A Victoria family’s trip to Italy to visit family may be cancelled due to passport wait times.
Ericka Almquist has been planning a trip to meet up with her parents and grandparents in Milan so her grandparents could meet her new daughter Alma for the first time.
On May 4, Almquist mailed a new passport application for her daughter and a name change for herself, after she got married. This was six weeks before the family’s trip on June 15.
She was under the impression that it would be a two-week processing time, plus one week for mailing.
According to Passport Canada’s website, applicants should allow up to two weeks for processing plus mail time if you apply in person at a passport site, and nine weeks plus mail time if you apply by mail or at a Service Canada Centre.
However, a snapshot of Passport Canada’s website on May 5 showed that applications by mail were then estimated to take only 20 business days, or roughly four weeks, plus mailing time.
Almquist said she even applied a “check your status” application, which is supposed to start giving updates on the application status within three days. She said it’s been 38 days without a response.
“It is frustrating that we have been following the rules and the process and the information that is being posted on their website is essentially false,” Almquist said.
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Her husband has lined up at the Victoria passport office twice last week, arriving at 1 a.m., to try to get an update on the application status and maybe get the application transferred from the Ontario office to the Victoria one.
He was told there are only five transfers done per day and that his wife’s application was waiting on the Ontario office to scan her citizenship and marriage certificates for the name change.
Almquist said this was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, bringing four generations of her family together.
“My grandma’s health is deteriorating so this is it,” she said. “If we can’t make this trip work, there just isn’t the financial possibility to go see them again.”
She did reach out to her MP Laurel Collins for help. Collins’ office confirmed via email to CHEK News that it has been in communication with Almquist and is trying to help.
Almquist said there is some hope her family will be able to fly out on Wednesday as baby Alma’s passport could be arriving Tuesday afternoon, but there is still no word on when her own will arrive.
“At this point we don’t know. Do we pack or do we not pack?” Almquist said.
She is asking Passport Canada to be more truthful on how quickly it can process applications through the mail and in person so this doesn’t happen again to someone else.
“These wait times are far from acceptable, and we know many people have been put in very difficult and stressful circumstances. That is why since this challenge first arose, I have been adamant that my department makes it a top priority to address the situation and improve service. We are examining and implementing every possible option we can to expedite intake and processing of applications to help Canadians get their passports in a timely way, without compromising integrity. This includes potential policy changes to simplify the passport program, as well as further automation. I will continue to keep Canadians informed about these changes as they are put in place.
In a statement, Minister of Children, Families and Social Development Karina Gould said “Over the past several weeks, officials have taken action to help deliver passports more quickly.” Adding Service Canada Centre employees are working overtime and on weekends.
“In addition, Service Canada is continuing to hire and train more staff,” Gould said.
Service Canada has hired approximately 600 new employees this year, and will continue to hire up to 600 additional employees, along with continued internal reassignment of staff to work on delivery of passport services.
Mackenzie Read
