So I went to the Kitchener Passport Office yesterday, a breakdown of the experience:
- Arrived at 6:50 AM, there's parking at the back of the building it's $2 per 1/2 hour (just a FYI). There was a line already, about 15 people. The security opened the doors to the building at 7:00 AM and we were able to go inside the building and be WARM!
- We lined up and around 8:15-ish, one of the security guards for the passport office came outside and asked who had an appointment or was picking up a passport. Surprisingly i think just one lady was picking up, no one came identified they had an appointment.
- After about 5 mins the guard came back out and asked who was travelling before May 12th (my assumption was that it's to identify people travelling within 15 business days) and also confirmed we were all paying with credit card. He didn't mention anything about debit cards or cash.
- I'm travelling on May 17th, and had to join a separate line. My line was allowed to enter the office first (at around 8:25 AM) and then the before May 12th people came in like 2 mins after. There were two separate queues, I believe our line was considered "Drop Offs". The security guard was counting down to 8:30 AM lol, it was quite funny. He even did a 10 second countdown...hilarious lol.
- I was the 3rd person in my line. The process was super simple. Gave documents to the officer, he reviewed and checked that everything was good, he copied my certificate of citizenship and gave it back to me right away. You have to fill out a credit card authorization slip, basically just fill in credit card info and the amount ($120 for 5 year passport/$160 for 10 year passport). They didn't specify if the credit card needs to be in your name. There were no additional fees required.
- They didn't ask for proof of travel (hopefully he didn't forget in error lol) and he said that I will get the passport in 10 business days. I noticed that the people travelling before May 12th had to go to another window after one officer checked their docs and asked them some questions, some had to sit and wait. I assume the officers were reviewing their documents and processing payments.
- I was done by 8:38 AM and by the time I was walking out, there were about 80 - 100 people in the line.
Overall - Very simple and smooth process, the staff is super friendly and organized. Counting down my 10 business days lol, I'll provide an update when it comes in.
Hope this helps anyone thinking of going to the Kitchener office!