We're in!

We're inside! At about 3:30 we got to the pre-screening window and were approved to see a passport agent. It should be about an hour now.

Rush to get passports creates backlog

Rush to get passports creates backlogThis CanWest story caused some grief in the lineup for people travelling on the 23rd. Spokeswoman Francine Charbnoneau says 'Guaranteed, if you're going for Jan. 23, you won't get your passport in time.'"...

Google News on passport delays

Read up on Canada's passport application delays...

The lineup

There's a sign at the front of the lineup. At the front! which you get to after about five hours) It reiterates documentation. It notes Alberta and Manitoba health care cards are not allowed to be used for supporting documentation. This is the exact opposite of what the official forms say. Sigh. Hopefully Rob's interim driver's license, which has no photo, will do. (Another story - we've been twice to get new driver's licenses and the first time they simply didn't arrive... mine came after my second application, but Rob's hasn't come yet.)

Need more documents

OK, so we've been in the lineup for a few hours - I dashed home to do some work and Rob called from the lineup - we need proof of our itinerary, apparently, so we can pay extra to have the passports shipped to the Canada Place office for pickup instead of mailed to us. I can't imagine what the people behind us, who drove in from Lac La Biche, are going to do!

First, passports

OK, so it was foolish to leave our passport applications for so long. We just kept looking at the lineups and thinking "we'll go when it's not so busy." But now we're caught up in the rush to get passports before the mandatory requirement kids in January 23rd. There's a lineup to get into the lineup in the passport office and it seems to take 5-6 hours to get through it. We checked it out last week and decided to devote a day to the process - we're here with George, two camping chairs, a laptop, and lots of books and magazines.