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My girlfriend is in need of urgent (24-hr) processing for her passport application, so we'll be needing to make a trip to the Mississauga passport office. I've been trying to find information on how early we'll need to arrive, so I can know when to schedule flight times most effectively. However, there's no real solid information on this.

My questions on the issue are:

  • What are the specific situations which allow for urgent processing?
  • What time do offices stop accepting applicants in line for processing (cut-off time)?
  • Is this cut-off time the same for urgent processing applicants?

If anyone has a somewhat authoritative answer to these questions, it would be very helpful.

Gayot Fow
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alxmke
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2 Answers2

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I got an urgent-processing passport recently. The rules are here. I don't think there's an official cut-off time, but I showed up as early as I could in the morning just in case, recommend the same to you, since even when I showed up early there was already a line in the urgent category. You need proof of travel (airline printout with reservation number is fine, with proof of payment). As the website notes, there are other things they may accept (e.g. note on illness of family member). One important point: make sure that the people you list as references are ready to answer their phone! The Passport Office will certainly call them, and in my case they called one of my references, he didn't pick up the phone in time, and I had to call the passport office to make them call again and they only did it hours later, it was very stressful. Make sure your references are literally waiting by the phone.

To clarify, they're pretty lax about the reason for urgent processing. It doesn't need to be a true emergency/illness/etc. In my case the reason I needed urgent processing was embarassingly stupid and they did it anyway :) Proof of travel and payment for travel is the key.

Also, needless to say, make sure you have the correct form filled out prior to arriving (there are many different passport application forms), have your passport photos, etc.

JonathanReez
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Eugene O
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I can agree on the approach stated above. I needed to renew my passport in less than 12hours (my plane was leaving the next day in the morning and my passport did not qualify for the 6 month rule of Nicaragua). I arrived at the passport office before it opened (7am i think) and there was already a line and brought proof of my urgency (plane ticket) with all my documents with me. The most important part are the witness. I brought one witness with me and the other one was waiting by the phone. The witnesses are the only aspect that can delay the process, if you can get witnesses to pick up the phone directly or even to bring them with you, this will ensure a fast process.My passport was ready 5 hours later, printed and ready for pick up.

Sandy Carla
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