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N.S. man says foreign passport is missing in the mail

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HALIFAX -

Fiben Joseph finds it pretty hard to relax these days. Originally from Kerala, India, he came to Canada as a student a couple of years ago, spending most of that time at Cape Breton University.

Now living in HRM, he's booked a trip home for January. Even months in advance, it's a ticket worth more than $2000, but he's not sure he'll be able to go due to passport difficulties.

Seeking a temporary visa, he had sent his original Indian passport to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, which approved the request and sent it back to the correct address with a Canada Post tracking number.

"I never expected this, man," Joseph told CTV News at home in Bedford Wednesday.

He followed the delivery-status for days and was relieved when the post office marked it delivered on Oct. 18.

When Joseph went to get his passport, he realized it was never delivered.

"I paid for the Xpresspost. They are supposed to take the signature from me, they're supposed to deliver it with proper care because it's a passport. It's an important document. That's why we choose Xpresspost or Priority," said Joseph.

Joseph has done everything to get it back including reporting the matter to Canada Post, which is investigating.

He also contacted police but hasn't heard back and canvassed the neighbourhood to see if someone else got it by mistake.

He's posted in community social media groups and looked into getting a replacement passport, but that would take a minimum of four to six weeks - cutting uncomfortably close to his travel date.

He says he's contacted the post office a number of times for updates, but the conversations haven't gone well.

"The way some of the customer service people talked back to me was very disgusting because it feels like I did the mistake and not them," said Joseph.

Immigration lawyer Lee Cohen says missing documents are a bureaucratic nightmare for anyone dealing with international matters, and it's happened more than once to his clients.

"Canada Post investigated and found that Canada Post was never at fault, and they seem never to be at fault," Cohen said.

CTV News reached out to Canada Post, but didn't receive a response by news time.

A webpage dedicated to missing items offers of a host of suggestions on alternate places to look for them, but not much else

Fiben Joseph said he'll never use the national post office for important documents again.

"There are a couple of other options than Canada Post," he said.

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