How Long Did It Take To Get Your Passport? Poll

[pampam]

Is there a toll free # to check the status of our applications?

 

[mjf]

Is there a toll free # to check the status of our applications?

1-800-567-6868. Expect to get a lot of busy signals. And, even when you do get through, they only have 20 spots in the queue and that is often full so they end up hanging up on you and asking you to call back.

MJF

 

[mjf]

We mailed in our son's application around December 11th-12th. It was received at the passport office on December 14th.

I got a call today (Feb 7th) saying that it was mailed yesterday and should arrive today by registered mail.

Cutting it a little close. We leave next Tuesday... Feb 13th!

MJF

 

[jwood]

After reading some of these posts,I feel extremely lucky

we applied Jan 11th then had a rejected guarantor ,returned them on January 17th again.Received them on January 27th. We did not pay to have them expedited or anything.Just the usual fees for 2 adults and 2 teens

 

[RainbowGirl]

We applied Jan 22 at the Whitby office. We had 2 rejected photos which we quickly retook and resubmitted (thankfully bypassing the lineup) a couple of days later. Our passports arrived Priority Post today (Feb 7).

 

[jwood]

gotta love the Whitby office.......ours was at the Whitby office too!

 

[mamatojade]

I dropped my dd's application at the receiving agent on December 20th and they opened the file on Feb 1. I had to spend nearly $100 getting a rush birth certificate as I need another one to register DD for kindergarten and they thought that it would be back to me in time, but couldn't guarantee it. :-(

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I read in the newspaper today that the passport office received 460,000 applications last month. On the busiest days, they received 21,000 applications per day.

How many employees do they have processing applications? How many can each employee process per day? Knowing these numbers will tell us if the backlog is growing or shortening.

My parents applied for passports last weekend and their estimated date is April 11th.

 

[mickeywho?]

I dropped my dd's application at the receiving agent on December 20th and they opened the file on Feb 1. I had to spend nearly $100 getting a rush birth certificate as I need another one to register DD for kindergarten and they thought that it would be back to me in time, but couldn't guarantee it. :-(

Did your school have a max # they would take for JK registrants? Our school begins registration in January but will take new children right up until the first day of school in Sept and even throughout the school year - kids move all the time into the school. You may have spent $100 in a panic that wasn't necesssary.

 

[mamatojade]

Did your school have a max # they would take for JK registrants? Our school begins registration in January but will take new children right up until the first day of school in Sept and even throughout the school year - kids move all the time into the school. You may have spent $100 in a panic that wasn't necesssary.

Yes, the max number is 21, since there are five siblings of children already in the program (we are doing Montessori public school) they will only take 16 new registrants. I will be at the school at 5:30 PM the evening before to spend the night in the line-up. So, no, it was not "a panic that wasn't necessary".

 

[mom_rules]

Read an article today in "Today's Executive" -MP's are getting lambasted because of all of this. The article stated that passport application mailed in November would be processed by the end of February

That is really sad considering they knew exactly what would happen.

 

[disneyfan2]

And it will only get worse later this year, when everyone will need one to go to USA, land or plane!!!

 

[Candid]

I just called to check on the status of our applications and was told they just started processing applications from December 22.

 

[excitedfamily]

My kids and my applications arrived by courier December 11th. I am still waiting to receive them!!!!
The good news is that my visa card was charged on January 31st for all 3, so I'm assuming they will arrive soon????

 

[mom_rules]

On the news this morning-Good news is they are apparently working "around the clock" to get caught up. They had a 60% increase in applications that they were not prepared for. Bad news is they still say it could take up to 2 months to process.

 

[nflder]

I have to say -we didn't run into any problems in St. John's:
Applied at the Passport Office on January 22nd (waited an hour and 10 mins)
Received our Passports 10 working days later on February 5th.

Best bet from what I can see is to drop it off at the office if at all possible.

 

[Candid]

I have to say -we didn't run into any problems in St. John's:
Applied at the Passport Office on January 22nd (waited an hour and 10 mins)
Received our Passports 10 working days later on February 5th.

Best bet from what I can see is to drop it off at the office if at all possible.

That was my original plan, until I found out that there was a wait of approximately 4 hours at the Halifax Office at the time when I was submitting our applications.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...09/passports_delay_070209/20070209?hub=Canada

Canadians waiting up to two months for passports
Updated Fri. Feb. 9 2007 7:37 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

So many Canadians are scrambling to apply for passports that officials say you may have to wait up to two months to get the travel document.

The Passport Canada office is averaging 21,000 applications a day -- over 60 per cent more than the system is designed to handle, according to a report.

Passport Canada spokeswoman Francine Charbonneau told The Globe and Mail that if you haven't sent your application in yet, you won't get your passport in time for the fast-approaching holiday break.

"It's been tight," Charbonneau told the newspaper. "So if you haven't sent in your application yet, you're not going to get a passport back in time for March break."

Two hundred front-line officers were hired in November to handle the crush.

In addition, the agency's two printing presses in Mississauga, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec are operating round-the-clock.

Passport Canada hasn't seen an influx of applications like this since the months following the Sept. 11, terror attacks, Charbonneau told The Globe.

And even then, she said, the wait wasn't as long.

Passport officers have begun suggesting to panicked travellers who have already sent in their original documents to ask that the agency send their application and original birth certificate back to them.

The agency guarantees that if the person making the application pays for the cost of delivery, the documents will be sent back within 15 days.

Then, they can go into a passport office in person and ask for an urgent passport for another $70.

Or they can request a second birth certificate -- which could take as much as 15 days -- and take that with them into the passport office.

Under a new U.S. law that took effect Jan. 23, Canadians and Americans must show a passport when flying to the United States.

That requirement will extend to land-based travellers in 2009.

 

[DanaLR]

This is a sore spot with me but once I have the passports in hand I will forget about it.

We waited in line for almost 8 hours in the pouring rain at the Victoria Passport Office one day and was at the door of the office building (not inside) only to be told that we weren't getting in. We had our daughter with us and had her out of school for the day . Thought she had to be there in person to apply. Heard people in the line talking about children not needing to be there and took my chances and went a few days later without her this time.
We tried again on January 26. Got up at 3am (we live over an hour away) and was at the Victoria Passport Office at 4:45am. There were about 40 people lined up in the dark already!
Anyways, we got them done. We were out of the building by 10:30am. It was a long day and quite cold (but not raining)!
We could pay $10 per passport to pick them up at the Passport Office in Victoria on March 2nd or have them registered mailed to us. I am having it mailed because it has cost so much in gas/time off work/parking fees.

This trip to WDW was a surprise trip for my daughter from Grandma. She is taking my daughter and well me of course too. She told me about the trip the week before we lined up at the passport office. So, no, I didn't wait until the last minute. Sometimes surprises and these once in a lifetime things just happen. It just happened to be at a bad time.

We are leaving for Vancouver to fly out on the 17th of March.

Crossing fingers/toes that they come in time.

 

[pta-mom]

Funny you should ask!!! I went this morning to the downtown passport office in Ottawa, arriving in line at 6:15am. I had a lovely conversation with the lady next to me for an hour (Hello Rose!) Doors opened at 7:30am whereby I was given ticket #A0020 & made my way into the waiting room. I was served at 7:45, finishing at 8:10 (three passports to process!), walked by approx 200 people now standing in line (thinking, you poor buggers!) & exited the building at 8:20, arriving home again before 9:00am!

The passport lady assured me that my passports would arrive via registered mail prior to March 7 even though the news on the local radio station this morning said that Passport Canada is issuing an advisory that no passport applications not already there, will be processed in time for Ottawa's March Break! Either way, doesn't much matter to me....I need it for September!!

Good luck to all my fellow Dis'ers...I truly hope you all get your passports in time & that you have awesome trips!!