Durham

thank you.. are there any contact number I can call directly to the processing team?

We rang yesterday the helpline and they put me through to the processing team and I waited 2 hours for someone to answer but it was worth it to find out what was happening.

Interesting.. what did you mention managed to get through processing team? I am asking because the initial triage team doesn't want to transfer the call...

Hi all, I’m so frustrated sent my sons passport in on the 10th March for renewal, had message on 14th to say they received his documents, 16th it’s now being processed and still waiting , anyone know how long it takes to process, josh don’t understand as I had to send his documents to Belfast but when I rang the other day for an update they told me it’s in Durham

Hi Passportwait, It looks like you are joining the unlucky 'Processing' group. From what I can tell if you are lucky then your application goes straight from 'Documents received' to 'Application approved' in about a week. If your application is in 'Processing' it is waiting for a physical exam from an examiner, this wait can take anywhere from 5-10 weeks from the date they received it in Durham. Here my timeline for reference: Application submitted: 17 Feb 2022 Passport recieved at Peterborough (via Royal mail tracked): 18 Feb 2022 Documents Received: 28 Feb 2022 Documents sent to Durham: 3 March 2022 Application being processed/waiting for examiner: 11 March 2022

I wonder why some gets approved straight away, why we got to send them one place and they send them to another place I just don’t understand, oh u have been waiting so long, have u rang them to see what the hold up is, god knows how long I will have to wait if you done yours in February

I suspect they are moving around applications due to offices being overwhelemed. Durham is their head office that also deals with international application, so it could be that there is something that requires head office involvement with our application. I've called in twice, they have said both times that it is waiting for an examiner and that the process can take up to 10 weeks for the 3rd March (when Durham received the old passport). By judging the comments on here I'm hoping/expecting my application will be approved by 11th-15th April. We have our honeymoon on the 16th May. I thought 12 weeks was more than enough time, as the stadnard time on HMPO's website was 3 weeks when I applied. I'm getting slightly worried now.

After ringing every day for a week, I finally got through to someone helpful on the processing team who told me my letter confirming the damage to my passport was linked to my application on 28/03 (Royal Mail said this was signed for by Durham office 11/03). I explained to her how much I was panicking and asked if a note could be left on my application for the examiners to pick it up asap, she said she could email Durham office with my details letting them know when I fly and the date I have to apply for my visa by. The next day, my application got approved so now just waiting for it to be printed and delivered. Just under 4 weeks til I fly so I’m feeling relieved and a lot more hopeful it will arrive with time to spare. It’s a ridiculous system and it doesn’t seem to be very fair, but ringing them and hounding them to do something seems to do the trick!

Aat66 - we rang the day before twice and she said someone would ring us back but we missed the call so I rang back an hour later and they put me in the que to speak to the processing team. We are currently in week 9 we spoke to someone yesterday and have been told it’s with an examiner there just waiting for them documents to be uploaded and looked at. Letter for extra documents 15th March Application being processed 21 February 2022 Documents received 18 February 2022 Ask someone to confirm your identity30 January 2022 Application submitted on 30 January 2022

My passport for first adult was being processed from the 28th march, I’m due to go away 2nd may any indication if this will come in time?

Hi, I have applied for a new passport after loosing it. It has been stuck on this since.. Identity details received 2:21pm on 25 March 2022 Email sent to person confirming your identity 1:48pm on 25 March 2022 Ask someone to confirm your identity 1:45pm on 25 March 2022 Application submitted 1:45pm on 25 March 2022 Is this normal? I go on holiday in 6 weeks so panicking!

Bethanie - I applied for my passport 8 weeks ago today and it's still processing. I hope your passport happens faster than mine!

Are you being seen by an examiner yet at least Lisam? Have they given you any idea of how much longer it will take? I feel like we're both destined to 10+ weeks. So frustrating.

Passportpanic - I am planning on phoning early next week to try to speak to the progress team to stress that if they don't start moving my application along it will be more than 10 weeks which means they fail in their "up to 10 weeks". When I spoke to the general people that answer the phones I was told I my application was waiting on an examiner, that was one week ago today and was told the same thing when I phoned the week before. I don't have a holiday until July but I have a visa application waiting on this passport as I want to work abroad for the next couple years so this is really putting a hold on that which is beyond frustrating! I was hoping for some movement today as it's now been in processing for 24 days and I had seen a few others go from processing to approved around the 23/24 day mark but not to be for my application.

How do I know which passport office it’s gone to? I just assume Durham because that’s my local one.

If you still have proof of postage from Royal Mail you can check the address it was sent to on that. Mine was sent to Liverpool initially and was transferred to Peterborough as Liverpool was too busy. My local passport office is Glasgow so neither Liverpool or Peterborough are anywhere close!

My closest is Peterborough ours is at Durham, we only found out because we needed to send additional documents xx

Oh, I’ve not needed to send anything. It has all been done online so maybe I won’t get to find out 😬

If u ring them they can tell u which office it’s gone to

SO, we finally received our 2 children's passports today (1st April) and our travel date is 8th April. It has been really stressful, but interesting that my daughter's passport was printed on 30th March and we received it on 1st April together with my son's passport which had been printed on 23rd March. We received a text on 24th March saying 'you should receive you new passport in a few working days' but even through calling they couldn't tell us which of the two children's passports this pertained to (we had done the paper post office check and send route). Then, when I discovered my daughters passport had only been printed on 30th I thought we had no chance given that my son's had been printed on 23rd and still hadn't arrived. But then they did arrive on 1st April (today). Both of them did. What I think did help (though I can't be sure) is that I did contact my MPs office. The MPs assistant contacted HM Passport Office (they have a dedicated telephone line for MPs) and flagged our travel date as 8th April on their system apparently. The passport office also told the MPs office that our passports should be with us in time and the MPs assistant phoned me to let us know this. So, I am hugely grateful. My learning is that I will only ever do FAST TRACK from now on as you never know when your passport is needed. I really hope it works out for the rest of you. All in all it has been 7 weeks since posting via the post office. Online applications are definitely quicker as it takes some time for paper applications to be scanned onto the system. The Post Office didn't tell me this. I have started a government petition to improve the passport processing system, communication with call handlers and tracking. 5 of you lovely people supported it. I will share on this forum if the petition is approved as no-one else can support it now until and if it goes live. Good luck to all of you!

Child renewal timeline (2 children): -Post Office Check and Send: 15th February for both -Processing (both): 23rd February -1 child's passport printed 23rd Feb (text received on 24th Feb saying it should arrive in next few days - but didn't) -2 child passport printed 30th March Both passports received on 1st April 2022 (possible because I contacted my MPs office who also phoned the passport office). Travel date: 8th April. Total time: 46 days (6 weeks and 4 days).

sorry - so not full weeks as I had said above. It is 6 weeks and 4 days for both children's renewal of passport. Adult renewal was 5 weeks exactly.

This passport stuff is stressful, we are on week 9. 10 on Sunday!! and today got an update my daughters passport can no longer be tracked online, as it’s been moved to a paper application instead. But the helpline can’t find either applications AGAIN! So once again I’m waiting for a call back from someone to explain to me why this has happened and when it will be completed. Just under 4 weeks until we travel. The stress is ruining the build up!!

It’s taking them a very, very long time just to scan old passports. This is an adult renewal from Spain. Documents received 5:37pm on 1 April 2022 Old passport sent on March 10, signed for on March 15. Application received 4:21pm on 10 March 2022 Application submitted 4:21pm on 10 March 2022

Anyone know if the passport office works on a sat and sun, do they update the tracking straight away or is there a delay with the tracking app to see if your passport have been approved yet, really getting on my nerves now with the delay and nothing seems to be moving