Pre-paid return envelope

[jriede]

We received the letter asking for a photocopy of my husband's passport photo page (he is American) and his photos. I am wondering which "courier service" people have used to mail in the requested documents. We checked with Fedex and they said it would be about $50.00 to use them for sending our documents to Canada and the return pre-paid envelope (which seems crazy since we could mail a regular envelope to Canada from the US for the price of a regular stamp). It does say that passports cannot be returned via regular mail, but we are not sending in his passport since he is from the US. Thoughts?

 

[jordo]

We used FedEx to send from the US... It's actually $50 USD one way. It was $80USD coming back. This was "International Priority" 1-2 day service. Even though you're not sending a passport in the mail, you are receiving the COPR back in the mail. I believe that is why CIC will insist on a courier/tracked mail. If sending outside Canada then you need to use a courier who has end to end support. Sending regular mail (Canada Post/USPS) doesn't work because each service stops at the border.

I suppose you could send a Xpresspost envelope (or whatever Canada Post's service is called) if you put a Canadian return address but you'd need to send it from the States with the passport photocopy and then you'd need to figure out how to get it to your spouse in the States in a way you felt comfortable it wasn't going to get lost on the way.

 

[jriede]

Thanks so much for sharing! Did you look into UPS pricing at all? Or any service other than Fedex?

 

[jordo]

Thanks so much for sharing! Did you look into UPS pricing at all? Or any service other than Fedex?

No we didn't. I already had a Shipping account set up already with FedEx which made everything (including automatic payment for shipping in the return direction without my intervention) easier for us.

 

[jriede]

Gotcha. Ok - Thanks! Did you do 1-2 day service for any particular reason? (I think my husband got quoted for 4 day service)

 

[jordo]

Gotcha. Ok - Thanks! Did you do 1-2 day service for any particular reason? (I think my husband got quoted for 4 day service)

It was right around Christmas and I was in the States visiting my wife and we wanted a chance for it to arrive while I was there. No other reason

 

[jriede]

Cool. We live together in the US and aren't even hoping to move until the spring so we can basically wait as long as needed. Thanks again for the help!