Hamilton East Service Canada Centre and Passport Services — Local services in Hamilton

Best location for passport service! The workers are nice and happy, super helpful and efficient!! I tried doing this passport thing already 3 times at the Mississauga location, line up for 4 hrs didn’t got to go in, line up outside the mall on the rain twice, just horrible, worst experience ever -0⭐️ oh and when u come in into the line the always tell you “there’s a big chance no one will see you today” This location is the best!! I arrived at 8:30, there was 24 ppl in front of me, received us with a super wonderful greeting, there was someone from the office checking the line making sure you had the correct documents, it took less than 20 mins to get to the front of the line, when I was told I was missing some documents, had to drive home and come back around 10 and there was only 3 people in front of me, when I was told the pictures didn’t meet up the criteria (faults of the photographer in shoppers so don’t recommend going there), they told me I needed to come back today because of my short flight plus recommend me never to go to the Mississauga location 😂… even the people at the office know how awful the service is at that office 😆 came back at 11:48 again greeted with a huge smile, there was like 10 people in front of me some with appointments, I was told I would be seen soon and everything will be fast not to worry. And I’m waiting right now to be called in, there is like 8 booths open out of the 13, there is 21 people ahead of me and I don’t see any familiar face from this morning meaning they are seeing people pretty fast! I mega recommend coming to this location 10000% I live in oakville so I’ve been driving today like crazy but still I feel it was sooooo worth coming to this location. Ok updating my review… it’s 12:10 and I’m out of the office, I was seen by a very sweet gentleman, everything went super fast and easy!! I seriously recommend this location and THANK YOU to all the employees here for such a wonderful service/ experience/ customer support!! You guys rock and are...

Wasted about 5 hours in line and was not able to renew my passport. There is no information available to anybody waiting in line, luckily some of the folks waiting were able to offer some insight. By the sluggish way at which the window operators work, it becomes very apparent that they are on hourly wages and are not concerned about who’s waiting in line, or why, regardless of the fact that they’re being funded by actual tax payer money. They’re currently short staffed, yes. But you can actually just look through the window and see that the ones who remain are probably running at a generous 50% of actual capabilities, considering the time in between servicing people. There’s about 3 (yes, three) security guards on site that sometimes break away from their group conversation to come out every couple of hours, but mostly to discourage people from waiting and offer little to no information on what kind of system is being used to actually service people or even if you have a chance of getting in. Or what the best time to come wait is. Or what the situation inside is like. Or what the operators moods are like that day. Which is odd considering they do this every day and should have a general idea of roughly how many people they will allow to enter at a certain time. They are privately hired security guards who kind of run it like a nightclub. Lots of rules and very little information or service. From the questions I asked, it seems that everything will depend on the window tellers’ mood that day. Sometimes they feel like working, and you’ll get your passport, sometimes they don’t. Tolerable when ordering a burrito, probably not the best when attempting to acquire a legal document. In short, nobody here, at any moment during the day, has any idea what is happening. So if you go here, pray to the passport Gods and you might get lucky. But if you actually need your passport, maybe fly to...

Arrived at the location around 8AM at the end of September, and though there were people in their vehicles, no one had begun lining up, so I ended up at the head of the line. When the location opened, the line up consisted of around 10 people. The doors open at pretty much 8:30AM and not earlier (you can watch the employees stream in as the entrance is on the same side of the building, though not the main doors)

Once doors opened, was met by a representative who greeted me and asked the purpose for my visit (passport renewal with undamaged old passport with a trip coming within 3 weeks). Was directed to the first available cubicle, where the representative there was able to assuage my concerns about the renewal being processed in time. That said, I did opt for the extra $20 for pickup to avoid any possible mailing issues. In general, found both representatives to be empathetic, kind and professional. Was in and out in 15 minutes.

Note that this location does not do express passports, nor is it the pickup location if you decide to choose that option. Online passport status showed my new passport had already been printed within a week/5 business days of submission, so mail delivery would likely have been fine. Would recommend this location vs the Upper James one if you're not in the rush, as you don't need to contend with any rush renewals/applications, based off the short experience I had picking up the passport at Upper James (arrived around 9AM, about 30-40 people there)

Summary: Passport renewal with old passport available. First in line, in and out in about 15 minutes. Printed as per online status within a week, available for pickup on the date set (2.5 weeks after...