Durham

[Neil G]

After countless emails, phone calls, on hold, no call backs and Christ knows how many hours wasted we finally got a phone call, txt and email saying my Son’s passport is approved, printed and will be dispatched for next day delivery.

Can’t breath sigh of relief until we have it in our hands.

Was weird as although it’s been stuck at Durham office for 10 weeks they asked if we wanted to pick it up from Newport !

Not sure if was the escalation upgrade email, expedite urgent mail or mail from our local MP that finally got it moving.

[Estival]

@ks18 Oh that’s good then. For some reason I thought waiting to be examined meant it was still at the processing stage. Let’s hope it’s not too much longer for us both then

[clee]

My son’s passport has been stuck at Durham for over 10 weeks and I’m due to travel with him in 14 days. I’ve been phoning, getting in touch via the web form page. Every time you get a different answer and I can’t seem to get a straight answer as to what the hold up is and what my options are now we are past ten weeks. Does anyone have an email and or telephone number for Durham? Or any other contact emails or numbers that they have had success with?
@neilG are you able to share the escalation upgrade email address please?
Thank you

[Upsidedown]

Our applications were stuck at Durham and this is the email address I used – passports were approved, printed and despatched the following business day.

ExpeditedService@hmpo.gov.uk

This one only works if you are over 10 weeks.

[Estival]

@upsidedown

Do you have an email for upgrade team or any other for Durham? I didn’t get a response from expedite team but think it’s cos even though it’s 10 weeks since I posted it, it’s not quite 10 weeks since I got the text message saying they’d received it. Thanks

[Upsidedown]

@Estival I didn’t have anything specific for Durham, just the expedite email as above (got it from another member here). It does say that they won’t do anything unless it is more than 10 weeks, so I think you are correct that you haven’t heard anything as it’s not quite 10 weeks since they sent the text message – that will be when they are counting from. In our case it was 20 weeks since we had submitted application and over 12 weeks since they’d acknowledged receipt of our documents. There had been so many delays and stuff ups though, our documents sat in their mail room for 4 weeks! and then my husband was asked for ridiculous additional information, that hadn’t been requested for any family members previously, and that once received sat there again for another 7 weeks. So I think it was a bit of a no-brainer for the expedite team. How long is it till you hit 10 weeks from the date you got the text message?

[Estival]

@upsidedown

Thanks for info. Sounds like you’ve had it worse from what you’ve said. It’s 10 weeks since sent but it will be 10 weeks end of next week when I got the text message. We don’t have any travel booked yet though cos was waiting for passports. We are wanting to go away in school holidays but didn’t want to book and risk in it in case they didn’t come in time. Will they not expedite it without proof of travel?

[Upsidedown]

@Estival we did not have to supply proof of travel. I think you will find if you email again once it is 10 weeks since you got the text message you will get some action. Though hopefully you might not have to wait that long! Ours was quite a saga, we were unlucky at every step.

[biswajitmitra]

@upsidedown I am waiting for 15 weeks and travel booked for 27-July. Please can you help and guide me in high level the format of the email I can send at ExpeditedService@hmpo.gov.uk please. I assume my application Reference and Name in the mail subject. Other than that just have to explain that I am waiting for 15 weeks and my travel is booked for 27-July. Is it like this please? Many thanks.

[Upsidedown]

@biswajitmitra in the subject line I put the passport reference numbers and my husband’s name. We also had a reference number from previous contact from an examiner who had contacted us with a query so I put that in too.

I just wrote the email as a letter –

“To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you about the passport applications of my husband, [full name], and my son, [full name], which are being handled by the Durham office.

My husband’s passport application (PEX ——) was submitted on 18 February 2022 (20 weeks ago), and my son’s (PEX ———-) was submitted a few days later on 22 February. The supporting documents were officially marked “received” for both applications on 13 April (over 12 weeks ago) (although according to postal tracking both were actually received four weeks earlier). ”

I then outlined all the dealings we had with HMPO staff including queries, phone calls, information sent and dates, etc. In your case, you would include dates you had phoned and been told you would get a call back. Have you got a reference number for when you reported your passport as lost? I know other people on here had delays because they were not asked for this number, but it was needed for their applications to progress.

Then I said
“It is now almost four weeks since that phone call, our last contact with HMPO, and we are becoming increasingly concerned and anxious about the situation. We are travelling to the UK in three weeks and are beginning to worry that the passport will not arrive here in time, particularly considering the lengthy postage times between the UK and Australia.” and concluded with

“We are requesting that these applications be expedited if possible, given the time taken to process them and the increasingly urgent need.”

and signed it Yours sincerely, with our names below.

In our case I think the delays were so extensive and I had documented anything so it was a very strong case. You have been waiting a long time too and have upcoming travel – good luck!

[ks18]

Hi I just have a question if anyone knows?
I had a call from them yesterday regarding my 1st passport as its been with them 12 weeks now (since mid April) and still hadn’t been examined, I got a call advising had been passed to examiner on Monday 11th July for checking, once checks are complete its 3-5 days after printing to be sent out/delivered to me (I did ask if I could collect it from Durham to save more delays but wasn’t able to) and they said that there would be no need for an interview now either (maybe because of the time waited and holiday due to start on 8th august), then got an email advising Durham are processing this and once approved its off to print and they’ll notify me. (hoping this isn’t too long) still advising 10 weeks to receive it on bottom of the email but hey-ho.

Anyway my question is does anyone have any idea as to how long the examiner takes before its approved/printed- do I need to chase it if I haven’t had a notification soon advising on printing/with delivery company?

[Estival]

@upsidedown thanks for your help, really appreciate it.

@ks18 I was told mine was with examiner last Friday 8th July when I enquired although it could have been there longer for all I know. Still not heard anything since.

[ks18]

@Estival – hoping to get some sort of update this week if not ill be back on webchat or the phone to them on Monday as that’s only 3 weeks till holidays from work start, doesn’t seen to get any less stressful :D, and filling that tracker online takes 3 days to get an email back saying same thing

[Estival]

@ks18 Let me know how you get on. I’ve not tried the webchat- is it a waste of time? I contacted them using the passport enquiry form:

https://eforms.homeoffice.gov.uk/outreach/Passport_Enquiries.ofml

I did get a quick response from that but it’s a week since I last contacted them to be told “waiting to be examined” and nothing since so think I need to try another method!! Good luck 👍

[ks18]

webchat is pretty much just the enquiry form just a bit quicker, its just sometimes a bit hit and miss if you can get to speak with an advisor if they are busy – failing that i’ll be ringing once i finish work

[Author]

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