New Upgrade service

I have also sent a request to upgrade my application to premium today. Waiting for response...

So as i said we put in for the upgrade yesterday 07:00 Waited for 7 hours 14:00 then called customer service number Only to be told that you cannot do anything you have to wait until they call you. Could not even commit to saying that they have recived our evidence. They said it would be up to 48 hours for the team to get back to us and that if it went any longer than that then we could call and they would put a hurry up on the team. So as it stands Flying on the 26th of April Leaving home 25th April 14 days till we fly today with 2 Bank Holidays in between Fingers, Toes and everything else crossed Will keep you updated

We fly the 24th April and still not heard back from them. We have 3 passports to get. Fingers crossed for everyone that we get something soon

@ Tillybobs when did you apply for the upgrade?

i’ve had an email from passport complaints department apparently the upgrade services cannot be used for Adult 1st passport over 16 it can be used for under 16

Please be aware that upgrades are only available at the discretion of Her Majesty's Passport Office after the submitted application has been fully examined and cannot be applied to applicants over the age of 16 applying for their first UK Passport. In order to obtain an upgrade, the application must be processed under the Premium Service and an additional fee is payable. Payment can be made via credit/debit card over the telephone, or in person at a Passport Office. Even if payment is taken over the phone, a visit to the office may be necessary to collect the passport. To insure that the passport is ready for collection the same day, payment must be made by 1:00pm.

I sent the email on Saturday and still not heard from them. I have just had approved for 2 out of 3 passports today but still got to wait for them to make it to me with the bank holiday. Hope you get something from them soon

Hi, I sent the email today around lunch time as well to Peterborough upgrade team. At the moment I'm really concerned that if any of this upgrade office is in work as I haven't seen anyone saying they had a reply and proceed with the new upgrade service. I will post updates if I hear from them. Fingers and toes crossed!!! PS: we submitted the application on 7 Mar and documents finally received on 28 Mar. No update ever since and I called today and was told the application has not been checked yet. Not even in process after all this time!!!!

Have you had any joy with upgrade service and how did you know where to email them? Thanks.

@fingerscrossed you’ll get a call within 48 hrs of sending in email. Sit tight. They’re getting back to people in date order. I’m expecting a call within the next 24 hours now 🤞🏼

@ ritabix Thanks Our 48 hours are up today. We will be calling the customer help line at 08:00 I will keep everyone posted

I am using the upgrade service for my daughters renewal to an adult passport. I have been told that is ok? I allied you the london office on Monday. Not heard back yet.

Ahhhh! I was given the wrong information and told to apply to my local office for upgrade not to the office holding the original application!! Now I have wasted 48hours and had to reapply to Durham! In fact I had originally sent the application to Glasgow and it was moved internally! Nice of them to tell me that too!!!! 🤬🤬🤬🤬

Did you get a reply from them after sending the email? So which office should we email to? The one holding the application or the local office?

Hi all, Wanted to update you on our application – feel free to click on my responses to see our specific situation. Timeline: Passport Recieved: 13 April 2022 Passport printed: 12 April 2022 Application approved: 12 April 2022 Application being processed: 11 March 2022 Documents internally sent to Durham: 05 March 2022 Documents received (to peterbourgh): 28 February 2022 Old Passport recorded as being delivered: 18 February 2022 Application received: 17 February 2022 Application submitted: 17 February 2022 Incredibly stressfull process. Multiple calls to HMPO to be told different things. We even contacted our MP. Finally got told after calling on 6th April to write a letter explaning damage to the passport, as all replacement applications require a description of how the damaged occured regardless of doing it on the online application. When I asked why I was not previously told he said no-one had actually looked at the passport application by that point. We got told about the new upgrade process on that day to get passport fast tracked as we were traveling within two weeks. We got a call from an examiner on the 11th, he gave us a choice as he was about to approve the application normally. He could approve it to go to central print (with all the delays about two weeks) or pay for the ‘upgrade’ and the would print locally like all fast tracked appointments. We paid the extra amount (around £70). My advice would be to keep trying to call HMPO we ended up getting in touch with a VERY helpful chap from the customer service management team who told us about the letter and what exactly to write. I think our application was always going to get ‘looked at’ on the 11th, so was really lucky we had sent the additional letter stating the damage and we intend to upgrade the application.

OK Latest update from our process Our 48 hours were up today - still no response Phoned this morning and spoke to someone in customer service. They asked us to resend the email to Newport.... our orginal email went to Glasgow. He would email Newport and tell them that our email is coming Also to stand by the phone and wait for them to call. Its now 5pm and guess what NO PHONE CALL Our stress levels are through the roof We travel on the 26th of April If there is anyone out there that has a good news story on this new upgrade system please let us know. I need to see some light at the end of the tunnel

My 48 hours will be up today at 6pm. Everyday I'm waking up stressed and the whole day is spent checking my phone. Due to travel on the 23rd. Been in processing since 18/03.

We are due to travel on the 25th.. application been in since 14th of March.. phoned every day since Friday.. told to send the email to Newport office so did I that Sunday.. now it’s been 72 hours and still not had a phone call.. I could scream.. seriously need to consider moving my holiday

Been told to send my upgrade email to Peterborough but just called and found out my application is in Durham. Waiting for a call back now from progressing team as I need to know where I should send this email as they told me Peterborough but reading on here sounds like it should be Durham where my application is.

I got through to someone in processing today who confirmed my email should be sent to the Liverpool office where my application is - not Glasgow, my local office and where I was initially told to email. Apparently this is because my application has moved from being in the ‘digital’ system to manual (which I assume means it needs to be checked by an actual human being, hence the delay in it progressing). Definitely worth double checking where it should be sent because it seems a lot of people are losing valuable time being told to email the wrong office! I was told they are phoning people back in order of who is travelling soonest, so I assume they are currently dealing with people who are set to travel in the next few days. I was also told no need to attend any office as they should be able to do everything remotely. Still saying I’ll receive a call in 48 hours but I’m not holding my breath given other peoples experiences on here. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re working in order of date of travel and still leaving us all enough time to get the upgrade through but let’s wait and see. Oh and I was also told not to expect anyone to phone over the Easter weekend as they’ll all be on holiday, which means if we don’t hear anything tomorrow it’ll be Tuesday at the very earliest. Yikes!!!

So should I just change email to Durham instead of Peterborough

Mine is at Liverpool but I was told to email my closest office and they will Liaise with the office who has my passport and documentation.. I think this may be down to collection in person???…

And also I asked about the bank holiday weekend and was told that they are not open to the public but the office is open working through the backlog of applications

Thanks for the update! I hope they are really working on them as they said. I emailed yesterday and have turned my phone sound to the loudest whole day today. I will wait tomorrow if nothing then phone them next Tuesday. My baby's application is still Document received 28 Mar and not even in process...

Maybe to be on the safe side email both the office processing your application and cc in your local office and just make it clear in your email you’re doing so because you’ve been given conflicting information? If you’ve already emailed one then just forward it to the other and say the same thing.