Got my approval notification last night. They must work 24/7? I understand they are under a lot of pressure/stress like most public service at the moment.
Application submitted 8:29am on 15 September 2022
Application received 8:30am on 15 September 2022
Posted on 15th September using a standard 1st class stamp – Luckily 5 minutes before the postman came
Documents received 1:44pm on 20 September 2022
Application approved 7:25pm on 4 October 2022
Passport printed 3:53am on 5 October 2022
Suspect it will be getting delivered tomorrow.
Took exactly 2 weeks from docs received to docs approved. So I cant complain too much, but the process is a bit stressful. Especially for someone with anxiety problems. My suggestion to HMPO would be: add more statuses/updates to the tracker. Perhaps Docs received -> Application being processed -> Application approved. Just to give people that peace of mind that its actually in the queue and being looked at.
I’m not really sure how the queue is handled seems odd that the user above me application was 1 week before mine yet mine was approved 3 days later? Seems to be a bit down to luck.
It can also get a bit worrying when you go on the review pages and see people getting them back in a week.
My best bet as to what’s happening is: if you take your own photo/selfie it takes longer to approve than the professional/photo booth ones where you get a code. My partner did a photobooth/code one and got it back in a week. I did it the selfie route and it took 3 weeks.
