Wait times for passport applications appear to be easing in Montreal

After a summer of long lineups for Canadian passport applications, wait times now seem to be back under control.

James Goussanou left a Ville St. Laurent passport office with a new Canadian passport in hand and a smile on his face.

“I’m very excited, I’m going to the Ivory Coast for three weeks,” Goussanou said, adding he was overdue for a much-needed vacation.

Goussanou was initially hoping to travel this summer. But when he went to renew his passport at a Ville St. Laurent Service Canada outlet, he was met by a lineup that snaked around the block, with hundreds of people waiting.

“It was pretty bad, so I just shifted my travel plans,” he said.

This week, he dropped off his passport application on a Monday morning at an empty passport office in Ville St. Laurent. He said he waited about half an hour to meet with an agent and process his application. He paid $50 extra for an express service and was able to collect his passport three days later.

“It literally took inside like 20 minutes to have it done,” Goussanou said. “It was good.”

A Global News reporter visited passport offices at the downtown Guy Favreau federal building and at the Ville St. Laurent Service Canada office Thursday morning, and the lineups for passport applications were short at both locations. Individuals applying for passports told the reporter they were waiting less than an hour without an appointment to submit an application.

It’s a relief for travellers who were dismayed at astonishingly long lineups for passport applications this summer. Some people even camped overnight to get a passport. Others complained they waited months to get passports returned after mailed-in applications.