Passport stuck at Canadian border.

[katie3234]

Hello!

So I have an issue. My husbands embassy requested his passport and a couple other things on December 14 2011 and allowed us until January 14 2012 to get everything back to them. At the request of my lawyer I had my husband mail his passport and a couple papers to my lawyers office in canada  which he did. I then mailed photos, phone records etc to our lawyer so his passport and my things could be mailed together to the embassy.

My husbands passport has been stuck at the Quebec USA border (on the Canadian side) since December 28 2011. What the heck can I do? I have talked to UPS and they said there's nothing they can do and it doesn't look as though border control has requested anything. My lawyer told me to call border control which I did, nobody answered, I couldn't get a real person in the phone.  Is this normal? Are we able to ask the Rome Embassy for an extension in getting my husbands passport to them? If we can't get the passport to the embassy by the cut off date what happens???

Thank you! 

[CharlieD10]

Contact Rome ASAP and explain the situation to them.  Ask for an extension, they are sometimes willing to do so. 

These documents are usually held up at the borders for Customs reasons.  Customs needs to ensure they are not being mailed for illegal purposes.  I would not have recommended that you do so, had I known this was what your lawyer requested, as this is a common situation with the movement of passports, to have them delayed and held by Customs while they perform checks to ensure they are not being moved around illegally.

[shiftpro]

Gosh how I hate how governments meddle with people's lives.

[locolynn]

Gosh how I hate how governments meddle with people's lives.

Really? It's a passport. That's a very serious document... While i'm sorry for the OP (and think it's cray cray that a lawyer suggested she do it considering the time line) I, for one, am GLAD that our government takes the sending and receiving if passports so seriously.

Locolynn

[wilson]

I hope it should have been cleared already by this time. Perhaps it could be due to Christmas and New Year holidays and possible staff shortage.

[katie3234]

Thanks for the replies! I asked Rome for an extension which they gave, we now have until Febuary 14. His passport is still suck at the border and has been there since the 28th of December . It's stressing me out! Is there a way to get it released? My husbands Medicals expire in April and I would hate for them to have to be redone should Rome not have enough time to issue the visa.

[CharlieD10]

Call Customs and don't stop moving up the chain of command until you find out how to get it released.  Oh, and get on your lawyer's case too, this is their fault.

[madatito2000]

Thanks for the replies! I asked Rome for an extension which they gave, we now have until Febuary 14. His passport is still suck at the border and has been there since the 28th of December . It's stressing me out! Is there a way to get it released? My husbands Medicals expire in April and I would hate for them to have to be redone should Rome not have enough time to issue the visa.

go there by yourself and and ask them or call the place who u used to send this stuff but if iwas in your sitiution iwould go by myself

[katie3234]

Hi Charlie,

I called border control and basically got transferred a bunch of times and lastly got transferred to a voicemail...... It seemed to be a voicail specifically to try and find your items.  I really hope that it will be sorted soon. Having waited what feels like forever for a passport request waiting for his passport is just annoyIng.

I had sent my lawyer an email saying that had I known his passport would be detained at the border I would have never allowed him to send it and she just told me it was normal and that there is no point in her calling or contacting border control for me not to worry and that we could just get extensions. Ahhhhh.

Well I really hope that it gets released soon. I had thought by now it would be in Rome and they would be getting ready to put the visa in.

[katie3234]

Still no word from border control. Nobody has returned any of my calls or my lawyers calls. We have until February 14 to hand everything into Rome. If worst comes to worse is he allowed to just get a new passport and send that in with upated forms regarding the passport expiration etc?

[CanadiansWife]

Wow, I can't believe your lawyer is taking this situation so lightly "this is normal, we can get extensions"   I really hope you and I don't have the same lawyer. She should know that mailing a passport overseas is illegal! This is NOT normal, having someone's passport held at the border is NOT normal- I wonder where she got her law degree from.
Even if you do call and speak to someone at the border, they probably wouldn't release the passport to YOU, since you aren't the holder, they would send it back to the owner (your husband in this case). Unless there is a certified letter included from him stating that he is allowing his passport to be sent to you, even THEN- they may not accept it.

I'm sure  this isn't the first time they have caught a passport in the border, so keep calling them and see what you can do. How about contacting your MP? Can they do something about this?

I would call the embassy to ask for another extension!

You can try to get him to get a new passport, but not sure what the rules are for Rome. Wouldn't he have to file a police report for lost passport? and then however time it takes for a new passport to come, and then you will probably have to write a letter to the embassy about the new passport, since it won't match the one you guys wrote down on the application.

[Elizabeth Joe]

I don't think it is in general illegal to send passports overseas, I know people going through Berlin or London VO do it all the time, when they are already in Canada. And I think it can happen to anything you send, that it's being held at customs. When we sent our application to Mississauga it was held at customs for 2 days being reviewed. That made me look up a lot of stories, where things are held sometimes up to 2 months at the border, before they get released. Annoying, but I don't think there is much you can do. Only ask for extensions.  Hopefully it will get released soon.

[missmini]

I don't think it is in general illegal to send passports overseas, I know people going through Berlin or London VO do it all the time, when they are already in Canada. And I think it can happen to anything you send, that it's being held at customs. When we sent our application to Mississauga it was held at customs for 2 days being reviewed. That made me look up a lot of stories, where things are held sometimes up to 2 months at the border, before they get released. Annoying, but I don't think there is much you can do. Only ask for extensions.  Hopefully it will get released soon.

good point!! but i think it's a difference between sending the passport to an embassy/consulate/government body and sending it to a private person
why ur application was reviewed 2 days at the border?  was it big? did it have lots of binders, metal stuff?  still 2 days?  makes me worry 

katie, i really hope ur issue will b solved soon!!! keep calling, pushing left and right!! good luck!

[Elizabeth Joe]

why ur application was reviewed 2 days at the border?  was it big? did it have lots of binders, metal stuff?  still 2 days?  makes me worry 

No it was actually just under 500g and fit in a normal envelope. But I didn't fill out a customs declaration card for it, so maybe that's why. I thought, because it was sent as a letter I didn't need it. But in the end it was only two days and I was lucky, but it does happen, when you sent stuff internationally. Apparently if you use courier instead of mormal post the risk is lower, but in this case even UPS  apparently can't do anything.

[katie3234]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Looks as though I will just have to wait it out and keep phoning border control! My husbands medical expires in april which worries me - I really hope the passport doesn't set us back tooooooo much and that he wont need to redo his medical, eapicially since it's $250. Oh well! What can you do?! And Canadianswife I really hope for your sake you don't have the same lawyer either. Lol.