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Canadian Passport - Mail-In Application Timelines

tco23

Star Member
Jun 1, 2016
70
29
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Hong Kong/Gatineau
LANDED..........
11-04-2017
Oh we applied around the same time! Which Service Canada did you apply at? I applied in Ottawa, which might be the slowest. I know people who applied in Brampton in the last month and got theirs in 2 weeks!
it can vary a lot. I heard someone made it in 2 weeks visiting Newmarket for a renewal.
I am myself in Toronto still waiting for my passport to be printed since last week, some 6 months after.
Yes. Join us here:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/canadian-passport-in-person-timeline.748892/
I submitted an online passport status request 9 days ago and still no response. I called them today and was told my application is still in progress and pending approval. Applied at Service Canada on Sept 26.
I sent 1+ requests back in July, 2+ months after my mailing of application in late April, and the answer "your application is being processed" was sent to me in late October before the above message that my passport was approved by the end of Oct.

In my original country, passports in early 2010s were all... pre-printed, and it only took officers to laminate a bio page (of cos, security features included) to make a passport whole, and I got mine in 2 days. Compare that to our average "17 weeks" and my extreme case "199 days" and counting.
 

DimT44

Hero Member
Apr 5, 2021
944
332
I mailed my passport application at around the same time as you, and I got my Certificate back since early August.

My application has been 17 weeks, so I called the 1-866 number.

Turned out my file was pending on my choice to choose something on my passport, but NO ONE from Passport Canada had called me over the past 8 weeks. I wasn't missing any documents nor filled out anything wrong.

And now they said they may charge an additional $45 to transfer to the local office if I need the passport soon.

Ridiculous...


I do applaud them for asking me to choose something on my passport though.
I'm curious what they were waiting for you to choose, can you please share this?
 

tco23

Star Member
Jun 1, 2016
70
29
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Hong Kong/Gatineau
LANDED..........
11-04-2017
it can vary a lot. I heard someone made it in 2 weeks visiting Newmarket for a renewal.
My last update for now: After the call last Mon, my passport was issued on 1 Nov, the next day, and mailed to me today. From the date of acknowledgement, it took 200 days for me to obtain a new and first passport.

Meanwhile, I thanked the MP office again for its intervention which I think helped. In fact, i could have sought help earlier.
 
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Alex12318

Newbie
Apr 10, 2018
5
2
Anyone still not receiving the citizenship certificate after receiving the passport? I am worried that they forget to send back the citizenship certificate to me.

My case:
  • Mail application arrives at Gatineau on August 5, 2022.
  • Passport received (via Xpresspost) on October 13, 2022.
  • Citizenship certificate not yet returned to me as at November 2, 2022.
Update: My citizenship cert has finally come back to me.
 
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canvis2006

Champion Member
Dec 27, 2009
2,383
309
Toronto
Visa Office......
Paris, France
NOC Code......
FC4 - PGP
App. Filed.......
May 2009
Doc's Request.
March 2012
File Transfer...
Jan. 2013
Med's Request
May 2013
Passport Req..
July 2013
VISA ISSUED...
August 2013
LANDED..........
Sept 2013
My last update for now: After the call last Mon, my passport was issued on 1 Nov, the next day, and mailed to me today. From the date of acknowledgement, it took 200 days for me to obtain a new and first passport.

Meanwhile, I thanked the MP office again for its intervention which I think helped. In fact, i could have sought help earlier.
Glad u finally got it. What a shitshow its been for so many. Specially by mail-in applications

this is why i almost always would prefer to apply in person even if means getting a train/bus/air ticket
 
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sss82

Star Member
Oct 12, 2014
85
6
Category........
Visa Office......
Warsaw, Poland(originally NDVO)
NOC Code......
2172
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
9-Oct-2014
Nomination.....
16-Jan-2015-PER
AOR Received.
25-Feb-2015
I Applied for my family of 3. I got the citizenship certificate back in 3 separate mails and each had a paper in it with a hand written numberlike Lxxxxxx. Would this number beginning with L be the passport number. And how much time after receiving the citizenship certificate, can i expect to get the passports. Timeline below -

Application received at Gatineau office - Oct 25
Credit card charged - Oct 31
Citizenship cert mailed back - Nov 8
 

pnaran14

Hero Member
Jan 11, 2017
253
272
Category........
FAM
Visa Office......
India
App. Filed.......
18-Apr-2017
Doc's Request.
25-May-2017
AOR Received.
17-05-2017
File Transfer...
07-06-2017
Med's Request
18-05-2017
Med's Done....
22-05-2017
Passport Req..
15-Jan-2018
VISA ISSUED...
20-Nov-2018
LANDED..........
26-Nov-2018
Hey, First of all, thank you so much for responding. Yeah, absolutely. I always use Fedex or Canada Post. This time, for some god forsaken reason, I used UPS as it was very close to my place. A big mistake, indeed!

Anyway, I already paid and attached the receipt with the application as there was an online payment option. so I did not have the choice of getting alerted and had to rely on UPS for delivery alerts :(

W.r.t Getting in touch with IRCC, whenever I call them at 1-888-242-2100, I am listening to their hold music for an hour or so and then it hangs up on me. I want to withdraw the application too once I confirm that the certificate is on its way.

What is the best number to reach them? Has anyone got lucky reaching them?

Hey I got my citizenship certificate and passport back. I also withdrew my proof of certification application. So I am pretty much done :D

Thanks a lot to everyone who answered and helped me with my questions :)
 
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janklaas

Member
Jun 13, 2019
18
4
Applied beginning of July…called today, process was still under review ( or whatever they call it ) .Something or someone f*cked up , will be transferred to passport service office, should be ready for pickup in about a week. Bottomline : the girl at the phone was very friendly and helpful but the passport administration is total crap and very inefficient.
now I have to travel 100 km and probably wait a couple of hours to pick up my passport where it should have been sent by mail weeks ago ! And I paid $160 for this crappy service !!!! they should reimburse me for all the trouble.
Whoever is responsible for this administration should be voted out of office!
 

canvis2006

Champion Member
Dec 27, 2009
2,383
309
Toronto
Visa Office......
Paris, France
NOC Code......
FC4 - PGP
App. Filed.......
May 2009
Doc's Request.
March 2012
File Transfer...
Jan. 2013
Med's Request
May 2013
Passport Req..
July 2013
VISA ISSUED...
August 2013
LANDED..........
Sept 2013
Applied beginning of July…called today, process was still under review ( or whatever they call it ) .Something or someone f*cked up , will be transferred to passport service office, should be ready for pickup in about a week. Bottomline : the girl at the phone was very friendly and helpful but the passport administration is total crap and very inefficient.
now I have to travel 100 km and probably wait a couple of hours to pick up my passport where it should have been sent by mail weeks ago ! And I paid $160 for this crappy service !!!! they should reimburse me for all the trouble.
Whoever is responsible for this administration should be voted out of office!
It just could be that Gatineau is very inefficient and unable to handle a huge number of applications
 

Lsingh2212

Star Member
Jun 8, 2022
84
66
Passport application for newborn
Application Mailed on 14th oct
Received by pp office 17 oct
payment processed on 23 oct
birth certificate received back on 29 oct
received a call from from pp office about missing information on 6 Nov
required information provided on 7 nov
status requested on 14 nov no reply yet
waiting for passport
 

canvis2006

Champion Member
Dec 27, 2009
2,383
309
Toronto
Visa Office......
Paris, France
NOC Code......
FC4 - PGP
App. Filed.......
May 2009
Doc's Request.
March 2012
File Transfer...
Jan. 2013
Med's Request
May 2013
Passport Req..
July 2013
VISA ISSUED...
August 2013
LANDED..........
Sept 2013
What was missing info you had to provide fir the newborn ??