What I've seen in this forum is that they don't guarantee the transfer. I guess pressure from the MP helps..
Canadian Passport - Mail-In Application Timelines
- Thread starter zam7
- Start date
How does the file transfer work? Do they allow transfers only if your flight is coming up soon or are there any other conditions? Can you ask for any office?Decided to roll the dice, called in and asked for a transfer to Toronto office as my flight now comes in under 10 business days. Prior to putting in the request, the agent on the phone told me that it was still 'under examination'.
Anyway, the agent said that he put in the request, that there 'might' be extra changes but whoever is calling me up from the passport office will let me know, that there's a chance they might reject my transfer request and that I could find out about the status of my passport 24 - 48 hours before the flight.
I guess we'll find out when it happens!At the rate it's happening, I expect a lot of the backlog (when it runs through its normal course) should be done by fall, which means (predictably) that the airports are going to be a clown show on labour day weekend.
I think I saw someone got their passport 3 days before the travel date, hopefully you'll get yours too.
Also people that are not immediately traveling are seeing the delays and are also probably finding a reason for expedited processing further clogging the system.
siddharthbala
Hero Member
- Jan 12, 2016
- 474
- Visa Office......
- CPC-Ottawa
- NOC Code......
- 5241
- App. Filed.......
- 08-07-2016
- Doc's Request.
- 28-12-2016
- AOR Received.
- 10-12-2016
- Med's Request
- 06-12-2016
- Med's Done....
- 14-12-2016
- Interview........
- N/A
- Passport Req..
- 12-04-2017
- VISA ISSUED...
- 28-04-2017
- LANDED..........
- 14-09-2017
If your travel falls under a threshold of 10 business days, you can call in and request a transfer. They require proof of your upcoming travel, so a confirmed ticket, for example. The agent on the phone did ask if I had a preference for an office when he put in the request, but what's curious is that my passport still got mailed to me and I wasn't asked to come to a Passport Office to pick it up, which leaves me to believe that when I did file for a transfer request, the officer processing it must have seen that my file was likely sitting in a done state in some pile somewhere in the Gatineau office and said "Throw it in an envelope and send it ASAP, this guy's making a stink about it." (Also because I engaged the services of my local MP, James Maloney, to intervene on my behalf. I can confirm this because my Canada Post tracking number clearly states that the package originated from Ottawa (for some reason, if you send stuff to CPC Gatineau, it registers as Ottawa; I suspect there's some sort of internal redirect).
My passport is now sitting with the Canada Post (they need a signature and I live in a condo building, so unsurprisingly, I just got a Delivery Notice and they transported it to the closest Post Office for pick-up, so by 1:00 PM tomorrow, this odyssey will be over and the new quest to renounce my Indian Citizenship and get my OCI card begins. There's also a sidequest in mid-August to get my NEXUS interview done.
I can't speak about what the others are doing, but it is a terrible situation.I was seeing chatter in some communities about using the refundable ticket trick to try and get their passports expedited even if they didn't need to travel less out of a desire to get it done pronto, but rather because they have zero trust in the government not just stretching timelines to infinity. I can't particularly blame their skepticism; when I started this process back in May, the expected timelines were 4 weeks; When I called in June, that timeline had stretched to 9 working weeks; a week later it stretched to 11 weeks.
On that note, a small rant:
1. The lack of transparency (a common theme with the IRCC and with the passports office, it would seem) does not help.
2. Not having a tracker of any kind for passports sent via mail does not help. Having to try to call in a line flooded with calls and permanently jammed to the point where folks are sharing numbers on the internet to try to get a hold of someone....anyone to give them a status update is a massive failure.
3. As a system, this seems so inefficient with this ridiculous back and forth. A saner system would simply be that at the time of citizenship, you just select a checkbox that says "Do you wish to apply for a passport immediately after citizenship? If yes, fill out X fields." There, a majority of the redundancies between both form, filling out your eye colour, your height, first name, last name, blood time, Mother's name, uncle's cat's name, etc. etc. now in a simple shared form. Additionally, they don't need to do this stupid thing where they send you a citizenship certificate, then you send it in to the passport office, who then returns it back to you when they do your passport. Even if it took an extra month after the ceremony, you can transfer the application to the passport office, have them finish the passport, then send everything at one go.
This silly token exchange nonsense, along with the need for guarantors in 2022, is just about the silliest thing I've ever seen. This entire process needs a massive overhaul.
I think there's a lot of issues. As you said, it should be seamless, similar to a PR card application at the time of landing or the electoral voter registration in the citizenship form. If you immigrated some somewhere else, obviously you had a passport previously and have travel experience as well as they make people use their Canadian passport for entry once they become citizens, they should be having the checkbox and if the applicant wants a passport they can ask for more details there.
They also still have the archaic system of guarantors and references. It's a huge burden both for the applicant and for the processing officer. If you just went through the rigorous check of citizenship bg check it doesn't make any sense.
They really need to do an analysis of applicants who recently became Canadian citizens and understand among them how many cases of fraudulent/ineligible passport applications they identified because of the references/guarantor requirements. It will be miniscule. It's just a highly unnecessary burden primarily on lower income immigrants - especially the guarantor requirement. If they want to optimize even a little bit, they could take out the guarantors and keep two references and require them to be residents of Canada, something like that.
In any case, glad your process is coming to a conclusion.
I called today the agent told me my passport application is pending approval, and no idea how long it will take to approve and send it to printing
update....being delivered today. I see it on the Canada Post truck! woohoooo!
Again, contact your local MP's!!!! My new borns applications was in "pending approval" status for 2+ months. The moment I contacted my MP it was approved, printed and shipped all within 3-4 days. Note: you MUST have a travel date booked if you want your MP to expidite.
Andy_ready
Star Member
Go in person with proof of travel is the fastest way to get the passport, nothing else.
Andy_ready
Star Member
Called the guarantor line for an update on my application and was read the riot act. Our files are still under examination. I said I have a planned travel in mid August. I was told to call back on Aug 1st to check status and request for transfer to local office. It may or may not be approved. I asked if I can proceed with the ticket, they said go ahead but buy with cancellation insurance. Since they cannot assure service delivery within any promised timelines. What the heck!
application type: mail from Ontario to Gatineau
date of application receipt: 19th April
Date of cc charge: 17th may
Call from passport office for guarantor confirmation: 2nd June
Guarantor called and completed formality: 3rd June
Called passport Canada on update: 24th June and 21st July.
application type: mail from Ontario to Gatineau
date of application receipt: 19th April
Date of cc charge: 17th may
Call from passport office for guarantor confirmation: 2nd June
Guarantor called and completed formality: 3rd June
Called passport Canada on update: 24th June and 21st July.