Passport applied for in 35 minutes!
I just applied for a new Canadian passport and was in and out of the local passport office in 35 minutes. Really!
Here’s the trick: fill out your application online. Online applicants get preferential treatment and I only had to wait about 5 minutes after I had registered (that line took 15 minutes). I felt bad for all those people that were waiting the whole time I was there. Actually, I didn’t.
Why are online treated differently? As the officer that helped me succinctly put it, “We’re not data entry people. Our primary job is security.”
Note that the online application only works in Internet Explorer on Windows and the whole registration and application is a little clunky, but it’s worth it.