URGENT!! Passport stuck in Canadian customs???

[Kearnixer]

I can tell you why as I know CBSA and CP too well.

Registered mail is not a priority to process for CBSA or Canada Post. It is a gamble on their processing time. I bought tons of stuff from Japan and shipped it to Canada by SAL. Some took 2 weeks to arrive, some took 2 months! to arrive. 2 weeks seems normal to me especially Vancouver is having a really bad backlog because of the fentanyl scare.

All I can say is, there is nothing you can do. You can try contacting CBSA, but they will just give you headache and might take weeks to respond.

Thank you @nosmas for your response! I really hope that it won't take 2 months!! But do you think it is in safe hands and it will somewhen be delivered or in the worst case returned to the visa office in Vienna? My biggest fear is really that it just disappears in a big black hole and never comes back. That would mean we need to request a new passport!!!!

 

[Kearnixer]

By the way, the Austrian post confirmed that on August 4th the letter arrived in Toronto. So it must go through customs there! And then from Toronto to Vancouver!

 

[nosmas]

Thank you @nosmas for your response! I really hope that it won't take 2 months!! But do you think it is in safe hands and it will somewhen be delivered or in the worst case returned to the visa office in Vienna? My biggest fear is really that it just disappears in a big black hole and never comes back. That would mean we need to request a new passport!!!!

The majority eventually received their item, but some took longer than 3 months to show up.
Toronto should be faster, but really nobody knows how it works. It is definitely not first come first serve and tons of Canadians complain on another forum. Even if you contact Canada post, they will pass the ball to CBSA, and if you contact CBSA they will pass the ball back to Canada Post. It's ridiculous, but that's how Canada treats international mail (esepcially the non-trackable one)
My advice is maybe wait 2 more weeks if no update just forget it
Your embassy made a really serious mistake to send it to Canada by just registered mail

 

[Kearnixer]

The majority eventually received their item, but some took longer than 3 months to show up.
Toronto should be faster, but really nobody knows how it works. It is not definitely not first come first serve and tons of Canadians complain on another forum. Even if you contact Canada post, they will pass the ball to CBSA, and if you contact CBSA they will pass the ball back to Canada Post. It's ridiculous, but that's how Canada treats international mail (esepcially the non-trackable one)
My advice is maybe wait 2 more weeks if no update just forget it

@nosmas

So if it doesn't arrive in 2 weeks, shall my wife request a new passport and then we send that one to the visa office in Vienna?? Does that work even if maybe the "old" passport will eventually arrive later?

 

[nosmas]

@nosmas

So if it doesn't arrive in 2 weeks, shall my wife request a new passport and then we send that one to the visa office in Vienna?? Does that work even if maybe the "old" passport will eventually arrive later?

I have no idea since I have not done that before, but do blame your embassy and ask for their assistance if possible. They should be the one to help you out since they made this serious mistake. Maybe they can give some pressure to CBSA to process your stuff faster.

 

[nosmas]

@nosmas

So if it doesn't arrive in 2 weeks, shall my wife request a new passport and then we send that one to the visa office in Vienna?? Does that work even if maybe the "old" passport will eventually arrive later?

Also for your reference,

i bought something from Vancouver. Shipped on July 24 and arrived at Toronto on Aug 3. That's 9 business days just for domestic mail.

 

[Kearnixer]

Also for your reference,

i bought something from Vancouver. Shipped on July 24 and arrived at Toronto on Aug 3. That's 9 business days just for domestic mail.

Wow, that's crazy! Does the mail go on rails or by air if you send something from Toronto to Vancouver?

 

[Kearnixer]

Anyone in this forum who had their passports sent from abroad to Canada?

 

[nosmas]

Wow, that's crazy! Does the mail go on rails or by air if you send something from Toronto to Vancouver?

no idea but the standard time should be 5 days if you use cheap mail which is what are you doing there, but 5 days is not guaranteed and from my experience it often takes 8-15 days.

 

[Kearnixer]

MAJOR UPDATE! @nosmas @mgnlky @agvalen1810

In principle Canada Post does not track incoming international registered mails anymore. So all mails with a tracking number starting with the two letters "RO". However, I googled a bit and found out how you can still track international registered mails! Instead of simply entering the tracking number in the tracking field, you have to enter it twice! So on two rows. And then, tata! it at least shows you a time stamp! It will not show you a description (it will just read: "Canada Post does not provide tracking for international registered mail"). But at least you can see the date and time moving. You would just have to kind of guess where your parcel is. I cannot believe it works in this way! So I have now a time stamp of 17/08/2017 09:01am! So it means my letter moved yesterday! I assume it has now been released by the customs. If it's true then it was for 13 days with CBSA! Now it seems it is back in the hands of Canada Post.

I hope now it can get soon to Vancouver!!

 

[DEEPCUR]

Anyone who had a similar problem as I? Anyone with experience how the international mail is treated in canadian customs? Especially when there is a passport in the envelope????

The only worst case is that customs would require commercial invoice. It is a simple form (google it) and just contains what is inside and what is declared $ value. This problem happens to US residents too as they need to send the passport to Canada from US.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-im...-by-fedex-commercial-invoice-required.499972/

Although it is reverse, your case could be treated similar as well. Because FedEx does put a commercial invoice behind the label when we send the passport from US to Canada.

But the problem here is yours is regular mail. I am not sure what is the courier company name that does this. Rather than trying to contact CBSA, you should try to contact the courier company (what ever it is) to understand what is going on. They might be reaching out only to sender and not you. CIC will not submit this form, and you will have to do that on behalf of CIC. You somehow need to intercept the tracking and figure out this.

 

[Kearnixer]

The only worst case is that customs would require commercial invoice. It is a simple form (google it) and just contains what is inside and what is declared $ value. This problem happens to US residents too as they need to send the passport to Canada from US.

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-im...-by-fedex-commercial-invoice-required.499972/

Although it is reverse, your case could be treated similar as well. Because FedEx does put a commercial invoice behind the label when we send the passport from US to Canada.

But the problem here is yours is regular mail. I am not sure what is the courier company name that does this. Rather than trying to contact CBSA, you should try to contact the courier company (what ever it is) to understand what is going on. They might be reaching out only to sender and not you. CIC will not submit this form, and you will have to do that on behalf of CIC. You somehow need to intercept the tracking and figure out this.

Thank you @DEEPCUR for your response! Much appreciated. Did you see my recent udpate above? I'm able to track it now, not as it should be but at least I receive updates in form of a date and time! I believe my mail has now cleared the customs and is on the way to Vancouver. Hopefully in about a week my consultant should receive it!

 

[DEEPCUR]

Thank you @DEEPCUR for your response! Much appreciated. Did you see my recent udpate above? I'm able to track it now, not as it should be but at least I receive updates in form of a date and time! I believe my mail has now cleared the customs and is on the way to Vancouver. Hopefully in about a week my consultant should receive it!

Saw that! Sounds good! Hope it works out for you! Good luck!

Anyway you have another stressful journey when your agent ships it back to you to your current country!

 

[Kearnixer]

Saw that! Sounds good! Hope it works out for you! Good luck!

Anyway you have another stressful journey when your agent ships it back to you to your current country!

Yes you are right, I have already been thinking about that. But then we will ship it with a courier (e.g. FedEx)! At least then, we can include that commercial invoice and it is trackable!

I can really not believe that this is happening to me. What a headache!! And this because the embassy just ignored our instructions!! We could not have been clearer!

 

[Kearnixer]

But the problem here is yours is regular mail. I am not sure what is the courier company name that does this. Rather than trying to contact CBSA, you should try to contact the courier company (what ever it is) to understand what is going on. They might be reaching out only to sender and not you. CIC will not submit this form, and you will have to do that on behalf of CIC. You somehow need to intercept the tracking and figure out this.

Yesterday I talked to someone from CBSA and the person told me that passports in a mail coming into Canada would not need a commercial invoice. So about this issue I'm a bit confused..... To me it doesn't make sense anyway to include a commercial invoice since a passport doesn't really have a value. It's simply just a document! An important one!