Canadian passport question

[applicant20]

Hello,

This is for people who have applied for a Canadian passport following acquiring citizenship.

I was looking at the passport form and it has a field for date of travel with options to either mark "unknown" or enter date. I am applying for passport just as the next step and for possible occasional USA visits. Does it matter if I enter the option 'unknown'?. Reason I ask is I thought may be not inputting a travel date my push the application to non-priority and possibly take longer than their regular 10 working days. What did you guys mark? How long did it take you get your passport?

Also, did Passport Canada call your references and guarantors?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

 

[bangloboy]

This is my experience in getting an urgent passport:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/urgent-passport-after-oath-t190090.30.html

In my case it was done in same day but I had to pay an EXTRA $110 for it and I also had a confirmed ticket so I got to put the date on the application.

You can always put an approximate date but you also might need to pay the other rush service fee which is $50 if you need it say within the week. I would keep that option empty and when you go to Passport Canada ask them what you should do - they are helpful

Good luck

 

[chakrab]

Hello,

This is for people who have applied for a Canadian passport following acquiring citizenship.

I was looking at the passport form and it has a field for date of travel with options to either mark "unknown" or enter date. I am applying for passport just as the next step and for possible occasional USA visits. Does it matter if I enter the option 'unknown'?. Reason I ask is I thought may be not inputting a travel date my push the application to non-priority and possibly take longer than their regular 10 working days. What did you guys mark? How long did it take you get your passport?

Also, did Passport Canada call your references and guarantors?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

you can get the passport pretty quick if you apply in person. unless you plan to travel within 2 weeks, no point of requesting urgent processing. processing is usually done within 2 weeks from experience. but if you need urgent service, they you have to provide a date and proof of travel.

 

[siki]

I just applied yesterday and I put unknown.. They asked me if you have any travel plans and I just told them not anytime soon. After an hour they called my guarantor and asked about my identity and stuff..

 

[applicant20]

thank you everyone for your replies.

I guess some people got a bit confused regarding the question. I am not requesting for urgent or express processing and would not be paying the extra. I just wanted to find if leaving the option as "unknown" had any bearing in having passport canada not work on the application. It would still be normal processing regardless there is just a date to input.

Thanks bangloboy for your experience.

siki, thanks for letting me know. So you said your guarantor was called, did they also call your references do you know?
I am confident on my guarantor answering the phone right away its just references I am not that confident about. Since references cannot be relatives or family etc. I have to rely on friends and co-workers and unfortunately they are not that upbeat when it comes to all this.

Please let me know.

 

[chakrab]

unknown is default. which means you get it back in around 2 weeks if you have applied in person. for mail, it's a month. also after a week of applying, call up their call centre with the confirmation they gave on the receipt and verify the status.

 

[bangloboy]

No worries. Yup select unknown if you are in no rush and yes if you apply in person it will be still faster than the regular mail service

Cheers

 

[Desert Lion]

How long it takes normally to get the Canadian passport after the examination?

 

[siki]

NO they haven't call my references yet. It says in the form that they may call. So I guess the chances are 50-50

 

[chakrab]

How long it takes normally to get the Canadian passport after the examination?

depends when you get your citizenship. this topic is post citizenship.

 

[applicant20]

How long it takes normally to get the Canadian passport after the examination?

you worry about your citizenship application for now. Its a long road for you yet.

 

[BTrix]

I applied in person since their office is <1km from my home, just a 10min walk. I put unknown since I had no immediate need for it, I still haven't used it. I didn't pay anything extra, and I got it 6 business days later including the mail delivery (Friday to Monday, so 10 days in total). Really don't see much point paying for rush service unless it really is urgent. I'm surprised how many people pay for it - waiting for 4-5 years as PR and then citizenship application, but then this last week is critical

None of my references were called, including the guarantor. Nor my sister's last year. This made me think they rarely called, basically a formality, but I see now it might be more often than once in a blue moon.

 

[applicant20]

thanks for sharing your experience and replying my question fully.
I hope my experience is similar.

I agree, I am not in favor of paying more. I'll apply for the regular processing.

 

[chakrab]

I applied in person since their office is <1km from my home, just a 10min walk. I put unknown since I had no immediate need for it, I still haven't used it. I didn't pay anything extra, and I got it 6 business days later including the mail delivery (Friday to Monday, so 10 days in total). Really don't see much point paying for rush service unless it really is urgent. I'm surprised how many people pay for it - waiting for 4-5 years as PR and then citizenship application, but then this last week is critical

None of my references were called, including the guarantor. Nor my sister's last year. This made me think they rarely called, basically a formality, but I see now it might be more often than once in a blue moon.

i haven't heard any references/guarantor being called unless it is urgent. may be for urgent, they don't have time for proper verification and hence call the people to verify.

 

[bangloboy]

i haven't heard any references/guarantor being called unless it is urgent. may be for urgent, they don't have time for proper verification and hence call the people to verify.

Yes that is correct. Actually that's why I decided to take my guarantor with me. The passport office lady told me that they were also calling my references within the hour. But this is for rush processing - rest of my family who got passports in fact never got called their references nor guarantors and all their applications were regular handling