Birth Certificate and Passport panic

[Xanthe]

So heres the scoop. We leave on May 17th for our 15th Anniversary trip. My husband went to apply for his Passport and realized his Birth Certificate went through the washing machine and is pretty much ilegible.

We are panicked!! Please help me feel more confident about using the 5 day guaranteed Birth Certificate service through Service Canada AND that he'll get his Passport in time after that. I'm thinking 5 days for the BC and 10 for the Passport...we should be ok....right? RIGHT??

I'm trying to wrap my head around delaying our trip but I'd be really broken hearted about it.

thanks
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[irisesareblue]

You have over 30 days - you should be okay - don't worry - as Nike says, JUST DO IT! Pay the extra money and get the quick service options and you should be fine.

 

[almacdonald]

if you can go into a passport office in person, it takes less than 10 business days to get your passport, that's their regular service. You've got plenty of time (just don't waste any of it!)

 

[Salinger]

Agreed, you'll be fine.

Do the passport application on line. You can't submit it online, but it will notify you of any errors or omissions.

Print it out and bring it in person to your local passport office along with your photos/documents. Because you've done it online, when you check in, they'll skip you to the front of the line (ahead of those who just walked in with manually completed forms).

There'll be a sign that says "if you submit your application today, you will receive your passport on <date>". As mentioned, it'll be 10 days, but in all likelihood, you'll get it well before that.

If you're concerned that might be cutting it too close, just pay the rush fee, and you'll have it in no time.

 

[greenclan67]

I will try to reassure you. We (my hubby and I) had the exact same problem. We sent our passports away 2nd week of Jan, they were mailed on the same day, and we both got them back. His was returned on thurs, and I got online and did his 5 day birth certificate, and I had it back by Tues. I had mine returned on the Tues he got his, and had to do the same thing. I had my birth certificate on Monday.
Now as far as the passport goes, we live 6 hours to the closest passport office, which is Brampton. We went to the passport office in Brampton on Feb 12th, we were crossing the border on March 7th. So I wanted to pay the extra to do the 10 day service, and she said there was no need, we would have them back within 2 weeks. I was freaking out because we were flying in less then a month. We had our passports back on Feb 25th. No word of a lie. I would ask them when you go about paying for the speedy service, but I know the Brampton office was doesn't do expedited ones, you have to go to the Toronto one for that. I will tell you how wonderful the Brampton office was, we didn't even get in our seats after getting our numbers in our hand. We were in and out in 15 mins.
So it was less then 2 weeks and they were delivered to my doorstep.
Good luck!

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Actually, even if you don't pay for the expedited Birth Certificate, as long as everything is correct in the application you submit, you would probably have it in 5 days anyways. They're very quick. But, for peace of mind, you probably want to pay! LOL

Just make sure you don't leave anything out - especially the guarantor info. That will hold it up for sure.

Don't panic, you'll get everything together in time!

 

[Xanthe]

Thank you so much everyone, I feel a lot better. I submitted the online Birth Certificate request today and paid the extra $$ for the 5 day guaranteed to the door service. I figure we'll have it by next Thursday (April 15) so we can apply for Passports on the Friday (April 17) so we should (all fingers crossed!!) we'll have the passports before the end of the first week of May.

Phew....learned a VERY VALUABLE lesson on this one!! Never procrastinate on Government forms.

Thanks
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