How can I reach a live person at the Canadian Consulate general office in LA

I have a friend visiting from Asia.  He wants to leave from the US and
go to Canada for a few month visit.

He applied for a 6 month, single entry Canadian visa by mail when he
got to the US.  He sent his passport, airline tickets, and whatever
else they wanted.

They mail and ask for some more documents, he mailed them right in.

He was supposed to hear back soon if he got the visa, but it?s been a
long time and no word yet and he must leave the US by Sept 1st, when
his US visa expires.

My friend has to leave the US by Sept 1st, and doesn?t have his
passport or other papers. if he says in the US and awaits a reply, he
could get into a situation where he overstays his visa and that is not
good. He needs to know what Canada will do.  Give him his visa or deny
him, but so far he hasn?t gotten anything back and time is running
out.

He doesn?t speak English well at all and asked for my help.  I called
the Canadian Consulate general office in LA, but only got trapped in
voice jail.  I left a message but haven?t heard back.  I can?t find a
way to reach a live human.

Is there a way to reach a human and see what has got stalled w/o flying to LA?

I think I have all the details right, but because of the poor English,
I could be a bit off.

thanx in advnce

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 18 Aug 2004 04:28 PDT

I used to go to school with a Jim West, an actor who headed out to LA.

Jim...is that you?

It's hard -- as you already know -- to pin down the numbers for an
actual human being at the Consulate.  Here are a few links that may be
useful:

==========


You'll find a list of names and e-mail contacts (and a few phone
numbers that you've probably tried already) here:

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/menu-en.asp?act=v&did=317&mid=9&cat=603&typ=1




This link lists investment officers at the Consulate...not what you
need, but a human contact just the same, who may be able to provide
you with a direct phone number for immigration:

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/menu-en.asp?act=v&mid=1&cat=6&did=1893



There's a San Diego office as well, that may be of help:

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/menu-en.asp?mid=47&cat=1922


==========


Let me know if these are helpful or not.  Good luck for you and your friend.

Hi jimwest-ga,

I've located the information for the Canadian Consulate in Los
Angeles. I've dealt with the consulate myself personally. While I've
found them to be a bit on the, uh, uninformed side (they wanted me to
photocopy a certificate of citizenship to send to them; doing so is a
violation of US Federal Law), they are helpful nonetheless.

Full contact information can be found on the Canadian Immigration and
Citizenship website (CIC) at:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/offices/missions/los-angeles.html

However, for ease, the contact information is:

Telephone/
Facsimile
Numbers: Mission Tel.: (213) 346-2700
Immigration Tel.: (213) 346-2700
Mission Fax: (213) 620-8827
Immigration Fax: (213) 625-7154 

I was able to get through to a human being easily each and every time
I called. I normally just hit '0' to reach the operator.

If you need any clarification of this answer, please don't hesistate
to request clarification prior to rating and closing this question.

Thanks,

Legolas-ga

Search terms: (Google)

canada consulate la

Thanks.  Got the problem fixed.  I was able to get in my pressing 0. 
not shure why this didn't work earlier, but it worked now.

thanks so much! awseome work.

Have you tried 
1-800-267-6788 
(613) 944-6788 and 
(613) 996-8885? 

These are numbers of their emergency services to Canadians. Usually,
there's a human answer there, although I wouldn't call in the middle
of the night to ask for Cricket results (as it happened to a friend of
mine who was working in the emergency service of the British
Consulate).

no luck on any of those.   BTW i am not thta jim west that you mentioned.

any other ideas??
helP!