Consulate General of Canada in Seattle

Seattle sits two hours from the busiest Canadian land border on the west coast, and it is the second most searched Canadian consulate in the country after New York. For a city of this size that says something about the border rather than about the city.

The furthest city in its district with a page here is Anchorage, 2,269 miles away.

Contacting the Seattle office

Its district covers Alaska, which reaches this office by a road that runs through Yukon and British Columbia. Alaskans cross two international borders to reach their own consulate by car, or they fly.

What the Seattle office handles

Canada assigns Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington to this office.

It witnesses signatures, takes affidavits and statutory declarations, certifies copies, and issues permanent resident travel documents to residents who need to fly home without a valid card.

What it cannot do

A long list of things people arrive expecting are handled somewhere else entirely.

• It does not issue a permanent resident card, which IRCC prints and mails.
• It does not issue a citizenship certificate, which is also an IRCC application.
• It does not issue a birth, marriage or death certificate, which are provincial.
• It does not grant an eTA or a visitor visa, both of which are online applications.

What you can do without coming in

These are handled online or by mail, and no appointment speeds any of them up.

• Get an eTA, A web form linked to your passport. Most applications are approved within minutes.
• Order a birth or marriage certificate, From the province where it happened. Ottawa does not hold these records.
• Check an application, Every IRCC and passport application can be followed online.
• Renew a permanent resident card, An IRCC application. The card is mailed, and never to an address outside Canada.