10 weeks wait time exceeded. What next?

I know the email said 3 work days however if its anything like any other timelines they advise I'm not hopeful but they say not to email them again but I'll be ringing again come Thursday if ive not heard anything as we will be at 12 weeks by then

Mine didn't give a time frame for their reply - just: "We have received your email. Please do not send any more emails as this may cause delays. We can only consider expediting an application if you submitted your application at least 10 weeks ago If this does not apply to you, you will not receive a response from this mailbox. You cannot expedite your application face-to-face at a passport office – please do not visit us."

OMG I just got an email notification with my son's and husband's applications have been approved!

Question: my sons online application was sent to Durham office (we live in Weymouth) so they picked the furthest office away from us. Anyone got experience of them switching the offices ? we are at 10 weeks tomorrow, it's been escalated to the upgrade team at Durham but no confirmation or timeline, we need to apply for visa's latest 7 days before our planned travel which is 1st August. We can't just go and turn up at the office in Durham it's 6 and half hours away but could go to Newport.

@Upsidedown CONGRATULATIONS!! could I ask when you emailed the expedite team? did you do this directly? I've also received that auto response email but nothing further yet - I just emailed them on Thursday afternoon. And where these 1st time applications too for your family or renewals? I've just called and spoke to someone on the advice line and she said she has emailed across too just as they have had the application so long and no movement on it since receiving on 25th April and no notes on anything either. its so stressful

What happens if you hit 10 weeks but you have no travel booked - do they just do nothing??? This isn't fair if this is the case as we are wanting to book travel but told not to until we get passports then you get penalised for doing as you're told!!!

@Estival - this is what we did, nothing booked as yet but annual leave taken from work from 8th August as Post office advised not to book anything till passport arrives in 10 weeks which is fine but we are now 11 weeks and my application hasn't budged at all since they received it in Durham office on 25th April. Expedite email sent on Thursday and got auto reply as above and then webchat agent advised me to ring up advice line to to get them to do this from there end as nothing showing on application as to why its being held up - mines a 1st time application too so likely need interview - hopefully hear something soon from them

@ks18 mine is stuck at Durham too. 10 weeks this week. Just had email saying waiting to be examined. Like you we have got annual leave pencilled in but cos we haven't actually got flights booked then it looks like we get overlooked. So disappointing cos I don't know how we can get prioritised without anything prebooked even though we've hot the 10 week mark. I feel your frustration. Let me know if you have any joy with expedite email.

@ks18 these were first time passports. I sent the email on Saturday. In the email I set out the history of the application and included dates of different contacts etc. I said my son was anxious that they had lost his passport and birth certificate, which would be expensive to replace. And finally I said that we are due to travel in 3 weeks and were worried the passport would not arrive in time as it has to get to Australia and postage can take a while. We had been waiting a very long time and clearly someone looked at the application and agreed it needed to get moving.

@Estival ours was expedited I am pretty sure because it had been processing for well over 10 weeks. (Bearing in mind that HMPO counts 10 weeks from when your supporting documents were received, not from when your application was submitted. We were over 12 weeks from the date our documents were officially received. If it is at that point, I would suggest you send the details of your application process and then say that you have tried to do the right thing by not booking, but the uncertainty of when you will be able to travel is causing considerable stress and anxiety.

@Upsidedown, Out of interest which eMail address did you use? I'm not that stage yet, but it would be useful to have just in case.

I used the address Helly87 supplied - it was expeditedservice@hmpo.gov.uk

Ta.

Upsidedown, When i spoke to HMPO yesterday they lady said i was exactly 10 weeks and that was taken when it was submitted

We just had a call from HMPO say my sons was approved and being printed today then on a courier for delivery tomorrow touchwood, it's 10 weeks exactly tomorrow. Countless phone calls, emails to upgrade teams, expedite team etc hours of on hold calls and sleepless nights it better turn up tomorrow.

@Upsidedown Thanks for this, will try that. Mine was a postal application posted just over 10 weeks ago and I got this text message a week and a half later: We've received your passport application. Please allow 10 weeks for it be processed. Do not call for updates; we'll contact you if more information is needed. Does the 10 weeks start from when I posted it or when they sent me the text message?

Estival, I applied online on the 27th April but they only started counting the wait from the date they messaged me to say they had received my old passport. Did you send all your documents along with your application?

@screamer there are many many people on this forum who have been told by HMPO staff that it only counts from when your documents received, because they can't start working on it until then. It should count from submission though, I agree, and maybe it did count from then until the times started blowing out.

COLANDJO73 Yes all my documents were sent with the postal application but it was nearly 2 weeks after I sent it that I received the text message to say they'd received it. I'm guessing the 10 weeks starts from the text message knowing my luck 😏

they received my application in the Durham office on the 25th April and every time I've chased it they say its awaiting examination so still hasn't even been checked and I'm past the 10 weeks from them receiving the application, I spoke to someone on webchat yesterday who advised me to contact advice line and ask them to email expedite team at Durham internally to see what hold up is and they've requested a call back too - still heard nothing from either of those teams so unsure of what those waiting times are - but expecting i will be making more chase up calls tomorrow if i have heard nothing by then. still may need an interview too with it being 1st passport which will have more delays or something as well

Mine is stuck at Durham too awaiting examination. Did you get an email address for Durham? I've just got expeditedservice@hmpo.gov.uk and never got a response from them. By the way is awaiting examination better than "in processing" or is it the same thing?

@Estival ours were at Durham and that was the email address I emailed. I am not sure there is a difference - ours was with an examiner for weeks, I think just sitting on their desk.

@upsidedown, thats where i think mine is now just letting others pile on top of it as still no further than them receiving in durham on 25th, spoke to someone who would email internally see what the hold up is and just received an email asking me for the name/D.O.B/application number for it - which ive already sent in numerous times so just feels like going in circles

@upsidedown @ks18 Yes think mine is also on the same desk. It's so unfair how they're processing more current applications instead of dealing with them in date order. I'm hearing stories of people who applied only 2 weeks ago who have already got them back!

I submitted the application March 14th and documents were acknowledged April 18th. The status has not changed since and we are past the 12 weeks mark since April 18th. I emailed the expedited service on June 30th with prove of travel in two weeks. An automated message says the status would be update within 48 hours, which is does not. On July 7th though I received a reply from the Belfast upgrade team: "We have received your upgrade request and noted you need your passport by 18/07/2022 Upgrade requests are prioritized by this date - we will be in touch as soon as we can. Please do not email us again or call the Passport Adviceline as we cannot process your application any quicker. Please do not send more emails as this may delay your upgrade request." Since then numerous calls to the passport advise line which are unable to track the application. They confirmed though that the status often is updated later as they prioritize printing the passports. I also contacted the MP today... We are a few days of travel away. Flight is Monday at 6:40am !! so need passport by Saturday - in 4 days.