How Canadians can check passport walk-in wait times online

As passport delays continue around the country, an online tool on the Government of Canada’s website allows travellers to check estimated walk-in wait times at their nearest passport office.

The wait times are posted three times every business day, at 9:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 2.00 p.m. local time.

“It’s just to give people a sense of what the difference is around the country but also what they can expect,” Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development told CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday.

Gould noted that wait times differ broadly according to province, because some cities are seeing a higher surge of demand than others.

• Minister directs Service Canada to do more in urban centres to relieve passport delays

“What we're seeing actually in Ontario and other places across the country is that, if you're in line, it moves quite well throughout the day. And you know, we're getting about 150 to 200 people so you may be waiting four or five hours, but you're going to be seen that day,” she said.

However, according to Gould, Montreal is seeing a daily influx of 400 to 700 people a day, which is leading to wait times stretching to days instead of hours.

On Tuesday, the police were called to help manage crowds at a passport office in downtown Montreal as many hopeful travellers camped overnight to secure their place in line.

A resurging interest in travel after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen passport applications skyrocket, creating massive backlogs that are forcing some Canadians to cancel or reschedule their travel plans.

Some people are advertising services to stand in line for passport applicants, for a price, while one woman from Vancouver purchased a round-trip flight to Edmonton just to get her document in time for a trip to Las Vegas.

A statement from Service Canada in May said it had hired 600 new employees to process passport applications and opened additional dedicated passport counters at more than 300 centres.

Gould said that part of hiring new employees means that there will now be a system set up to triage passengers who arrive at passport offices before the wait times are posted.

Travellers will be given tickets and told which time window to come back in to make sure they’ll be served, Gould said.

“There should be no reason for people to have to wait in line,” she said.

With files from Michael Lee