UK passports

[nbt]

Just wanted to give an update to my situation that I’d mentioned a couple of weeks back.

I called yesterday as the passport office told me to (two weeks before departure date). They told me they’d pass it over to the fast track dept who would call me within 48 hours. They called this morning, asked for proof of the holiday date. I asked if it’d then be fast tracked and reach me within 7 days to be told there were no guarantees

Decided it was time to get our local MP involved. Had a response from his office within 15 minutes. They contacted the Home Office on my behalf, kept me updated and told me a couple of hours later that HMPO would be in touch.

About two hours after that, I received an email to say the application had been approved. 40 minutes later it’d been printed!

It should never have reached that stage. It’s been 20 weeks so far and obviously it is still to reach us but hopefully it WILL be here within a few days now!

To anyone else, keep pushing because I had no answers as to why this one took so long. There seemed to be no reason for it whatsoever apart from it being overlooked.

 

[gmf21]

UK passports are printed in Poland so there's not much point

Plenty of people online who got theirs printed that day at whichever office, I’m not sure that’s right?

 

[Ensay]

My main tip with renewals is to do them fully online, including the photo. You can get digital photos at photo booths in places like Boots; they give you a code which you input on the Passport website and it brings your photo through. The only thing you need to post is your old Passport.

That way there's very little human involvement in the process which means you generally get your new Passport fairly speedily.

 

[gmf21]

Please can we have a UK passport application misery thread? I’m quite surprised I can’t find one!

 

[nbt]

I applied for 3 child passport renewals on 28th Feb. Still waiting for the final one and we go on holiday in a month.

His photo showed as “good” when I applied but later down the line wasn’t deemed good enough and we then had to ask someone to countersign, despite it being a renewal.

Then we had to send off a letter of consent from his Dad (I’m his stepmum and so they didn’t accept it coming from me). I sent that and his birth certificate by recorded delivery. It was signed for the next day but then wasn’t updated online as being received until a month later.

I’ve heard nothing from them in 8 weeks now and have been speaking to them unsuccessfully by email. I tried to call them earlier and despite first selecting that I’d been waiting more than 10 weeks and then selecting that it’s required urgently, wasn’t transferred to an actual person and instead the automated response was that they’ve received the information and it was being processed.

I can’t even book a fast track appointment now as the passport office have his old passport and birth certificate

I’ve emailed again today asking for someone to respond urgently. I think I’ll just have to bombard them with calls and emails now.

 

[nbt]

I called again earlier and chose option 8 as recommended here. I did actually get through to someone so thank you for that!

HOWEVER, they’ve told me I need to wait until two weeks before we go and then call again and ask for the passport to be fast tracked. I asked if she could assure me that the passport would be received in time. “Yes”. I asked for her name, she couldn’t give me her surname. I asked for her managers name, again no surname. And she couldn’t put her assurances in writing to me.

I just can’t. Their system is absolute shite!

 

[da1sycha1n]

Horrendous. For me I phoned the general passport line and pressed 8 and it connects you to an actual person instead of the robot. It makes absolutely no sense what system they’re using! The fast track appointments are so scarce it’s even risky. If you’re not already there’s a few Facebook groups with lots of tips on there for people waiting. Hope you get it in time

I had issue's with receiving my new replacement passport, it took 3 weeks before I got a notification they had received my documents then another week before another one saying it had been printed, a couple of days later I got another notification to say I would get an email from the delivery courier, this didn't happen! I tried on a good few occasions over an eight week period to contact the general passport line on the correct option button to no avail each time it was an automated response telling me to try later, So as a last resort I called again using option 8 and was pleasantly surprised to get to speak to a nice lady who helped so the courier company despite having failed to send me any tracking info had marked it as delivery attempted and were awaiting on myself contacting them for re delivery now how could I contact them when they hadn't even sent me a tracking info or number! we live on a road with only 2 houses on checking our security camera's that takes in all entrances and exits there had been no delivery attempted for the time or day given! I eventually got my passport after they lady at the passport office gave me the tracking number and advising me to ask for it to be redelivered, I finally received it the next day then my documents were sent back to me a couple of weeks later
so anyone with issues I urge to use option 8 when phoning the general passport line

 

[E84Blair]

I sent my passport off to change my surname in April...still waiting for it back

 

[Thecaddy11]

I think if you are renewing then it's not taking long at all. If you are applying for a brand new passport or changing your name etc then it's taking months

 

[da1sycha1n]

this was only a straightforward replacement?

I don't think I'd need any docs for my next new passport? This is 7 years away and I'm worried about it already

I think if you have your photos endorsed for your current passport you don't need that done for the next one, just new photos?

What a minefield

I had remarried so was wanting to change my surname hence I had to send our marriage certificate along with my old passport which I had let lapse owing to the pandemic it was a stressful time waiting in getting every thing back glad to say got there in the end!

I called again earlier and chose option 8 as recommended here. I did actually get through to someone so thank you for that!

HOWEVER, they’ve told me I need to wait until two weeks before we go and then call again and ask for the passport to be fast tracked. I asked if she could assure me that the passport would be received in time. “Yes”. I asked for her name, she couldn’t give me her surname. I asked for her managers name, again no surname. And she couldn’t put her assurances in writing to me.

I just can’t. Their system is absolute shite!

it is shocking! I take it it your application hasn't reached the printing or courier stage yet?

 

[nbt]

it is shocking! I take it it your application hasn't reached the printing or courier stage yet?

Nope but the lady I spoke to today confirmed that it was approved on 31st May. So 5 weeks and counting for it to be printed. I checked the other two passports I applied for at the same time and they were printed the day after being approved. Somebody somewhere has overlooked it, surely? What annoys me most is that one person I speak to could choose to send it through to printing… but nobody has yet.

@Imaweeble don’t feel awful at all! They should be quick like yours was. If anything, knowing that others are going through quickly helps me argue it a little more rather than just feeling helpless because “everybody is in the same situation” (although I do still feel helpless )

 

[Imaweeble]

I called again earlier and chose option 8 as recommended here. I did actually get through to someone so thank you for that!

HOWEVER, they’ve told me I need to wait until two weeks before we go and then call again and ask for the passport to be fast tracked. I asked if she could assure me that the passport would be received in time. “Yes”. I asked for her name, she couldn’t give me her surname. I asked for her managers name, again no surname. And she couldn’t put her assurances in writing to me.

I just can’t. Their system is absolute shite!

See this makes me feel awful that my passport was quick, I feel horrible for all the people who have been waiting weeks/months when now as it seems that applications are flying through. It’s like the new applications are going straight to the top of the pile and the older ones are being pushed further down.

I really hope it’s gets sorted soon and it comes quickly.

 

[Thecaddy11]

Just wanted to give an update to my situation that I’d mentioned a couple of weeks back.

I called yesterday as the passport office told me to (two weeks before departure date). They told me they’d pass it over to the fast track dept who would call me within 48 hours. They called this morning, asked for proof of the holiday date. I asked if it’d then be fast tracked and reach me within 7 days to be told there were no guarantees

Decided it was time to get our local MP involved. Had a response from his office within 15 minutes. They contacted the Home Office on my behalf, kept me updated and told me a couple of hours later that HMPO would be in touch.

About two hours after that, I received an email to say the application had been approved. 40 minutes later it’d been printed!

It should never have reached that stage. It’s been 20 weeks so far and obviously it is still to reach us but hopefully it WILL be here within a few days now!

To anyone else, keep pushing because I had no answers as to why this one took so long. There seemed to be no reason for it whatsoever apart from it being overlooked.

Glad you got sorted - but like you say it shouldn't have got to that stage. 20 weeks is insane.

I've had my children's first passports back in about 5 weeks in total. Only small hiccup was that after originally accepting the photo of my daughter they then decided that the lighting was too irregular.

 

[Imaweeble]

Just wanted to give an update to my situation that I’d mentioned a couple of weeks back.

I called yesterday as the passport office told me to (two weeks before departure date). They told me they’d pass it over to the fast track dept who would call me within 48 hours. They called this morning, asked for proof of the holiday date. I asked if it’d then be fast tracked and reach me within 7 days to be told there were no guarantees

Decided it was time to get our local MP involved. Had a response from his office within 15 minutes. They contacted the Home Office on my behalf, kept me updated and told me a couple of hours later that HMPO would be in touch.

About two hours after that, I received an email to say the application had been approved. 40 minutes later it’d been printed!

It should never have reached that stage. It’s been 20 weeks so far and obviously it is still to reach us but hopefully it WILL be here within a few days now!

To anyone else, keep pushing because I had no answers as to why this one took so long. There seemed to be no reason for it whatsoever apart from it being overlooked.

So pleased you finally got it sorted, even if it did take 20 weeks of waiting. Hopefully now it will arrive quickly and you will be able to have fantastic worry free holiday.

 

[Emmelina Ball]

Sounds like the renewal process isn't as bad as what the media have said. Most receiving their passports in 2-3 weeks. Wasn't it supposed to have been about 12 weeks before?

It’s the feb/mar/apr renewals that are stuck in a backlog. Any from May/June seem to be flying through while others are still waiting 12-16 weeks later. There’s a few groups on Facebook some horrific stories of how long they’ve been waiting. I only got mine last week after waiting 12 weeks where’s my friend got hers 2 weeks later and she only applied at the start of June!

 

[nbt]

Definitely use it, especially as you have been waiting so long. Also I don’t know if this will help but years ago the passport office messed up my kids passports and I had a battle with them so I called my mp’s office and they got it sorted the same day so that’s always worth a try. Keeping everything crossed for you

We were actually saying that this needs to be our next step so will definitely do that if we feel it comes to that. Thank you x

 

[Imaweeble]

@Imaweeble don’t feel awful at all! They should be quick like yours was. If anything, knowing that others are going through quickly helps me argue it a little more rather than just feeling helpless because “everybody is in the same situation” (although I do still feel helpless )

Definitely use it, especially as you have been waiting so long. Also I don’t know if this will help but years ago the passport office messed up my kids passports and I had a battle with them so I called my mp’s office and they got it sorted the same day so that’s always worth a try. Keeping everything crossed for you

 

[Notworthy]

My passport is 2 years out of date and I'm not planning on going anywhere yet but I'm gonna get it renewed. Wonder how long I'll be waiting. I also want to get my 4yo her first passport but honestly the hassle my friend had getting her kids sorted is putting me off.

Better to do it now when you don't need it than wait and then get stressed because you're going away and it's taking too long

It depends on when it was issued not when it runs out under EU law

In the EU (and possibly other countries too) you're passport is valid for 10 years from date issued. My last passport was issued in April 2011 but it expired June 2021, for EU purposes it expired in April

 

[mirrormirror20]

Plenty of people online who got theirs printed that day at whichever office, I’m not sure that’s right?

My sisters was printed in Glasgow on the day she went

Only 8 weeks, I know there’s a lot of people waiting longer. spent a long time today trying to find out what the statuses mean but none the wiser! On the 24th it was “at the examination part of the process” or something and today it’s just “awaiting checks”.

If we knew which office it was at, we’d potentially try the desperado turning up trick if it’s not here soon, but can’t find out how to find out where it’s gone!

You can turn up to any office and they can send the info over and print it

 

[LavaFlake]

I sent mine off on the 13th June and got it delivered today. I was dreading the delay but I'm assuming I've just been lucky. It wasn't even a direct renewal as my other passport expired two years ago