this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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I’m honestly beyond frustrated at this point.

I am an international student in Canada. I had my B1/B2 visa interview at the US Consulate in Toronto in January, got approved, and my passport was shipped via Canada Post on Jan 21. It was supposed to be ready for pickup Jan 23 in Ottawa. Instead, it’s been stuck as “in transit” in Ottawa for over two weeks.

I’ve contacted Canada Post multiple times, and every time I get the same useless answer: they can’t find it. Now they’re telling me to contact the US consulate to file a claim. So basically my passport is somewhere in their system and nobody knows where, and nobody takes responsibility.

I have a US trip next week and there’s no way I can get a new passport and visa in time if this thing is actually lost. Has anyone dealt with Canada Post losing a passport from the US consulate shipment? How long did it take to resolve?

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 hours ago

Echoing others that you should think twice about visiting the US... with its current fascist presidency, anything unusual with documents is more likely to result in ample questioning and possible detention at the border.

If you are really trying to get into the US and then come back to Canada, you'll want to urgently reach out to the US consulate that the visa and passport are lost in the mail, so you would need a temporary entry permit/documents. Especially if you still have your Canada-issued student visa, visit your home country's consulate to see if they can issue a temporary passport. It would still be good to call Global Affairs Canada to ask given the documents lost and what you have, which documents you need to return to Canada. Then go to Service Canada to get those documents as quickly as possible. More likely than not you will have to delay that trip even if you managed to apply for every document necessary.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 points 13 hours ago

Sucks. Sometimes things get lost. Shipping isn't guaranteed. If you've asked them and they told you they can't do anything, it's probably best to start on the claim or otherwise reissuing the passport. I've received hundreds of packages over the years and they've not lost any but I know people who've had.

[–] jbrains@sh.itjust.works 3 points 12 hours ago

We have had an embassy mix up two passports, so we received one and someone else received the one we were expecting. Their trip was in three months, so they had no urgency, but ours was in four days.

We ended up tracking down the other person while we looked into our options. At one point, we were about to fly from Toronto to Ottawa and back in order to pick up the passport ourselves. In the end, we paid them to send the passport on a flight with a courier, so that at least I didn't have to go.

We got the passport at midnight and left for the airport 10 hours later.

Good luck.

[–] SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz 4 points 15 hours ago

I work in post, but not in Canada.

Postal facilities often move >100k items a day. Or much more. Occasionally, a parcel will go missing, lose its label, be destroyed and unrecognizable, or end up in a place no one thought it was possible for something to fit. Thin items are especially bad for this.

There is only so much that can be done to try and follow it via CCTV and/or scans. Whether they have done everything practical, I don't know.

We don't machine sort passports (which reduces the chances of it getting lost/destroyed), but I think that's only new passports coming from the printers. Your passport may have been treated like any other courier item - assuming Canada's processes are similar.

The rest of it is probably a question for a travel sub.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 13 hours ago

It wasn't sent registered mail?