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Hi Stevep, I definitely think it was the conversation that made the difference. I received a reply to the email once the passport had been received by me so it may not be as speedy. I think you could state your ‘travel date’ as your holiday date with your hand on heart, since this is when you will have to travel for your wife to get her hard earned holiday. They didn’t ask for any details, just ‘date of flight’ so I would do what you can. If they can get a note on file today, it looks like it should get in the system any day now ( avge 5 days) and if the note is there when opened it should be pretty quick!
Hi Suzimac,
I took your advice on Thursday lunchtime and called the passport office. The time quoted for a call was approx 30 minutes sobi thought I would wait. It got to 26 minutes and the call went through only to get a message suggesting a callback. Very frustrating when this could have happened much earlier. Never the less I put in my number and waited all afternoon. Just when I thought I wouldn’t get a call the phone rang at 6.45. So I did as you suggested gave the guy all the information including holiday date and requested he noted this on ky file. I also asked why the passport had not been marked as received after 4 days. He seemed to suggest this is normal but I feel its not right they should promote this tracking tool yet not keep it up to date.He promised to to add the note so I was happy to have spoken to him.
This morning (Saturday) I finally received notification they had received my passport and like you immediately received a message saying my passport had been approved and was ready for printing. No other messages so far. It seems your suggested way forward has worked as it seems from previous timelines I should receive the new passport within the next few days.
Thank you again for pushing me to make the call as it seems to have helped get the application through quickly.
Hopefully our experiences may help others in a similar situation to get their passports in good time for travel.
Thanks again SteveHi Steve, Great to hear you have managed to sort this. I presume you will receive passport early part of this week, so good luck. Glad to have helped and hope you enjoy you and your wife’s well deserved holiday.
Passport printed and sent 14 September 2021
Application approved 14 September 2021
Documents received 26 August 2021
Application received 11 August 2021
Identity details received 11 August 2021
Email sent to person confirming your identity 11 August 2021
Ask someone to confirm your identity 11 August 2021
Application submitted 11 August 2021Applied from Canada
I’ve submitted my adult renewal on 26th August, documents received on 1st September but application has sat in a queue ever since. I’m due to travel in October and now starting to really worry I won’t get my passport back in time. When I rang the passport office, they said it can be up to 10 weeks and they noted my travel date and that was it. Other applications appear to be quicker than mine? How do they work? I assumed the did the applications in the order they were submitted?
Hi Lbr272, If they have noted travel date you should be okay. I think they work in order they are received and if a travel date is noted they also try and achieve the deadline for that.They have to quote the 10 week timescale but as you can see from the average this is well above that. You should receive passport about two weeks before travel. If you haven’t, phone and push for travel date to show on file. This has worked for a number of us at Durham PO, they really do try and get them back on time.
Hi Lbr272,
As suzimac says just make sure you request they put the note with flight date (maybe give yourself a couple of days additional travel time) on your file. This worked for me last week. I spoke to someone late Thursday and it was approved Saturday morning and I received the passport Tuesday morning. Please note they don’t update the system that often so I wasn’t expecting my passport. It arrived before they sent the email message to say it had been posted.
I do think they have to quote the 10 weeks but they do seem to respond if your travel is imminent and you let them know.27 days
Phone calls made, hope abandoned, holiday lost, money wasted
Passport posted through door 15:10 16 September
Passport printed and sent 14 September 2021
Application approved 13 September 2021
Documents received 25 August 2021
Application received 20 August 2021
Application submitted 20 August 2021
UK Adult renewal. ROW expiry April 22, special region expired June 21 (although used June & August)Hi all, for those who have said they’ve managed to speak to someone at Durham and get some help/hurry things along, I’d be SO grateful if you could give me some insight. What number did you call, or email address did you message? I can only find the main HMPO number and no one is interested in helping me.
Supposed to be going away 3 October and today got an update saying there’s a problem and a letter has been sent – but I’m away from home for the next couple of weeks so can’t receive or action this! Any ideas what such problems usually concern? I may have to pop back to London to intercept the letter if they won’t resend elsewhere, should it usually come through in a few days?
I don’t have a number for Durham, but you can try this number 0300 123 1973. It goes to the HMPO office (in Liverpool I think), rather than the general outsourced call centre.
They are very helpful (although still limited in what they can actually do to speed things up) and can actually look into your application and see a bit more than the call centre folks seem to be able to do.It’s order by date of documents received, not date the application was submitted.
Current timeframes for Durham (and generally from what I can see) are 17-21 days from date docs are logged onto their system as received (usually a few days after they have physically been received).Thank you for all the information everyone!
Date application submitted – 26th August 2021
Documents received – 1st September 2021
Application approved – 20th September 2021
Passport posted out to me – 21st September 2021Just waiting for it to arrive 🙂
We are waiting for child renewals (one from Durham and one from Liverpool)
I’ve called PO number – but they said that they can’t put a note on the system and that if people are told this, it’s just to get them off the phone!I had no idea it would take this long, so starting to panic a bit!
Application submitted – 8th September
Identity checked – 10th September
Documents signed for 14th September
Documents Declared as received – 18th SeptemberWe really need back by 10th October
I called PO to see whether I needed to switch to FastTrack/1 week – but they said I’d need to have passports returned which would take weeks ‘as they’d need to find them’ – so I’m a bit stuck
How are people chasing applications up and quickening them up – aware need to wait a longer – but really thought 4 weeks would be ample time to get them back…..
Hi Caroline
Have you tried asking if the application can be cancelled and application reported as lost so you can use the 1 week fast track? 1 week.faat track is available for lost and stolen passports so I see no reason why this can’t be done, you may just have to pay again and lose your original payment for the renewal. That’s my next plan of action, I plan to ask them tomorrow when I call again. I submitted mine on 30th August so will keep you updated on mine.
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