ode
There are lots of local qualifiers , 111 were held in the US alone last year so not sure why there would be a problem or need to try and get into the Canadian one. Its not hard to play in a qualifier, as long as you meet the criteria , you can enter...around 10,000 golfers attempt it each year
as for passports, at least up here can be gotten in a couple days in an emergency.
as a correction to the title, first time a local qualifier has been held, stage 2 sectional qualifiers have been held overseas.