Consulate General Of Canada

I had applied to renew my passport and and signed a payment authorization form. While I was waiting for my passport to arrive, my card got compromised and I had completely forgotten to notify the consulate! When payment was rejected, someone called me and corrected my info so my application could get processed!
Also very convenient that you can authorize someone else to pick up your passport, my partner works in the area and picked it up for me! She said they were really nice and helpful. :)

Dealing with bureaucracy can be infuriating - anyone who's had to travel experiences it once or twice. This was a pleasant enough experience.

I'm in my 7th week of waiting for my passport renewal & my son waited nearly 9 weeks for his! They were certainly quick enough at taking the money for my passport.... Also wish it was open until 5:00pm. No response to my first email so let's see if they bother getting back to me in regards to my latest email which I headed as URGENT.

It is now 59 working days since i put in my passport renewal & nothing!!!!! No replies to my URGENT email sent 27th July. I will have no choice but to take time off work to go & find out what the problem is. This is beyond unbelievable.

With all the new changes to passport requirements implemented by the government for dual citizens I respect and appreciate all the help and patience by the staff at the consulate. How monotonous it must be to answer the same questions client after client. Yet they continue to do it with a smile. To complete my passports they really went the extra mile and I thank them for that. Understand that the waits are so long because the government hasn't given them the resources to cope with the increased workload. Blame the government, not the staff there.

I have renewed my passport at several international consulates and this one was the worst experience by a long way.

Incredibly rude woman at reception refused to advise if my application was complete, refused to provide a blank piece of paper when I needed more room for the addresses, argued with me that I only need to put 2 years of addresses when the form says 5 years in bold, refused to advise if I could submit my application 10 days before it's officially due (it's officially due the day I am scheduled for a csection), refused to advise if anyone will contact me or not if anything is missing, took my original identity documents and refused to advise if and when those will be returned.

She was quite happy to take my money though.

But she did refuse to provide a receipt or reference numbers for the two applications.

When I asked if I can follow up she said "well you can email but likely no one will respond to you."

Not so proud to be Canadian right now!!

27 March 2017:
I've come here heaps in the last few years and never had any issues, but the new rules on the dual citizenship passport thing seems to have REALLY made things awful. I feel for the staff as they are clearly inundated and have lost patience, and frankly who wouldn't when you don't have enough support. With all the extra passport fees, I would think they would have funding to hire more staff to get through this. I came at 10:30am with my application filled out and originals of documents to be checked. After 20 mins, not ONE person waiting had ticked over, and there were still 15 people before me and what looked like 1 person working. I had no choice but to leave, I can't take 2 hours away from my desk in the middle of the morning (Hours are 9am-11:30am). Now I've instead just lodged it without it being checked, with all my originals (birth certificate, drivers license...!) I really dearly hope they make it back to me safely and that I didn't do anything incorrectly! Those poor travelers who are in a rush . I've done this now in case God forbid a family emergency meant I had to travel home quickly. Previously I would of just travelled on my aussie passport, but this is no longer allowed. Good luck to all!

**EDIT now 18 June, still no new passport, and no response to my email from 13 days ago....

** 28 June - my passport showed in the mail unannounced! after never having any emails returned, so it was super surprising. Good result in the end I guess haha.Worth noting mine was a whole new passport (name change) and not just a quick renewal so I think that's why it took 3 months. An email to say it was on its way with the tracking number or ANYTHING would of been nice! Considering I was about to take a morning unpaid off work to go stand in the line to try and speak to someone to find out what the heck was going on.
I sincerely hope they get more funding to hire more people to sort this out though, 3 months is super ridiculous.

Prepared myself for the absolute worst after reading all the reviews but was surprised how nice and fast the service actually was!

I arrived at 8:00am as advised by another reviewer, I put my name down on a list and was told to come back at 8:50am. I came back to a large cue of people but my place on the list meant I was able to get a ticket according to my place on the list. If you come after 9:00am you will be frustrated to realise that 20 people are already ahead of you and your chances of being seen are slim to none. I would say that maybe a maximum of 10 people are seen within the 2 hours they are open.

I waited 45 minutes in total and when it was my turn the lady checked and processed my application no problem. She was polite and helpful and I really have nothing poor to say overall in regards to my experience.

I am still on a deadline to travel in 5 weeks but she assured me that I would be able to apply for the Special Authority (as I meet the qualifications) if my passport is not completed in that time.

If you are prepared and go early then you should have no troubles. :)

Poor service. Almost impossible to get any information in person, they give you an email address where if you're lucky they will answer about a week later... that is if they read they read the question correctly.

Sent passport Nov 4, 2016, received it Jan 5th, 2017. Automated phone system makes it impossible to speak to a real person. They don't answer emails. They used my pre-paid envelope for someone else making my tracking number useless and sending my on a wild goose chase from GC to Brisbane. They incorrectly labelled the new envelope so I had a lot of trouble getting my passport. I would suggest trying Perth or Canberra, but I doubt they're much better. Government agency's service is always pathetic.

To be honest I thought the service was pretty good. We were in an awkward position but our problem was solved. Not super fast, but then again, what government in the world is.

Whenever dealing with governments and passports, give yourself about twice/3x as long as you think you'll need. Also, read every single word of the application documents, then you should be okay.

Why have a number to call if you can't talk to anyone in person ? However very quick response to emails