Since America made it a bit of a law that Canadians flying to the USA need to produce a passport before they enter, the line-ups at Canadian Passport offices have been ridiculously long. You now can expect to wait for only a couple of hours in line. Thats after it became normal to wait for four, five, or six hours in line.
Well, this morning, Lauralea and I arrived at the Saskatoon Passport Office at 8:45am. I dropped her off and drove around the corner to find some parking.
I arrived in the fourth floor office five minutes later and as I entered the room I saw 10 or 20 people there in the line up. I looked for Lauralea but couldn't see her in the line anywhere. I turned and looked to the left and there she was, already at the counter on the left side of the room.
Seems that when you do your application online, and go down to the offices, you get moved to the front of the line!
Both our applications were processed and we were out of the office by 9:05 am. In three weeks the little booklets should arrive at our doorstep.
Let me encourage you, work through the online application process, it's easy and quick and will result in you going to the front of the line.
It's good to see my Tax dollars at work in a good way for a change.
Good to hear. I'll be down there in a week or so.
ReplyDelete"Since America made it a bit of a law that Canadians flying to the USA need to produce a passport before they enter, the line-ups at Canadian Passport offices have been ridiculously long."
ReplyDeleteIt's all a part of our economic stimulation program -- get Canadians back to work. If they are working they are less of a threat to us in the United States of Paranoia. Obviously, employment opportunities at the Passport Office now abound. So the strategy must be working.
If it is an consolation, US citizens arriving from such foreign destinations as Canada are now required to produce a passport, too. I hear that it's having about the same affect in our system as it is in yours -- log-jam!
glad the process went smoothly, i was thinking about you two yesterday morning and hoping you got through the queue fast enough for Lauralea to get her flight on time.
ReplyDeleteI was also thinking about you two and hoping everything went smoothly. I benefited from the net in filling out my info for my eye exam before I left. They handed me a clipboard with forms to fill out & I told them to check their system for my info. I was the first person to use it but unfortunately no prize for me. :)
ReplyDeleteOoh that's encouraging. I don't fear the task as much now. It's our turn to process all 6!
ReplyDeleteI was a bit curious to see how long your wait would be. I did the stupid thing by mailing in my passport in early January for a March departure.... after 8 weeks and they hadn't even started on it. I redid the application, reapplied for all my ID, did the form online and went to Regina (five days before my plane left). Unlike the hand written applications that were there for hours, I was there only an hour.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if the lineups and waiting times had gone down at all.
My faith in the system that caused me many tears and frustration was restored, my passport was ready for pick up on Friday, just in time to catch my plane to the States. Still just a little disgruntled I had to pay extra for that to occur, but I was very happy I was able to leave like planned.
I even wrote an e-mail to Passport Canada to thank the ladies in Regina. They were a friendly bunch in a job I'm sure that was difficult (at least from the abuse I overheard them take, I felt sorry for them.)
I am glad you got yours Tara. I can't imagine a more miserable week than sitting at home on a week of holidays that's been paid for already but I can't go because my passport didn't come through.
ReplyDeleteYep, it's better now.
Brad, one of these days we are going to have to have a chat. I'm curious how the homeland is viewed by your average, uh, Guamwanian...