My friend, a Canadian citizen, currently lives in the US and wants to send her passport to me (I am in Canada) so that I can deposit it at the consulate for issuance of a visa she needs for the country she plans to visit next month.
Time being a constraint, she would like to send the passport to me by courier. Is it likely to be held up by US/Canada customs for whatever reasons? I ask because if that happens then the attempt at saving of time will be negated and in fact could cost longer than if she were to apply for the visa from the US itself.
Any answers or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Does she not live within driving distance of a Canadian consulate or embassy? Or, more likely, within driving distance of the embassy/consulate of the country she would like to visit?
Also, I’ve found that there are very few countries that do not have some way to get your visa when you arrive in their country. Since you know what country she’s travelling to, I would check their particular requirements.
ETA: Example: For Egypt, visitors are required to have entry visas which you can get from Egyptian consulates. However, most travelers simply get their visas when arriving in Egypt at their port of entry.
I can’t say whether it will be held up at the border, my guess is most likely not.
But I would try to avoid sending the passport by courier, especially if time is of the essence because once you lose control of your passport you never know what can happen.
I was in a similar situation and the courier brought my passport to my address, but on the North East side of Washington and I live on the North West side. It took days to clear up, I missed a flight and finally when I found out the mistake I drove to the other house and asked nicely for my package which they gave up. Just one data point, I know, but buyer beware.
If she is genuinely worried about customs, she may want to contact a visa/passport service near her. They tend to be concentrated in DC (obviously), NYC and San Francisco. She can FedEx the passport to them along with any apps required.
Many moons ago I worked for such a service in DC and we had many foreign citizens do just that. A good courier will often have good relationships with the consular personnel and can help with the time constraints. They charge a couple of bucks, but it works.