Saturday, December 17, 2016

Passport Canada

Things that make you want to tear your hair out. ie: Passport Canada
Brooks and LindaLee's passports were close to expiry so they sent them in with the paperwork for renewal, both in the same envelope
Brooks got his new passport but LL got a letter saying hers had water damage and they needed to know when, how and where it was damaged
She answered that it was not damaged when she sent it in and she had no knowledge of any damage
Passport Canada answered that was not an acceptable response and unless she provides them with detailed information about the damage they cannot renew
She talked to a human on the phone and asked where and what the damage was so she might be able to guess how it occurred. The woman said she did not have the actual passport in front of her and did not know where on the passport the damage was but needed an explanation before the renewal could proceed
She drove to Victoria Passport Office to either expedite the renewal or apply for a new passport. She was told the renewal was still pending and they were waiting for an explanation of the damage. As long as the renewal was pending she could not apply for a new passport as the old one has not yet expired. She told the woman the same story.
She later received a letter telling her that her application for a Canadian passport had been denied.
She sent a letter saying the passport may have gotten wet when she spilled a glass of water on the table the passport was laying on. This was a lie, she had no idea where the water damage came from and still insists there was no damage when she sent it in. They forced her to lie.
Yesterday she received a letter saying her explanation had been accepted and her renewal was being processed and today got a message that it would be ready for pickup in a few days.
This process has taken over two months! It had a happy ending and the bureaucrat was finally able to tick all the applicable boxes. What a joke but the problem is they have the power to control your life, even if only for a couple of months, over something as insignificant as a water stain on a passport! 

9 comments:

  1. They do not have that power unless we give it to them. Remember that these bureaucrats are just normal people who are interpreting legislation. I know from my own experience as a civil servant that most of these fools do not have the intelligence needed to do the job. So when dealing with the government, you have to ask yourself what do they want and then fulfill that want. That is all. Doesn't matter if it's illogical or seems to be in an ethical grey zone, just give them what they want so you can get what you want. I'm not advising you to cheat on your taxes or do anything that is patently illegal, but unless you have a lot of time on your hands, don't bother playing their games as you will lose.

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    1. You are right but the fear was being caught in a lie which could have had dire consequences. There was obviously no tick box for "Client denies any damage" so that brought everything to a grinding halt. Bur sadly, that was the truth and any other response would be a lie which is, like you say, what she had to do.

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    2. Croft, the US government is just like the Canadian government in this regard. If Rae had replaced "Canadian" with "US," it would be a description of how the US government operates. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles; the passport issue wasn't worth wasting time to fight. I'm basing this on my interaction for 29 years with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) while working on behalf of a large corporate research center. If the USPTO screwed up, you had to prove to them that they had screwed up, otherwise you lost your very important filing dates of submitted documents. I always won because I had meticulous records and photos with official government date stamps. Then, I would get a letter asking if I would recreate the file for them. After what they put me through (like LindaLee), the USPTO seemed to have no shame in asking me to do this.

      Dee

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  2. So what you're saying is Canada is just like the US.

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    1. Yeah.... Well, except for the Trump part.

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    2. Croft, you sure got that right.

      Don, yep, right now. But at least for the next four years, Canada will be the country with a conscience, the US will be the country without one.

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    3. Or, as Michelle put it, Without Hope.

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  3. Unbelievable, that they would accept the explanation, when there was a possibility of a salt stain as evidence that it was sea water which could have caused the damage. *smile* The true damage was more than likely caused by the bureaucrats crying because the government pay system lately is not paying them correctly. The tears could also explain the salt stain. You will bear part of the blame Croft, next year, when they raise our taxes to fund the new Forensic Passport Examination Department(FPED). The FPED will certainly remove any need to correspond with applicants for any explanation of Passport damage. At renewal time all old passports should be examined. Side benefits of the program will also identify both Canadian and US customs officers who have just finished eating peanut butter sandwiches and leaving their mark on passports. As citizens we certainly need these extra government services. Paying twice the amount for a passport renewal and an increase in taxes for the funding of the new unit is certainly a very small price to pay to ensure we do not have to explain passport damage.

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    1. Yes, imagine if there were peanut butter stains and the commotion that would cause! There is always room in the system for more bureaucrats!

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