Passports can now be picked up at new location in Metro Vancouver

British Columbians can now pick up their passports from a new location in Metro Vancouver as officials aim to reduce long waits at other offices.

In addition to the passport offices in Surrey and Vancouver, pick-ups can now be requested at the Richmond Service Canada Centre.

"Service Canada staff are working hard to provide passports to Canadians as quickly as possible," a statement from Employment and Social Development Canada said.

"At the same time, staff are doing everything they can to give Canadians a better service experience as they go through the passport process."

The office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Priority is still given to those travelling within 24 to 48 hours.

"As we work to reduce the backlog and bring service standards back to normal, we will take every measure we can to make the experience better for Canadians, and make our services more accessible," the statement said.

Earlier this month, the federal minister responsible for passports said officials hope to clear the backlog of applications in the next four to six weeks. For now, people continue to line up overnight outside passport offices, hoping to have their applications processed. 

"We did anticipate a surge and that’s why since January we’ve hired an additional 600 passport officers," Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould said. "What we didn’t anticipate was the level of surge that we were going to receive."

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Ben Miljure