Edmonton Millbourne Service Canada Centre — Local services in Edmonton

Well, I had quite the day at Service Canada today, but WOW, the staff there turned a very bad day into a very good experience. I arrived at 750am. Upon entering at 835, i realized my water bottle had leaked in my tote bag and the edges of the Passport application pages and one set of photos were wet. The registration staff advised me to go get new photos and to dry the application pages and they could use my guarantor's signature from the original photos. They gave me a "fast pass" to come back. I arrived back at 1120am. I was immediately registered and was with an agent within 5 mins. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my Parenting Agreement paperwork, but had a digital copy. The agent allowed me to use the computer at Service Canada to print it off....but my document was too large so they had to send me upstairs to the "Welcome" centre to print the document. They, again, gave me a "fast pass" to come back and the commissionaire even walked me to the elevator! Printing took less than five minutes and I was back at Service Canada by 1140am. We were immediately served, and again, with a different agent (shout out to Omar at station 8!) within 5 minutes. Omar was fantastic! He was kind, respectful and jovial with my daughter and I as he processed the passport application. He was very thorough and efficient. Despite all the trouble I had today, the service, human kindness and patience I received today was exceptional and I would definitely say that this was a positive experience!!! These folks work extremely hard and deserve our patience and gratitude. The wating room was FULL and I heard them say wait times of those registeref was ~2 hrs. Thank you Service Canada staff (KUDOS!) for the excellent service today and I wish you all as positive an experience as I had. PS. If you are a walk-in, arrive before 8am....you should be out by 930 am (they...

I had a great experience at this location. I arrived at 7:45 (Wednesday)and was glad I came to this location because you can wait inside the mall instead of outside on the street. They opened the doors at 8:20 and started to pre-screen people for traveling dates which was nice because you were traveling before a certain date you wouldn’t have to wait around to find out your passport wouldn’t come on time. They were also handing out time sheets to see the average time people were waiting in line, so they clearly are trying to make a difference in how passport offices function. At 8:30 the line started moving and I was brought to a desk that looked over my paperwork, he informed me of a few mistakes including one that needed my husbands signature. I had to redo my forms. He gave me a slip to hold my spot in line while I figured out how to fix the problem. About 30 min later I came back and this time my paperwork was correct so he said I could go sit. My name was called within 10 min. Even with my mistakes on my form I was out of there by 9:30. I felt compelled to write a review since they were so accommodating and when I was looking to see approximately how long the whole process was going to take I didn't see many reviews. I hope this is helpful to someone. I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to this location even though I was dreading it because usually it is time consuming and generally not a fun process. Glad that something is being done to make getting your passport a little less painful. Also my passport should come 1st week of December which is earlier...

Came in for a passport renewal knowing it would be a wait. Staff repeatedly told a portion of the line that it would be a 3 hour wait and to "plan our day accordingly". No problem, I expected that. After 3 1/2 hours I checked my place in line, 13 in front still, will be another hour. Ok, I can still do that. An hour later I check again, 9th in line! I took 15 minutes trying to decide what to do because I couldn't stay another 2 - 3 hours and in that time I went from 9th to 10th because an appointment came in! I understand that you can't fully predict how long the wait will be but here is the issue. The SAME employee continued to tell the line of new people coming in that it would be a 3 hour wait which is impossible! I was there at open and they close at 4:30, I would have been lucky to see anyone before close! Had I been able to "plan my day accordingly" I would have left knowing I didn't have 8 hours to spare. Want to know your real wait time? Once checked in, ask how many people are in front of you and then count how many agents are working (they come out to call the next person). Each person in line will take about 30 minutes with an agent so divide the people in front of you by the agents times 30 minutes. That might be a bit more accurate wait time and that's if you don't have a bunch of people with multiple passport applications (there was a lady in front of me with 7). Hopefully this will help you "plan your day...