On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 03:37:05PM -0800, Selena Deckelmann wrote:
> The two times I've gotten a passport, I found the process efficient
> and stress-free.
I did in the U.S., too.
The hardest part I found about getting my U.S. passport was finding
the time, while in the U.S., to go into a post office that accepted
them. Getting a U.S. passport is fast, cheap, and easy. I even got
my birth certificate from an online site. Really. (People who are
worried about identity theft due to SSNs being everywhere would be
appalled at how easy it is to get someone's birth certificate
delivered to you.)
And the people in the U.S. Post Office were cheerful and efficient.
You haven't met surly until you've been "served" by a Canada Post
counter employee near the end of the day. (That said, my mail carrier
is cheerful.)
Getting a passport in Canada used to mean that you had two signatures
from people who were "qualified" by being members of certain
professions. Clergy was one. Laughably, I later felt, so was
university professor. (Well, anyway, my wife found it funny. I
pretended not to.) Also, passports were good for five years and not
renewable, so you had to go through this song and dance every five
years. They're renewable now, but since our Israeli allies were
caught a few years ago using counterfeit Canadian passports for Mossad
agents, Canada is a little snippy about passport security still.
So, congrats JD. See, it wasn't so painful. And it coulda been
worse. You coulda been Canadian :P
A
--
Andrew Sullivan
ajs@crankycanuck.ca