Need a passport? Expect a long wait

[SpongeG]

can we still travel on expired passports to the us? I think it the past you could do so for at least 5 years. Mine expires in October this year... I wonder how long it will take to renew..

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Canadians have been lining up to apply for passports before a new rule requiring the documents for air travel to the United States takes effect.

Passport Canada says it is experiencing a high number of passport applications in all of its offices ahead of the Jan. 23 deadline.

In November alone, Passport Canada received more than 355,000 applications, about 91,000 more than the same time last year.

In Fredericton, the passport office has opened two waiting rooms to handle the load.

Mary-Anne Dewitt of Noonan was among 25 people lining up to get her paperwork done.

Dewitt said she should have put more money in her parking meter before joining the crowd.

"I opened the door at the passport office, and the security guard told me there was a waiting line and there was a second waiting room, and I thought, 'Oh boy, I'm going to get another parking ticket,'" she said, laughing.

Ellen Ringette of Saint John spent close to an hour sitting in the office's main waiting area, and said the mood inside was tense.

"It was full when we got here, and it's still almost the same people. People are leaving, and coming back and going for little walks, and stuff, and there's not even enough chairs to sit in, so it's frustrating."

Sylvia McConkey from St. Stephen spent more than an hour and a half waiting to apply. She and her family will be travelling to Costa Rica in March.

McConkey said she expected to wait, but Passport Canada should be doing more to make the line move faster.

"The people working there are doing a good job trying to get as many people through as possible. But all the booths aren't open, and if the federal government knows a lot of people are going to be applying for their passports, I believe they should have probably hired a few more people."

Passport Canada said people who don't have immediate travel plans should wait until the spring to apply.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/01/02/nb-passportwaits.html

[Coldrsx]

ive got to renew mine soon and the process isnt that bad.....there are many ways to get it done.

[LordMandeep]

min expires in April, should start now...

Also the picture is way out of date. The US border guy looked at me for a good 30 seconds.

[MolsonExport]

Stupid Asswipes, why not get a few more clerks in to handle the paperwork?

[bigcanuck]

Some advice - fill in the online form from the gov't website. Then, you print it off and get your guarantor to sign it (and your pic). Once you get through the original screening line at the passport office, you don't have to sit around for them to call your number - they'll send you right up to an available agent since the paperwork is done/verified online. Get there early - we went prior to the office opening at 8:30am and they opened it early (8:00am).

[SpongeG]

they showed the line ups today on the noon news - one woman was inline for her sister who lived in smithers or something and was surprised when they said people must do their own passports in person

her sister is going to need her passport to travel at the end of january

why on earth do people wait to the last minute - you pay a lot for a trip why not make sure you are fully prepared - these changes have been known about for over a year now

[Pavlov]

I renewed mine yesterday. It took one hour (plus ten business days). It was a very efficient process. No complaints.

[Policy Wonk]

mine expires in a few months - I am hoping the freakshow has passed by then. Can't wait to get a new picture my last one was taken while I had the flu at about 8:00 in the morning a few days after getting a bad haircut because I got a ton of paint in my hair.

I swear, some of the worst US customs dickheads actually crack a smile and chuckle at my current passport photo.

[lubicon]

Some advice - fill in the online form from the gov't website. Then, you print it off and get your guarantor to sign it (and your pic). Once you get through the original screening line at the passport office, you don't have to sit around for them to call your number - they'll send you right up to an available agent since the paperwork is done/verified online. Get there early - we went prior to the office opening at 8:30am and they opened it early (8:00am).

Totally agree. I did mine this way about 6 weeks ago in Calgary (Harry Hays). The place was packed and I went straight to the front of the line. Was probably in the office a total of 10 minutes max. Passport came in the mail about 10 days later. I was thouroughly impressed.

[The_Bachelor]

Man did I mess up. I renewed mine via mail because I didn't want to deal with the lines at the passport office, sent it Nov.17 to Gatineu. I emailed to check on it and it was supposed to be here a week ago, now I've been calling the passport office non-stop the last week and occasionally get through the busy signal and into the queue (just figured out to hit 0 to actually get in the queue instead of it saying its full and hanging up on me), it still hasn't been sent. Now here it is Jan.8 and I leave Jan.10 in the morning for the Dominican, I'm praying they can get their shit together enough to courier it to me in time.

Next time I'll obviously bite the bullet and go to the passport office, but my god I hate getting a first hand taste at how horribly run the government is. What a shitshow.

[harls]

I've got a trip to Las Vegas in April.. trying to do the online form but the site is slow as hell..

[CC420]

I don't have a passport but will need one soon. Unfortunately my Quebec birth certificate expired some how, so when I need to get one I have to apply for a new birth certificate. :koko: I learned this when I went to get a new SIN card as I had lost my old one. I know this doesnt have anything directly to do with a passport but without a non expired birth certificate I cannot get a passport. I guess they bleed ya wherever they can get you. What a crock. :pissed:

[Nouvellecosse]

I've never had a passport before. I plan on getting one in the near future, but I have no idea how...

[SpongeG]

go to the passport office pay $85 - its pretty painless

oh first you need the forms - and you need two picstures - and they ned to be signed by a guarantor - someone like a priest or a doctor - not a family member

[upinottawa]

^ of course, your guarantor can be a family member as long as that family member has known you for more than two years and is member of one of the listed professions.

[SpongeG]

i never knew that - we have always had the priest do ours

[vincebjs]

You need a guarantor that's not related to you to sign the guarantor portion of the passport form

You also need the photographer to act as a guarantor for your photos

You also need two non-family character references (can be a friend)

What a pain in the ass. I applied for one in December and I still haven't gotten it. And one has to repeat this process at least once every four and a half years (since many places will only issue visas to passports with at least 6 months of validity). At least U.S. passports are valid for 10 years and can be renewed for a lesser fee, unlike Canadian ones.

[SpongeG]

i know prior to 9/11 that Canadians could travel on expired passports to the USA for 5 years - but i don't know if that still applies

thats what i thought about the guarantoor thing - when i got mine a policeman was getting one for his daughter and the woman at the desk told him he couldn't sign it himself but he could just get a coworker to do it

[waterloowarrior]

You need a guarantor that's not related to you to sign the guarantor portion of the passport form

You also need the photographer to act as a guarantor for your photos



a relative can act an a guarantor

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

the photographer is not a guarantor, they only have their address on the back. The actual guarantor signs the back of the photo, as well as the form and supplementary ID photocopies
http://www.ppt.gc.ca/can/photos.aspx?lang=e

In your policeman example, from the Passport site, "In the case of a child, the guarantor must have known the applicant (parent or legal guardian) personally for at least two years and have knowledge of the child." One can't be a guarantor for their own under 16 child, since the parent/guardian is the person applying for the child.

[SpongeG]

no wonder Canadians don't like to get passports - lol

[tayser]

best guarantor is your chemist, easy peasy Japanesey.

I actually think 10 years is too long for validity under 30 years of age - I was 22 when I got my AUS and UK passports (now 24) and I've already changed a great deal in the photos.

[Kilgore Trout]

You need a guarantor that's not related to you to sign the guarantor portion of the passport form

You also need the photographer to act as a guarantor for your photos

You also need two non-family character references (can be a friend)

as waterloowarrior said, a relative can be a guarantor --- my dad was my guarantor (he's a professional engineer). the photographer only needs to stamp and date the photos.

[jaydee]

Oh my god! I have to renew my passport in 3 years! Should I start now? I wonder if the renewal process is easier than the application process. I've never had to renew a passport before.

[vincebjs]

If you are a Canadian citizen, then there is no such thing as passport renewal: you have to go through the entire process over again. Prepare to fork over $87 plus whatever it cost to get the photos from a professional photographer plus finding a Canadian citizen living in Canada to be your guarantor.

[elsonic]

they'll send you right up to an available agent since the paperwork is done/verified online.

you scan your forms/photos signed and your citizenship proof and then sent it to some email address before going to the office? or how else can you get this paperwork verified before showing up?

[bigcanuck]

Verified on a field level - ie. your SIN is properly formatted, you have all the required fields filled in, etc. You'll still have to print the form and take it to your guarantor to sign it (and one of your pics). There is a pre-screening line to get into the passport office - the officer out front will look through your printed form to ensure your guarantor has signed it, then you'll be let in.

[elsonic]

ok, nice to you, thank you!

[zerokarma]

Its not like this wasn't unexpected, the U.S. have been talking about doing this for a long time and has even repeatidly delayed it. If people waited till the last minute then its their own fault.

[LordMandeep]

Mine expires in April and Passport Canada told me to come back later,

[Greco Roman]

It's going to be wierd needing a passport to drive down to the twin cities :sly:

[SpongeG]

Travellers face 2-month wait for passports

Canadians scrambling to obtain passports before a March break holiday may be out of luck, with waiting times now stretching to 60 days, Passport Canada says.

Passport Canada spokeswoman Francine Charbonneau said the agency is receiving high volumes of applications, averaging about 21,000 a day. On a busy day last year, the office would have received about 13,000 applications

"At this point your only chance if you want to travel for March break is to apply in person and even that's not a guarantee because of these backlogs," she said.

If an application has recently been submitted by mail, people can call a 1-800 number to have their passport application returned to them.

In the case of an emergency such as a death in the family, illness or a last-minute businesses trip, passport officers can fast-track applications.

"It's up to the discretion of the passport officer," Charbonneau said, noting that a last-minute flight to Florida would not qualify as an urgent situation.

Print centres running round-the-clock

While the office hired 200 new officers in November to help with the deluge, they're still having trouble meeting the demand.

"We're doing everything we can," she said, noting that the office's print centres in Mississauga, Ont., and Gatineau, Que., have boosted their production.

"We are running our print centres on 24-hour clocks, which is something that's never been done before," Charbonneau said.

A U.S. law that took effect on Jan. 23, 2007, requires that all Canadians flying to the U.S. have a valid passport.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/02/09/passport-delays.html

[bayrider]

I had got my new passport a couple weeks back. The lineup at the Cote-Vertu office in Montreal was approx 4 hours. I waited about 2.5hrs in line to get a number only to wait another 1.5hrs for my number to get called.

There was an approx 20-30min wait to pick up newly issued passports.

Apparently the downtown location was worse.

This was about the 2nd week of January.