Running Like Crazy to get my Passport!

This week the United States started it's new policy requiring all air travelers coming into the country to have a valid passport. No other form of documentation is valid (except for a frequent flyer pass - which I'm not). I've known for quite awhile that this was coming and I figured that I was properly prepared... but...

My passport expired at the end of October 2006. Normally it's a simple 20 days to get a new one so I didn't give it much thought. That is until I booked my flight to California to attend Saddleback Church's Small Group Ministry conference in February.

I figured "No problem, I have tons of time!". So just before Christmas I went to our filling cabinet to dig out my birth certificate to send off the application for a new passport. But lo! There were only three certificates in the folder where we keep the important documents... that of my wife and kids. Mine was nowhere to be found!

Again, I figured "No problem, I'll just go online and apply for a new birth certificate... it only takes a couple of weeks." We left for our Christmas tour to visit family and figured I would receive it shortly after coming back. That would still give me plenty of time to apply for the passport. However, instead of a birth certificate, I was sent a notice that they required more information before they could complete my request and that this delay would cause an addition 4-6 weeks to process! YIKES!!! Not good.

I called American Airlines to see about cancelling my booked flight just in case I didn't get the passport in time. They informed that not having the proper documentation for travel doesn't fall under the acceptable reasons for cancelling a reservation and that I would lose the entire amount of the flight! AAUUGHHH!

Next I called the Ontario Office of the Registrar General in order to see if they'd be able to somehow be able to speed up the request for my birth certificate. They were SOOOO incredibly helpful and considerate! Dealing with them was probably the greatest experience of my life dealing with a government agency. The girl I talked to was incredibly nice and understanding. She simply asked me to fax her manager a copy of my flight itinerary and they would process it immediately! Four days later my birth certificate arrived by courier!

OK... it's now one month before I need to travel... so I quickly pull out the forms for the passport application. Of course I need to have them all signed by a guarantor, someone with a certain profession who has known me for at least 2 years. Well... of course, since I'm new to the province of Ontario I don't know ANYONE for that amount of time! That means I had to ship off my forms to my step-dad up in North Bay so he can sign them for me. He should receive the papers by Friday...

That means I probably won't be getting the signed forms back by next Tuesday or Wednesday which would only give me exactly 19 days (including weekends) before I need to travel to the US!

I'm planning on applying in person for the passport at the appropriate office... along with thousands of others I would imagine... I wonder what the likelihood of receiving it in time is going to be... The website says they can do it normally in 10 working days...

So I'm praying that the people in the passport office are just as nice and helpful as the Registrar General Office :-)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Practical Atheist

Revitalized Pastors and Leaders

Captain America Rocks!!