I Got My Passport Back After Holidays

[Humsafar 15]

Got my passport with the visa back today. To give everyone an idea or the waiting time post interview;

• Interview Date was Dec 18, 2018
• My visa was issued on Thursday Dec 20, 2018.
• I got the notice of the tracking # and that package was picked up by Canada post on Thursday, Dec 27, 2018
  • (it sounds like a long time but,  there was the weekend in between as well as Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing day, which were all weekdays, and offices r closed, so i lost 3 business days)
• The delivery date kept getting delayed, first it was Dec 28, 2018 and then changed to Dec 31, 2018. During both those days the status updates were very slow. Again, I had weekends  and New Year's Holiday in the way.
• On Dec 31, 2018, I was getting concerned about my package since I had a flight booked for Jan 3, 2019, from before my interview date. So, I called Canada Post customer service, created a service ticket and talked to the supervisor about my situation. She put the package on high priority got on its case. I was still stressed because the tracking service was not updating and it was at huge Gateway distribution centre since Dec 30, 2018, and with all the back log due to the strike i was concerned on delivery delays. I called back on Jan 2, 2018 to talk to the supervisor again, and I was gonna ask if I can go pick it up myself (Ur still not allowed to), but then she said, I have good news, your package has arrived in your city as of this morning and should be at the post office for pick up at 11am. I was so happy, so much stress during this past week. 

 

As an overview, 

• XpressPost is 2-5 business days
  • Excluding all the interruptions (holidays), my package did arrive in that time frame.
  • It may be beneficial to speak to a supervisor to expedite ur process if u have a flight booked from b4.

 

So happy now to be going and seeing my husband. New Year, new chapter! All the best to everyone!