I’m honestly beyond frustrated at this point.

I am an international student in Canada. I had my B1/B2 visa interview at the US Consulate in Toronto in January, got approved, and my passport was shipped via Canada Post on Jan 21. It was supposed to be ready for pickup Jan 23 in Ottawa. Instead, it’s been stuck as “in transit” in Ottawa for over two weeks.

I’ve contacted Canada Post multiple times, and every time I get the same useless answer: they can’t find it. Now they’re telling me to contact the US consulate to file a claim. So basically my passport is somewhere in their system and nobody knows where, and nobody takes responsibility.

I have a US trip next week and there’s no way I can get a new passport and visa in time if this thing is actually lost. Has anyone dealt with Canada Post losing a passport from the US consulate shipment? How long did it take to resolve?

  • SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz
    14·
    1 day ago

    I work in post, but not in Canada.

    Postal facilities often move >100k items a day. Or much more. Occasionally, a parcel will go missing, lose its label, be destroyed and unrecognizable, or end up in a place no one thought it was possible for something to fit. Thin items are especially bad for this.

    There is only so much that can be done to try and follow it via CCTV and/or scans. Whether they have done everything practical, I don’t know.

    We don’t machine sort passports (which reduces the chances of it getting lost/destroyed), but I think that’s only new passports coming from the printers. Your passport may have been treated like any other courier item - assuming Canada’s processes are similar.

    The rest of it is probably a question for a travel sub.