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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.

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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.

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  • I'd just like to begin by thanking you so much for your helpful information! We just have the general adult application form filled out, which I believe is proper, yes? If you don't mind my asking, what was your situation in particular? The reason I'm asking about when they do and don't turn people away from lining up is because it informs when I should and shouldn't buy tickets to go to the passport location, because I'd have to push it back a day if there's a particular time that they stop accepting applicants. (Our planes would touch down near the office about an hour before closing). – alxmke Apr 30 '16 at 17:27
  • Mine was the "Simplified Passport Renewal Form - Within Canada" or something like that. Not everyone is eligible for simplified renewal (where you don't need a guarantor, only references), so you need to check eligibility criteria carefully. Touchdown an hour before closing is cutting it way too close IMHO, again, there's a queue of people, even if the plane is on time and you get to the office in time there will still be people ahead of you. I had to renew the passport because I was supposed to be flying out and totally missed the fact that my old passport expired, caught it just in time. – Eugene O Apr 30 '16 at 20:39
  • Also, where are you flying in from and just how urgent is it? The reason I'm asking is that Canadian consulates (e.g. in the USA) can do urgent passport processing too, but I think it's more than 1 business day if I remember correctly, and you need a serious reason (e.g. business travel as proven by a letter from your company, I'd imagine they'd accept medical reasons too, but I don't think it can be just leisure travel) – Eugene O Apr 30 '16 at 20:42
  • Also, getting to the office late means there's less maneuvering room if they have any problem contacting your references. – Eugene O Apr 30 '16 at 20:43
  • Yeah, you're probably right. I think we'll maybe just stay an extra day in Toronto, and get there bright and early. Thanks for the help! In particular, a close friend of hers has died, do you think that would be sufficient? Also, we have tickets within the next few days. It'd honestly be ideal if it was just sufficient that we have tickets that leave within a day. I really don't want to drag her through any emotional stress surrounding the situation if at all possible. – alxmke Apr 30 '16 at 21:02
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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.

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