Massive passport lineup wraps around the entire mall in Mississauga
Published April 5, 2022 at 11:32 am
Hundreds of people have been lining up daily for the last four days at Mississauga’s lone passport office as residents scramble to update their travel documents.
The huge lineups at the Mississauga Service Canada Centre (Passports) location at Central Parkway Mall, on Burnhamthorpe Rd. E., wrap around the entire mall and come after the Canadian government lifted COVID-19 air travel restrictions on April 1.
The lengthy lineup continues inside the mall (see photos below), starting at the passport office and Baskin-Robbins in the morning and continuing around the mall to the north entrance in the hours that follow, people at the mall told insauga.com.
Ottawa says that with the easing of travel restrictions, the demand for passports—both new and renewals—has started to increase and is returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Additionally, the federal government has simplified the passport renewal process, which has prompted many people to update their documents.
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“As COVID‑19 restrictions are lifted, more and more Canadians are looking to travel abroad. The government of Canada will continue to modernize and improve its services to better respond to the changing needs of Canadians,” a March 31 news release from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada reads.
“Canadians in Canada and abroad can now use the simplified process to renew an expired passport as long as it was issued within the last 15 years,” the release continues. “The simplified process is also available to individuals who had their passport lost, stolen or damaged. Previously, the simplified renewal process wasn’t available for passports expired longer than a year or those that were lost, stolen or damaged.”
Furthermore, with the simplified renewal process, applicants don’t need to have a guarantor or provide their original documents, such as proof of citizenship or photo identification.
They need two photos, two references, their completed form and the applicable fees.
(Photos: Aaron Cabral)
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