Durham

We did a standard renewal on line for our 2 adult passports on 22/4/2022, with a pre validated photograph from a photoshop in town. Mine was sent to Bootle & my wife’s sent to Durham. Basically mine took 8 days to arrive, my wife’s 20 days The only concern we had was after mine arrived it still took another 6 days for Durham to acknowledge they'd received my wife's, but once they had it processed quite quickly Application submitted 22/4/2022 Send us your old passport email 23/4/2022 11:10 Arrived at office & signed for (Post office Tracker) 25/4/2022 Old passport received 6/5/2022 17:53 (passport office email) Passport application approved 10/05/2022 01:47 (passport office email) New passport has been printed 11/05/2022 07:53 (passport office email) Passport delivered by TNT 12/05/2022

Update on application for me today Adult online renewal Application history Status:- Documents received 3:53pm on 12 May 2022 Application received 12:12pm on 28 April 2022 Application submitted 12:11pm on 28 April 2022

Overseas application for first passport of newborn in Singapore. From documents being delivered to being "received" took three weeks at Durham. Our application is in limbo now. We're applying for an Emergency Travel Document but even that is unlikely. Application being processed 3:59pm on 22 April 2022 Documents received 9:44am on 21 April 2022 < FedEx confirmed documents delivered and signed 1st April 2022 > Application received 10:58am on 29 March 2022 Identity details received 10:57am on 29 March 2022 Email sent to person confirming your identity 1:41pm on 28 March 2022 Ask someone to confirm your identity 1:01am on 17 March 2022 Application submitted 1:01am on 17 March 2022 * Emailed upgrade team Tuesday 10th, no reply, no auto-response. * Emailed upgrade team again on the Wednesday 11th, no reply. * Emailed them and CC'd the FCDO Emergency Travel Document team, no response. Yesterday after 4 hours calls to different numbers, disconnections and transfers I finally got through to the "Customer Service Management Team" after 90 minutes of waiting. The person who answered didn't even ask for our application number etc. just rudely said "there is no upgrade or fast-track for overseas applications" and hung up. If that's the case why put us through hours of torture, just tell us from the beginning.

Sorry @MaxNRG. Must be frustrating to see there is not a systematic approach. Just adding a further update for those submitting at a similar time... assuming they will following similar track. Adult online renewal Application approved - 13 May Passport received – 10 May Passport signed for at Durham – 28 April Application received – 27 April Application submitted – 26 April

@MaxNRG I haven't got the passport yet, sorry for how I worded that. I had a notification on 10th to say they received document and notification via text today (13th) to say application has been successful.

No worries @the_passport_journey glad to hear that your application is progressing, we all want the same outcome! I haven’t had any updates for just over two weeks since they acknowledged receipt of my documents 19 days after they were signed for (no processing or approved, just silence after 6 weeks). At this point I just want to know that I’ll get my passport within the 10 week estimate as I have a hard deadline of needing my passport at the latest within 3 months of my application date as I am living abroad and need a new passport to renew my work visa. My old passport was set to expire 4 months after I sent it for renewal which I thought was a reasonable amoint of buffer. As someone noted on this thread recently there is no fast track option for those of us who are overseas. If I have to return to the UK with an emergency travel document due to not getting a replacement passport within 12 weeks of application I will be livid and out of pocket.

OMG my husband just got an email from the Passport Office asking for the impossible - when submitting the application they asked for a colour photocopy of his existing passport as well as his birth certificate - we sent off both. Now they want the passport he travelled to "his country of residence" on...um not possible, he was 5 years old and it was 50 years ago, he might possibly have been on one of his parents' passports but I don't think his mother would still have them this many years later (she let her own UK passport lapse). They are also complaining about the birth certificate, it is the one which he was issued by the Scottish registry because he didn't have his original, handwritten one. Ironically our daughter had her passport issued no problems 3 1/2 years ago with the same document in under 2 weeks. I have advised him to phone them.

The plot thickens...when he got through they looked on the system and said there is nothing missing. They have organised a call back from the person who sent the email.

I just called 0300 2220000 chose Option 3 for current application and the Option 1 since I got a text that my documents were received. After 25 minutes on hold I talked to a pleasant lady called Julie who checked with a supervisor and confirmed that as I was abroad and need my passport with some urgency to avoid having to leave the country that she would escalate to the ‘Management Group’. She did say that they were busy and that there was a chance I would be disconnected. I asked her to at least note down our conversation if I did need to call back. After transfer I immediately got a message that they were too busy to take the call. I am now concerned that my application has stalled in abnormal way and so will try calling first thing tomorrow to talk to try and talk to this ‘Management Group’…

10 weeks waiting today. Was told they can "escalate" at 10 weeks by the last person I spoke to so phoned again today. First person was possibly new and didn't know what she was doing, tried putting me through to the upgrade team even though it's a first passport so I had to tell her I'm not eligible. She puts me through to someone else and the system isn't working and shows nothing on my application so all she can do is arrange for a call back, told her the last time I was told that I didn't get one in 3 weeks and had to phone them back myself. Apparently now have an "urgent callback" so should get one within 24 hours Utterly useless. Was supposed to travel on Monday, had to re book to July at £600 cost or else I'd lose the whole holiday. God knows if I'll even have my passport by July.

Brief update: Our Emergency Travel Document application has been denied even after escalation for exceptional circumstances. Unless I can prove a relative has a critical illness or died, they are not interested in helping clean up HMPO's mess. I could really use a Cousin Vinny right now.

@MaxNRG -- Next time you call, ask to be put through to the “Customer Service Management Team” team. Tell them you were put through before but the call disconnected saying please try later. It took 8 attempts like this for me to finally get through yesterday, then I was in the queue for 90 minutes before somebody answered. Ours is an overseas application from Singapore, the person who answered was quite rude and said "there is no upgrade for overseas applications" and refused to help or even ask for our PEX number. Good luck!

Adult renewal, time line. Well impressed with speed of delivery 17 days in total, well below 10 weeks given. Application history StatusDate Passport printed 2:47pm on 5 May 2022 Application approved 5:44pm on 4 May 2022 Documents received 10:58am on 2 May 2022 Application received 3:31pm on 20 April 2022 Application submitted 3:30pm on 20 April 2022

Thanks for the info @kosong. Will let you know if I have any luck with the “Customer Service Management Team”… Sorry to hear that you can’t travel with your new baby.

Adult Renewal time line. Well impressed with speed of app to del. 17 days total Application history StatusDate Passport printed 2:47pm on 5 May 2022 Application approved 5:44pm on 4 May 2022 Documents received 10:58am on 2 May 2022 Application received 3:31pm on 20 April 2022 Application submitted 3:30pm on 20 April 2022

You are extremely lucky @thirshope. Happy for you but crying for myself and the others that have been waiting for 6-10+ weeks with limited feedback. Read an article in the Independent just now that 1 in 70 applications are taking longer than 10 weeks which for the 1 million applications they are getting per month is about 14k requests that are stuck.

Hi everyone, just want to say that you guys on here are keeping me sane, so thank you! Trying to change name on passport, live in Canada. Timeline so far: Application submitted: Feb 26 Documents signed for: Mar 9 Documents received: Mar 30 Application Processing: Apr 19. Can anyone tell me from which date does the ten weeks start? I'm needing my passport for ID purposes in Canada. I have emailed the HMPO office twice, heard nothing.

@kjfto Hi I'm afraid I don't have any other advice and I understand how frustrating it is. Just to correct you, it sadly didn't work out for us as we lost our holiday due to the passport not arriving in time. I was told by the post office that child renewals (our case) don't take as long as adult renewals so perhaps it's to do with that? I was told by HM Passport that if you get an "approved" message then ring up the following day and they can advise you where it is vis a vis printing/couriering. Based on our experience, if you haven't had an "approved message" by 2nd September, then it's lookin pretty unlikely. Good luck. https://www.passportwaitingtime.co.uk/forums/topic/durham/page/17/#post-4256

Type: First adult passport - Automatic British citizen by UK birth (pre 1983) Method: Online (overseas application, USA) Passport Office: HMPO Durham Online application submitted: 6:42pm on 6 January 2022 Ask someone to confirm your identity: 6:42pm on 6 January 2022 Email sent for identity verification: 6:44pm on 6 January 2022 Identity verified: 9:19pm on 7 January 2022 Application received: 9:19pm on 7 January 2022 Documents sent: 1:59pm on 8 January 2022 Documents delivered: 9:07am on 11 January 2022 Documents confirmed received by HMPO: 7:49am on 12 January 2022 Application being processed 3:34pm on 12 January 2022 Application approved: 2:57pm on 1 March 2022 Passport printed and sent: 6:24pm on 2 March 2022 Tracking information received via text from DHL: 7:10am on 4 March 2022 Passport received: 7:40pm on 8 March 2022 Tracking information received via email from DHL: 5:05pm on 14 March 2022 Documents received: 6:12pm on 16 March 2022 This was a long, stressful journey, but I really appreciated the data points posted on this board and a couple other places I monitored to help me through it. I think having automatic citizenship made the application take longer as you don't have the same level of "proof" of your citizenship as naturalisation (since you have an actual citizen certificate). Additionally, I found the following information for DHL specifically for HMPO passport shipments: https://www.dhl.com/gb-en/home/our-divisions/global-forwarding/help-and-support/hmpo-delivery-services.html. If you go to the "How do I track my items?" section it will give you info about tracking via your application number. Both my waybill numbers eventually showed up here, but it was a touch slower than when I received the info directly from DHL. It's a good option if you never receive info from DHL though. Also, you can email liverpool@hmpo.gov.uk (regardless of where your passport was processed) to request your tracking information. You need to include your application number, name, date of birth, and address.

Sorry to hear your outcome @kosong. @MaxNRG we have been at this about the same time, hopefully it has been escalated at the other end even though you weren't able to get through. @beanwOO I think you may be right about the automatic citizenship through right of birth and it is so frustrating! We have now been asked to supply information that doesn't exist, which they didn't ask for initially and there's no record of it being required in their system. It almost feels like some bureaucrat was having a bad day and felt like being difficult. I just want to get it done so we can get our documents back - I had to send our marriage certificate with our son's application and I need that for something else so I can prove change of name. So glad to have this forum and website!

If you ever need to talk to the “Customer Service Management Team” be aware that they are only available 08:00-20:00 Mon-Fri and 09:00-13:00 on Saturday (regular line is available 09:00-17:30 Sat-Sun). After being on hold for 48 minutes the ‘helpful’ customer service operative put me through to them (probably) knowing that at 15:00 on Saturday I would get punted back the regular customer service call queue. He could have just told me they were not available… Anyway will try again on Monday.

UPDATE:- Application approved 1:26am on 15 May 2022 Documents received 3:53pm on 12 May 2022 Application received 12:12pm on 28 April 2022 Application submitted 12:11pm on 28 April 2022

Hi. If your application says processing there is a problem with it, ie wrong spelling of surname instigating a change of name proof which happened to mine, sent birth certificate only then was approved. I think they input my surname wrongly on system so it was rejected as different to original passport. Probably not possible to check your original app unless you took pics etc. Even if you put a comma where it should not be it will be rejected and passes to an investigator which can take some time I’m afraid, good luck.

I expected that ours went to processing because my husband's birth certificate has to be used also for my son's application. Husband has spoken to 2 operatives who can't see any problems recorded on his application and everything is marked off as received and all in order. Strangely there is no record on their system of anyone sending the email that he received about his birth certificate (which has previously been successfully used for another family member's passport). They also don't understand why he is being asked to provide a document showing how he got here to Australia. It's incredibly frustrating.

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