Passports taking a pretty long time!

[crazymama]

Heads up to those ordering passports. We sent our forms away in early October and, finally, yesterday 2 out of 4 arrived. I did it on my own as we don't have a real passport office here. I was just starting to sweat that something was really wrong... like they didn't even get the forms. They say that they try to have them processed in something like 21 working days but ours certainly took longer. Now I just hope the other two show up without a problem. We are driving into the states so don't absolutely need them but, unfortunately, when you have to send away your birth certificate, you are kind of hooped! I checked them over a million times but, you never know when they are going to reject a picture etc. We don't need them for a couple of months yet so I am not overly worried... yet.

 

[nosnobunny2006]

Wow! Mine is due to be renewed next November and my DH and I were thinking if we sent them off in August or September we'd be OK. Maybe we'll have to re-think this. I don't really want to do it too soon because you don't get any credit for the time left. I wish we'd go to the 10 year passports like the US.

Beth

 

[Pokemom]

I sent our applications in the mail the middle of October and we received our passports the middle of November. Not sure why yours are taking so long. The rush should die down early next year, so you should be safe for next summer nosnobunny.

 

[toesmom]

We mailed ours in with our Air Canada itinerary (flight leaves january 23). Figure passport office prefers mailed in applications with everything in place (including expired passports/birth certificates etc) and bypass actual people who ask too many questions at passport office.

If you've included everything as required, should be fairly straightforward to process the application. If something's missing or incorrect, they'll just mail it back to you.

Says 20 working days, checked online and they still maintain should be 20 working days. Not sure what problem was with your passport, maybe they were checking references, maybe for some reason it was misplaced on desk and found under other items, who knows. At least you've received it.

Passport office suggest you mail it unless you need it within immediate time.

 

[runner26.2]

I dropped my application of at the Whitby office on a Monday in early October and my passport was in my mailbox that Friday. If you live in the GTA and can get to the Whitby office I'd recommend it. There is rarely a line up.

 

[wee-haggis]

I dropped my application of at the Whitby office on a Monday in early October and my passport was in my mailbox that Friday. If you live in the GTA and can get to the Whitby office I'd recommend it. There is rarely a line up.

I can second that. I got mine in a few days (exactly when they said).
I can easily say that the Whitby office is one of the most well organized,efficiently run Government Office I've ever been in !....and thats saying something!

 

[Sillyminny40]

DO the passports online if you are going into the Passport office. Once you arrive there, you are very quickly processed. Passports are ready and mailed in less than 3 weeks. Childrens' passports can be printed out and manually done and you can still go in the online line as long as you have one or more online passport printouts in hand.

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Last time I dealt with the scarborough passport office. The line ups were incredible. I'll be heading out to whitby next time. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[jburns]

I 2nd and 3rd that. I've been dealing with the Scarborough office for a few years and I could barely stand the line-up. Went to Whitby this time and I was in and out in 10 minutes and my passports should be here just after X-mas.

 

[Lizziejane]

There was an article in the paper today about passports. They were requesting that people who do not have an immediate need for a passport to please not apply right now. They're swamped. I can't recall the numbers they quoted for received applications, but they were staggering! Apparently, a whole lot of people applied after 9/11 because of new security measures. All those people need to renew their passports now and are doing just that. Add the people who now need a passport for January onwards, and you have a mess!

 

[justjulie]

I have to agree the Whitby office was great. The best part is they check your ID and hand it right back to you - you're never without your birth certificate.

If you are within travelling distance, use that location.

 

[trivial]

My wife and I dropped our applications off at the St. Catharine's office around mid-October, and we got our passports in about 2 weeks.