Service Canada Centre - Medicine Hat

Honestly though. WHY? SERIOUSLY WHY? Why does it have to be confusing with 2 separate addresssnd 1 adress. Both services Canada and RCA are identical and

I found them friendly and well informed helped me on several occasions once I didn't like the news but at least they kmew what they were talking about!

They knew what we needed which was a new SIN as wroted in the inquiry I submitted and could've just left a voice-mail saying it could be done online and I would've done so. Instead they wanted me to physically pick up the phone in order to tell me that...

(Check the latter half of my reviews, I generally have tips for customers, and these will be especially helpful.) There's three reasons for my three star review. First, because of the one other time I came in and applied for my social insurance number and the service was good. Second, because the receptionist was nice enough to direct me to where I could get service. And third, it's actually kind of not this location's fault for the lack of service, and is just the Government of Canada's fault for not providing Medicine Hat with a full service location in terms of passports (this is only a pickup location). Most of this review will be about the passport service, keep in mind. If it's anything else, they're cool here, go for it. Just remember to do some research first. What I'd recommend to the government, the people behind this business, is that we should have at least two of these per every location classified as a city, one of which offering the full passport service and the other just for pickups. What would be terrific is one full service location for smaller towns (as in, Smaller than the Medicine Hat/Redcliff area), but two per city would be excellent so we don't have to take an outing across the province in order to get a passport, which is already an ordeal in and of itself in Canada, and not made any easier by a lack of service in Medicine Hat. At the very least it will add some additional jobs to towns, you know? Ranting aside, I do have some tips for those of you who want a passport based on my experience with trying to get a passport. First, do the research for what you're doing, even if it isn't for a passport. This step is CRUCIAL. Then, what you want to do is make sure you haven't made plans yet for travel. If you have, you've already failed and most likely NEED to go to Calgary at the Harry Hays building (see my next paragraph for your options). Now, get your guarantor, get your two references. If for ANY reason you have no guarantor, you need to go to Calgary at some other place and it requires even more references, PLUS you can only get a passport for one year and not five if you do the statutory in lieu of guarantor, and cannot be a guarantor yourself. Get the guarantor, it's pretty much required. There is a fee for any passport you get, so make sure you have that on top of additional fees (we'll get to it). The last thing besides filling out all the required forms is the photo. London Drugs does them for a nominal fee of something like twenty dollars, so do that. You should have everything you need. Go here with all your stuff, it should take a week or two, and it'll be ready for you. If you were like me and already made plans, you have to get it expedited, which means going to Calgary. This has additional fees. Unfortunately, not everyone has a vehicle (such as myself), or has someone with the time or will or money to go all the way to Calgary (again, such as myself). There's a solution for this as well. See, you can get a shuttle service in town. One way is About $65, so if you go both ways, it's about $130. Pack a lunch or some extra cash, because at three hours each way, it's going to be a long trip. Then, you have to do it again on or a day or two after your pickup date, so you'll be spending a good $450 (or thereabouts) just to go this route if you lack a vehicle. If you have a vehicle, the total cost is still going to be about $190 plus gas costs. So again, get the passport first. As you can tell, you need to make sure you do it right.It'll cost less, and save a lot of stress.

I wish I would have read the reviews before wasting my time at this building. If you're going there to get passports done you you better book a day off and plan on being there for a long time. They are clearly understaffed even though it looks like there's lots of cubicles. Never ended up getting my passports done and I am not even going to waste another minute in this building I am just going to Calgary to get them done.

Super frustrating when I login online and it tells me it cannot process my request and to call the 7555 number, then I call 170 times only to finally get through and have the system tell me that UC2 all servers are busy, due to call volume (despite already being in the IVR) my call cannot be answered and disconnects on me, or due to volumes please visit the website that literally just told me I need to call and speak with an agent. If grocery stores can Implement fiber glass to still serve customers because they're considered essential, then Service Canada should be implementing the same thing. A lot of people are not just hungry but facing homelessness and destroyed credit.

Phone number listed is actually for someone in Ottawa. No way if getting ahold of these local people to ask a question

Good service, very kind everyone..