Fact: At the beginning of October, and without the slightest hope, we filled out a passport application form. To avoid queues, crowds and oh so much frustration, everything was sent by post. Come what may. And then, a twist: less than a month later, the new passport landed on our doorstep. No cold sweats or sleepless nights.
Posted at 11:30 a.m.
Miracle ? Monumental stroke of luck? Believe it or not, since October, we are indeed witnessing a semblance of a return to normal.
You read correctly: “Since October 3, passport applications […] are processed according to service standards that applied before the pandemic”, confirm the media relations of Employment and Social Development Canada, responsible for the passport program. And this, whether they are received “at a Service Canada Centre, an office specializing in passports, a regular mobile site offering passport services or sent by mail”.
We think we are dreaming, but it is a fact.
Even walk-in wait times at the various passport offices (literally overwhelmed since spring, we remember all too well) these days hover around an hour or two.
If you doubt it, a new tool (among other improvements made to the program, since the overflows that we know) has been added to the Passport Canada site: an estimate of the waiting time for a walk-in office near you. At the time of writing these lines, we were talking about 45 minutes in Pointe-Claire, 1 hour in Saint-Laurent, and 2 hours 15 minutes in Laval. In downtown Montreal? Mystery. The data is unfortunately “not available” at the Guy-Favreau complex.
That being said, if you applied before that date (applications in a “backlog”, which has “exceeded [la] processing capacity within service standards”), you are suggested to request a “transfer” to a passport office near you. How ? By calling, going to a passport office, or to a Service Canada Centre. Here again, a new improvement: a so-called “statistics” page tells us that the average waiting time at the call center is only 15 minutes (for the week ending October 30). A world, when you remember that you could spend a day there, just a few months ago.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
These scenes of crush seem things of the past.
This famous statistics page is also a mine of information where you will find both the number of requests received (1.7 million for the current year, and 67,875 for the last week), but also the number of passports issued (1.4 million for the current year, and 76,197 the last week), figures which give an idea of the famous “backlog” and the gradual catch-up (in addition to finding the number of full-time employees, or overtime worked!).
If you are thinking of going in the winter
If you plan to fly away during the holidays, or later in the winter, what should you do? More or less as before, they say: if you leave in less than 10 working days (with proof), go to a passport office (which give priority to travel within 48 hours); for a departure in 10 working days, go to a passport office or one of the Service Canada centers offering 10-day processing (in Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières, in particular, two new offices specially designed to relieve major centres); and if you leave within 20 business days, finally, submit your application in person (by or without an appointment), at a Service Canada Centre.
Again, it’s when the urge to make an appointment comes that it gets tougher. At the time of this writing, it was impossible to find a date in downtown Montreal until early January.
No availability in Saint-Léonard or in Côte-des-Neiges either. By widening the search, we ended up finding a place on December 23, in Saint-Laurent, on December 28, in Laval, and… next week in Pointe-Claire!
Note, however: “triage is done to ensure that urgent requests are given priority. For urgent service […] and fast […]customers must present themselves at a passport office”, recall the media relations.
Should we fear the worst on the eve of the winter holidays? “In-person services look like they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. Queues are well managed and passports are issued to our service standards. As the holiday season arrives, we will continue to hire in order to meet our service standards. To be continued.