I'm scared. Tomorrow, I am Fedexing my passport to Canada. It expires in April and there is no way I'll be able to renew it in person. Given that the last time I renewed it (when I lived in Canada) I waited in a long line three different times only to have my photos rejected (for various reasons, including blurriness and my head being 3mm too small), I am very skeptical about this process. Yesterday, I asked my boss if he'd ever renewed his passport via mail from Bermuda and a look of horror crossed his face. I was ready for a comment about the photos not being suitable. However, he then informed me that Passport Canada had once lost his son's passport in the process. He Fedexed it and someone at Passport Canada signed for it...but when he called to follow up, they denied ever receiving it and said they couldn't trace who had signed for the package. His advice was to send it to my family and have them deliver it. Unfortunately, that's not going to work since the mail-in process only works with the Passport Canada office in Gatineau, Quebec and my family is clear across the country....and so, with a great deal of trepidation, I'm saying goodbye to my ticket out of here. Apparently, if worse comes to worse I could get back into Canada with my birth certificate...I just wouldn't be able to get out again. Fingers crossed.
On a side note, why is the Canadian passport system such a gong show? Dave can walk into a passport office in the UK with his photos in hand and have a brand new passport that.same.day. Plus, the thing is good for TEN years. Why can't Canada take a cue?
No comments:
Post a Comment