Yay, I now have data to compare the responsiveness of three major social security administrations. Here is the purely anecdotal comparison:
Seriously, today I received the first response to a letter I sent to the US SSA on May 30, 2009. The only explanation I have is that they never got the letter and actually responded to later resends. If they only got the third attempt, they’ll have processed the request within two months, which won’t be too bad.