Fewer passport applications, more waiting

Thousands of Canadians still spend the night in front of federal passport offices and rage at the endless delays in obtaining their travel documents. However, Service Canada was handling a much higher volume of requests before the pandemic, and this, with fewer employees, confirms data consulted by The Press.

William Theriault
The Press

Between 2013 and 2018, Service Canada issued an average of 4.97 million “travel documents”, almost all passports. Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) told The Press expect to receive 3.6 to 4.3 million applications in 2022-2023.

The federal government therefore expects to receive 13 to 28% fewer requests in 2022-2023 than during the pre-pandemic years.

Another important fact: before COVID-19 spread across the country, Service Canada had 1,500 employees assigned specifically to processing passport applications. ESDC confirms that it has not only retained all of these employees under contract during the pandemic, but has also hired 600 new workers to carry out this task. The recruits are at different stages of their training right now.

Despite these additions, at the Guy-Favreau complex in downtown Montreal, many travelers who plan ahead are told to return to pick up their passports within 48 hours of their flight departure, after hours of waiting. The reason ? Identifying an “increased processing time across the country,” Service Canada says “prioritize those whose travel is more imminent.”

Mathematically, Service Canada has to process fewer applications during the year, and has several hundred additional employees to do the job. And yet, many citizens have recently denounced the slowness of the passport renewal system.

In response to these complaints, the federal government says it is simply overwhelmed by the simultaneous requests of “Canadians who normally would have applied for a passport in the two years preceding the pandemic”.

“In fact, although we were expecting an increase in volume, this massive increase in demand received by mail far exceeded IRCC’s forecast. [Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada] and exceeded the capacity to process requests,” explained ESDC.

Massive congestion

At the worst of the pandemic, “passport renewal planning was not a priority” for the population, explains ESDC. In fact, only 20% of expected applicants have taken the necessary steps to renew their official documents.

Thus, many people whose passports expired while the borders were closed clog the system all at once. Between March and May, more than 650,000 applications were sent to Service Canada. “Much of this volume arrives at the same time, rather than being spread throughout the year,” adds ESDC. […] The Passport Program has to deal with the return of all these customers as well as regular annual volumes. »

To combat this extreme congestion, “teams in passport offices, processing centers and call centers are working overtime every day and on weekends,” the federal government points out to The Press. The latter also expressed the desire to make 600 additional hires and to reassign 600 current federal employees to the issuance of passports.

“Canadians should check the validity of their passport well before booking their trip,” recommends ESDC.

The federal government, in response to The Press, also defended himself against undue delays suffered by citizens. “75% of Canadians who apply for a passport currently receive their passport within 40 business days,” he says. When the request in question is submitted in person at a specialized site, 96% of applicants obtain the document “within 10 working days”.

“Frustrating situations have arisen in Service Canada Centers as staff have to manage the increase in the number of requests,” concludes ESDC. We do everything necessary to ensure that Canadians receive the service to which they are entitled. »

With the collaboration of Simon-Olivier Lorange, The Press