I don't want to report it lost and then find out they found it somewhere, but also don't want to leave it in case they are somewhere where they shouldn't be.

Appreciate any insight into what I should do next.

GUWonder

Any possibility that this is stuck with a customs facility handling packages/mail? That’s been a source of informational blackholes for Fedex and other courier services at times when it comes to passports being privately sent across borders; but then it usually ends up getting delivered anyway after a delay.

emcampbe

its certainly possible, but I�m thinking not likely - would likely have had to miss at least a couple of scans from Fedex on the way out. I�m certainly no expert on shipping logics, nor do I know how this was supposed to be routed (I�ve seen packages through FedEx/USPS go to YVR first, then East, and others that seem to go via points in the Midwest), but either way, it should have been scanned out from Tracy first, and then in transit somewhere else. It�s been a while since I sent cross border, but I seem to recall Fedex usually scanning on arrival to customs facility - though maybe it could be stuck waiting for this scan?

zkzkz

Fwiw I wouldn't give up hope on it arriving, possibly even on time. That tracking is kind of par for the course with FedEx Ground. It's not the normal FedEx they built their reputation on. It's a separate system they bought when they consolidated with one of the old package delivery companies. You often see it cross most of the continent without scans or have scans turn up after it's already arrived.

GUWonder

FedEx Ground service includes FedEx using contractors under some circumstances. FedEx may be more attuned to the information from its contractors than would be indicated when using a tracking number on FedEx.com.

garykung

Mostly your local police. A police report makes thing easier in replacing the documentation.

If your passport is not even delivered, I would suggest contact Passport Canada as well (they may be able to re-produce another one for free).

GUWonder

If reporting the docs to the Canadian authorities as missing/lost documents, consider what may follow from such report even if/when the docs are found in the proper hands. If I were in this kind of situation again, I would give it a week or two more — if I could manage to afford the additional two weeks time — before deciding to report the stuff as lost/missing and having to deal with the consequences that follow that.

Section 107

I believe you said she has a NEXUS card - and it seems she is not a dual citizen, so the NEXUS card should be an acceptable proof of both identity and citizenship if the original documents are lost - not to mention the card should allow for her to easily travel back and forth between the US & CA with no passport.

Agree with GUW to delay as long as possible in reporting such documents as stolen - can result in all sorts of bureaucratic nightmares if they are found and returned to you and then you try to use them in some other situation.

TWA884

She is a dual US / Canadian citizen:

emcampbe

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Today - scheduled delivery date (destination is Gatineau, QC - so basically, Ottawa), it seems to have turned up in Ohio. I initially got an update noting the new scheduled delivery date is Monday (second time the date has been updated since dropping off mid last week - would be surprised, given the weekend, if it isn't delayed again until Tuesday.). So seems it will get there, but late - either way, a relief that it seems to have been scanned in somewhere, and indeed it is in their posession..

Sounds like you were pretty close on your guess. Yes, scanning seems not to be good with ground like it is with Express. Although I'm absolutely sure I have had ground packages scanned more often along the way from places like midwest - CA. I'd at least expect a departure scan from the main regional hub (that would be the one in Tracy), but seems the departure scans aren't happening - everything on my doc is only arrival scans (Hayward, CA, then no departure but arrival in Tracy, CA, then no departure but arrival a full week later in Perrysburg, OH). I expect I should see something when it clears customs, but who knows at this point?

Was definitely going to wait until some time later next week, but can you expand on what you mean by 'consequences'? I definitely would expect reporting it lost would mean it could never be used again, even if eventually found, but are there other things down the line as a result? I ask because I honestly don't know - luckily, I have never had to find out.

Section 107

thx, missed that. If the NEXUS card was issued as a US citizen then it wont help in this situation. If it was issued as a Canadian citizen then it could help.

GUWonder

With regard to the US, there is the $150 file search approach when needing to apply for another US passport but not having current evidence of US citizenship on hand to do so. Canada has something akin to that, but a Canadian passport-seeking applicant may still at times need to get a Canadian citizenship certificate following that and prior to passport application. And the Canadian government has a website that says it takes approximately 15 months from application to get that certificate when applying in the US or Canada.

About potential consequences for reporting a passport as lost/stolen, if it happens multiple times, additional restrictions could hit when applying again; and even if it only happens once, it could result in being subject to slowdowns at passport control over identity verification concerns because of the possible misuse of the reported passport or other identity documents for a person with that name or even a relatively close name to that in the reported passport. For example, one of my relatives has never had a lost/stolen passport; however, because someone else — of a different nationality at that — with much the same name had reported a passport as lost/stolen, arrivals at some Schengen ports of entry when coming on trips from the US and Canada thereafter meant some slowdowns for a couple of months because of the common name elements.

emcampbe

Appreciate the insight. I suppose that makes sense with reporting the passport....just never thought that beyond having the passport in question essentially 'canceled', that it could have other effects.

And correct with Canada - you can now renew your passport as an adult, which makes it way easier than it has been in the past (for the record, until about 5 or so years ago, even adults could not 'renew' a passport - it was like applying for it from scratch everytime), but with a child's passport, there isn't that option. You have to send in the original copy of proof of citizenship - either birth certificate issued in Canada, which we don't have since our daughter was born in Ohio, or the Citizenship certificate. Why we can't send in a notarized copy is beyond me (and why they can't look it up in their system - it's all the gov't, after all - is beyond me). I'm glad it's been located. 15 months is a long time to get the proof of citizenship, and since you are supposed to send in previous travel doc (ie, passport), I assume there is no option to not report it lost if it was. I was told by the US consulate phone number that I could put a letter in with a replacement citizenship certificate application requesting prioritized status, but apparently that is all up to IRCC if they will/won't accept it, and even at that, I'm not clear what the 'prioritized' wait time is - IIRC, even pre-COVID the processing times for citizenship certificates was long - we would have applied for my younger daughter sometime in 2018, and I think it was still 6 or 8 months at that point.

I forget what her Nexus card says - she had both passports at application time, but not sure what it says. I believe mine says 'US' - I'm also dual-citizen though living in Canada at the initial time of application way back when NEXUS started (and even had CanPass prior - I think that was back in 2004 or so).