Need help from fellow Canadians!

[Payd]

This is a bit harsh :(

 

As you know our passports cost almost $90 for a 5 year term. Our family of 5 just renewed and it cost me over $500 inc. pick up fees etc.

 

The annoying thing is that I can't use a 5 year passport for the full 5 years as it has to be valid for 6 months after your travel date. Our passports expired in July 07 yet we had to renew in early 07 due to time delays for our June cruise, even though the passports would have been valid for a month after our return to Canada from our upcoming cruise.

 

I understand that we don't need a passport to cross the border by car and fly out from the US.

 

I would recommend that you go to your passport office for assistance in person. The manager there requested our passports be returned from Gatineau and then they were processed in the office and we had them in a week from start to finish.

 

Best of Luck :)

 

I got another call from the MP's office. We are investigating a file transfer to either Calgary or Edmonton. Passport Canada is recommending we hold off on transfer. In the meantime I will be filling out new applications and preparing to apply for an urgent passport at the end of next week.

 

Your right about the 6 month after travel thing. It's tough to really call it a 5 year passport, when in your case it has become a 4.5 year passport.

 

Thanks for your advice.

 

Payd:)

[Payd]

What I would like to know is why you waited so long to get your passports? The news was around for almost a year that the changes were coming and by the number of cruises you were on it was obvious that sometime you might need a passport. Why complain now?

 

As soccerfan said - this really is a harsh reply. Makes me wonder if you really read my posts. My husband and I do have passports. We are talking about passports for the children. We applied before booking our holiday to Orlando.

 

Why complain now?? Well I am complaining because at the time of application Passport Canada was still reporting 20 days processing although they were also reporting a sharp increase in volume. I am complaining because I have allowed three times the normal processing and the report was that they would likely not be here. Maybe as taxpayers we should be asking the government why they were unprepared for the volume increase. By the way I checked online with the Government of Canada job availabilty and although I could apply for dozens of openings with the Department of Defense not one opening for Passport Canada.

 

I have appreciated the support from the posters on this thread, they really seem to understand the stress and emotion of this situation.

 

Why can't you?:confused:

 

Payd

[hockeyluver]

Our passports expire March 08 when we are going on our next cruise, this summer I plan on renewing one passport a month.

[cpbodnar]

Just as a point of interest, I applied for our passports at the beginning of March and 1 of them (child's) appeared at the end of March, and the other two arrrived last week. I am from Edmonton, and I went down to Canada Place, from my experience I would NOT go first thing in the morning, as I think everyone thinks "I should go early...."; I went at 12:30 pm and was in and out in 20-30 minutes. I guess the other important part of applying for a passport is do it ONLINE. It saves a ton of time waiting in line. As for how long it takes to get your passports after, I'm not sure....

[alberta41]

Thanks for keeping us informed...I really want to hear how this gets resolved. I have gotten such excellent information from the boards and yes sometimes people can be rude, I don't understand why they just don't keep it to themselves instead of posting such rude relpies. Please give us an update as soon as hear anything....

[Payd]

I finally have some good news.

 

I spent over an hour holding for a Passport Canada operator late yesterday afternoon:eek: .

 

I found out the passports were sent out Monday to Ottawa (not sure if this is because I applied through MP's office or if it is normal) and then Ottawa to Winnipeg on Tuesday. They should leave Winnipeg today and arrive in Alberta on Monday or Tuesday.

 

To all of you that offered excellent suggestions, advice and support - THANK YOU

Now we can relax (other than work and packing to go away)!

 

Payd:)

[KruznKel]

I finally have some good news.

 

I spent over an hour holding for a Passport Canada operator late yesterday afternoon:eek: .

 

I found out the passports were sent out Monday to Ottawa (not sure if this is because I applied through MP's office or if it is normal) and then Ottawa to Winnipeg on Tuesday. They should leave Winnipeg today and arrive in Alberta on Monday or Tuesday.

 

To all of you that offered excellent suggestions, advice and support - THANK YOU

 

Now we can relax (other than work and packing to go away)!

 

Payd:)

 

Glad to hear it all worked out for you.. have a great vacation;) :)

[Soccerfan]

Great News, Have a wonderful trip :D

[alberta41]

Im so happy for you....I bet you are estatic!!! Let us know when you actually have them in your hands!!!!

Karen

[jmcancruise]

Just a note on flying from the U.S. We fly from Bangor which is 2 hours away. To Miami it is a cost of about 300 return per. If we fly out of Fredericton it would cost about 800 return per. The extra hour drive is certainly worth it. Fortunatly we already have our passports from a previous cruise. But beware. Don't get to the airport without your passports, cruise documents, disney tickets, car rental papers etc. Fortunatly they were in our car glove compartment 15 minutes away at our hotel, and a good samaritan got us there and back just in time for our flight. So, passports are no good if you don't take them with you.

[Karysa]

So glad you passed on the good news now I can uncross my fingers!:)

[traveller123]

Payd, glad to hear your good news. Now you can get set to enjoy your vacation!

 

My passport application was received in Gatineau on February 6th and I've yet to hear anything regarding it. Knowing you are about to receive yours gives me hope that maybe I'll get mine in the next week, or so. If I don't have it by the first week in May, I'll need to hit the panic button.

 

Have a wonderful trip....

[dianepm]

If you apply for a passport in person, do you have to pick it up in person? I live in northern New Brunswick and it's a four hour drive to Fredericton. I am going this summer some time and I figured I'd just apply in person. I'm going on a cruise to the Med in June 2008 so that should (operative word is should) be enough time.

[KruznKel]

If you apply for a passport in person, do you have to pick it up in person? I live in northern New Brunswick and it's a four hour drive to Fredericton. I am going this summer some time and I figured I'd just apply in person. I'm going on a cruise to the Med in June 2008 so that should (operative word is should) be enough time.

 

 

No you do not have to pick it up in person.. it will be mailed to you. If you are not home you will have to pick it up at the post office with proper ID.

[Payd]

If you apply for a passport in person, do you have to pick it up in person? I live in northern New Brunswick and it's a four hour drive to Fredericton. I am going this summer some time and I figured I'd just apply in person. I'm going on a cruise to the Med in June 2008 so that should (operative word is should) be enough time.

 

Irishnewfie is right - even if you apply in person you can have it mailed to your home address. The only time you need to pick up in person is when applying for an urgent passport. Applying this soon should be a "guarantee"!

 

Payd:)

[CruisinGrams]

What I would like to know is why you waited so long to get your passports? The news was around for almost a year that the changes were coming and by the number of cruises you were on it was obvious that sometime you might need a passport. Why complain now?

__________________

How rude! We had passports that expired at the end of December and also in January however we needed them for travel over Christmas. We applied for our passports in January. Unfortunately we had planned to drive to Calgary and wait for the 5-6 hours initially but when my husband could not get the time off to go un on a weekday, we had to send them by courier in late January. We should have received them by now! I tried tracing on the website - no response for 10 days. They finally phoned on Friday but I missed the call by 2 minutes, tried calling back immediately but there were over 25 people in the queue ahead of me after waiting 45 minutes I had to leave. What I don't get is the fact that Parliament did not think to allow Passport Canada to do an administrative renewal for all passports expiring in 2007 so that they only had to deal with new applications during this busy time. We need them for our Sons wedding on the Victory on May 20 however I put May 1st as a deadline. I am getting really worried about this and time is running out. I will try to call them again tomorrow and if there is no information, I guess I will have no other choice but to contact my MP - but I doubt that he would take this seriously considering they have more pressing issued in Ottawa.

 

The people to blame are the paranoid people in Washington, dictating to the world and you can bet that the people they want to keep out can always find ways around the rules and a getting passport would not stop them anyway, they are the lowest scum of the earth and have no respect for rules, regulations or procedures. The rules are not Canadian rules, we are just caught up in the aftermath of terrorism and unfortunately the Canadian government was not prepared for the increase in applications.

So for may of us, it is not our fault for not applying early it is Ottawa for not getting their head out of their butts and realizing this is a serious problem for Canadians. Even though we can drive across the border and fly from a US Airport, we will need the passport when we return to the US from the cruise. Wait - maybe I would have to stay on the cruise ship, hmmm not a bad idea.... Thanks for letting me vent!!!

[tomko2]

Our passports expire March 08 when we are going on our next cruise, this summer I plan on renewing one passport a month.

 

 

Please keep us posted on how things go. Our passports expire in August 2008. I wanted to renew them this fall after our Med. cruise and before we go to Florida in November for the winter (we can be flexible on when we leave for Florida). My concern is that business about travel within six months of passports expiring. Is this a fact? Who's rule is it?

We have a cruise to Alaska booked for next June. Our passports will be within two months of expiring. :eek:

I checked the Passport Canada website and it says you can't renew your Passports more than six months in advance of the expiry date.

Kinda feel like I am in a Catch-22 situation.

Any advice more than welcome.

Thank you.

Kathy

[hockeyluver]

I think I am going to do ours this summer 2 at a time hopefully they wont make me wait till September ,even though I think we should be ok. If I have to wait till 6 months before they expire it also puts us in the six month trap. Our passports expire March 08 mine and 2 dd's, my dh's expires in May 08. Even though his will still be valid for the cruise in March 08 do I need to have his done for then or can it wait??? :confused: Did you know that we cant just renew them, we have to apply just as if we were getting a new one.

[CruisinGrams]

Update! I have been on the phone since 5 am this morning (local) time just trying to get a window when I can actually connect. No such luck. I even tried from work but their queue is full or you get a busy signal. All I can recommend is apply as early as possible (which we pretty much did). I know they are setting up more locations to drop off the applications but to my knowledge there are still only limited locations that actually process the applications. I love having a passport we carried one even before they were required but this is darn frustrating.

[hockeyluver]

We also enjoy having them since we live on the border it is so much easier to get across. We live across from Detroit and do alot of shopping there.

[Payd]

Im so happy for you....I bet you are estatic!!! Let us know when you actually have them in your hands!!!!

Karen

 

They are now in my hands!! My son was excited to see his (as excited as a 13 year old can get) and my daughter will get to see hers after her school sports are over for the day.

 

I did have a chance to speak to our MP in person on Saturday to pass on our thanks to his staff that helped us through the process. Of course he is blaming the Liberal government for getting us into the passport mess, I just asked him as the current government to stop blaming and work on fixing it.

 

Anyway, all is well that ends well.

 

Once again to Karen and all of the others who replied to my post, thank you for your advice, tips and support.

 

We are 9 days from our trip to Florida!!

 

Payd:)

[Payd]

I tried tracing on the website - no response for 10 days. They finally phoned on Friday but I missed the call by 2 minutes, tried calling back immediately but there were over 25 people in the queue ahead of me after waiting 45 minutes I had to leave. What I don't get is the fact that Parliament did not think to allow Passport Canada to do an administrative renewal for all passports expiring in 2007 so that they only had to deal with new applications during this busy time. We need them for our Sons wedding on the Victory on May 20 however I put May 1st as a deadline. I am getting really worried about this and time is running out. I will try to call them again tomorrow and if there is no information, I guess I will have no other choice but to contact my MP - but I doubt that he would take this seriously considering they have more pressing issued in Ottawa.

So for may of us, it is not our fault for not applying early it is Ottawa for not getting their head out of their butts and realizing this is a serious problem for Canadians.

 

I also tried the tracking on the passport Canada website (over a week ago) and didn't get a response. If I remember correctly the site says you may not get a reply for up to 5 days. Obviously 5 days have come and gone for both of us.

 

I like your idea of the administrative renewal on passports - I hope it is being considered by government.

 

We listed a travel date of April 1 which was two months after submitting our application. Just picked them up at the post office this morning (although it sounds like our carrier didn't attempt home delivery - causing another delay). I really hope your travel date of May 1st has them working to complete your passport on time.

 

You might want to consider contacting your MP. As a constituent your MP should be worried about things most pressing to you - remember you are the MP's boss!

 

If all of that fails - investigate the "Urgent Passport Application". It will require that you fill out all forms again, provide new pictures, provide birth certificate and ID, show proof of travel (itinerary of flight or cruise - this must include confirmation that the trip has been paid for). Also my understanding is that each applicant must appear in person to do this ( I was given conflicting messages on my children appearing in person, one said yes, another said no the parent is the applicant). Also all must appear in person a day or two later to pick up the passports. All a hassle I hope you aren't subjected to!

 

Best of luck - my fingers are crossed again!

 

Payd:)

[CruisinGrams]

Well after the very rude conversation yesterday at Passport Canada, I did manage to find my Priority Post receipt for tracking purposes late last night after I got home from work (midnight). I called at 5:30 ESDT today and waitrd in the queue for another 25 minutes. I talked to a really polite lady, who actually seemed to have some sympathy for my plight. She checked the delivery date to their office using the tracking number and advised that today (April 24th) they were just starting to work on applications received on February 12th, so the February 14th batch would not be started until Friday or Monday. She suggested that they transfer our application to Calgary and took all the information. By 11:00 this morning I had a call from Passport Canada in Calgary. They said we could wait for the transfer but there was no way of knowing when it would actually arrive or we could start a whole new application and come to the Calgary office as soon as it is ready. So thanks to a system that obviously does not work, we will have to pay over $75.00 to get new birth certificates (thank goodness we were both born in Alberta), new photos, and have to track down our guarantor once again. She said she did not know how long it would take for them to be processed but said it shouldn't take more than 2 weeks max. I have heard it usually takes about a week, so I am hopeful. I just have to provide proof of travel, which hasn't arrived from the cruise company in Vancouver (group wedding trip booked by my son & his fiance) but I hope they accept the itinerary that was sent several months ago, as that is all I have right now. Oh, and we both have to take a day off of work too and still stand in line to be served in Calgary, but I understand that the lineups are only about 1.5 hours now instead of the 4-6 in February. We leave Medicine Hat for our cruise on May 18th and until those precious little blue books are in my hand I will continue to worry.

 

So, anyone who is even thinking of applying for a passport - do it well in advance (months if necessary). When we applied in early February it was only a 4-6 week wait, they have had it for 10 weeks and haven't even started.

 

The Calgary passport office said they currently have 300,000 passport applications to process and the mail just keeps bringing more every day. Now what was that saying "your failure to plan should not make a crisis for me" The Canadian Government certainly dropped the ball and have only recently started opening additional offices to accept applications to make sure that they are 100% accurate, but they are not processing them.

 

Good luck to everyone else who has to make an application.

[samickgirl]

Are all the provinces experiencing these problems, or is it just out west? My brother and his fiance applied about 6 weeks ago here in ontario, and received theirs in just under 3 weeks. They are going on their honeymoon May 12 and I thought the wait would be much longer. Apparantly in certain post offices they are also accepting passport applications, they hired a whack of people to do this I hear. The governments lack of preparedness has been bashed lately in the news too. So this is definetly a serious problem for many. Not fair to you to have to dish out more money, but we are Canadian, we grin and bear it!

[alberta41]

Your Welcome...I'm just glad that you have your passports...Have a wonderful time on your vacation!!!!!