Durham

@gemski91 I have now changed my Easyjet flights to 23 July it was a free change because they had cancelled the original one but I could do with flying out sooner, I have another Ryanair flight booked for Tuesday but there is no way the passport will be here to take that, it does have a free change (pay the fare difference) option but not sure when it might be possible to change it. I'll probably just change it to an August date and wait on the passport and go on 23 July or if it shows up earlier then I may book another flight earlier. I go to this destination a lot for business so it's not a big problem moving flights. I'm still in the same situation on the passport front, it's still not showing the documents have been received and I know they signed for them on 18th July. Yesterday I rang the passport office again and requested a callback, it was late around 4pm and they have not rung back yet. I did send another message through the online portal and received a message back from a Liverpool email address saying they can't give updates or timescales, panic set in thinking that they've forwarded my renewal to the Liverpool office who are taking by far the longest to process applications (my old passport was originally issued there), I queried it and they confirmed Durham were handling the renewal but all messaging and updates come from Liverpool. I'm no further along to receiving it, very frustrating especially when you see others applying, sending documents and receiving their passports back after I started my application. There doesn't appear much control in the post room at Durham. It's a bit of a lottery some fly through in 2 weeks others are taking much longer with no explanation. The only consistent appear to be once they register on the tracking that they have received the old passport then it seems more often than not it's quite quick from that point, unless there are further complications with photos etc.

@ColinM I completely agree there, there is no consistency with Durham! It seems to be one person has 2 weeks total and the next is 2 months! Makes absolutely no sense! I submitted my application 19th June and they had my documents by 23rd however they only updated the system on the 3rd, just 6 hours after I finally got a call back from the passport office in Newport.

Thought our input might be useful, we are applying for an overseas child renewal from Europe. Application being processed 11:23am on 16 June 2020 Documents received 9:51am on 15 June 2020 Application received 2:48pm on 6 June 2020 Application submitted 2:48pm on 6 June 2020 We contacted them on Twitter and they replied a week later saying that we submitted it 'only a month ago' and that they can't provide guarantees, basically saying you're not going to receive it anytime soon. A bit of a shame considering we were meant to be travelling this week but at least we were able to cancel the holiday! The whole process seems so hit and miss depending on who you are. No consistency whatsoever!

We have two applications, one adult renewal and one child renewal. We posted them off together and today the adult renewal was marked as received but not the child on. ADULT RENEWAL Applied 25th June Posted 26th June Received (according to RM) 29th June Marked as received 6th July CHILD RENEWAL Applied 25th June ID verified 25th June Posted 26th June Received (according to RM) 29th June

@Gemski91 Any updates?

@OwBrH Sadly not. I am still at 'Documents received'. You'll have to remind me what stage you're at with your passport as me memory is very poor these days! I expect it to be another week before I get any change on the tracking if I'm honest. This is my very first ever passport.

@Gemski91 I'm at the same stage as you. I think you applied 1 day before me and your docs were scanned in 1 day after mine. Mine is a 1st child one so we may end up with different results. Out of interest - have you got a trip overseas booked?

Hi all Just to give my experience of sending off for first child passport at Durham office Application history Passport printed and sent 2:38pm on 7 July 2020 Application approved 8:16pm on 6 July 2020 Application being processed 12:07pm on 12 June 2020 Documents received 2:11pm on 11 June 2020 Application received 12:55pm on 2 June 2020 Identity details received 12:54pm on 2 June 2020 Email sent to person confirming your identity 8:27pm on 1 June 2020 Ask someone to confirm your identity 7:49pm on 1 June 2020 Application submitted 7:49pm on 1 June 2020 We were panicking as we fly to Spain on 27th July. I rang the passport office on 2nd July to find out how long and to inform them it was urgent as we had non refundable flights booked pre corona virus. Got call back on 3rd July and they informed they couldn't tell us how long but noted when we were going on holiday. Was approved on 6th. May be coincidental but I think it helped calling them to speed it up a bit.

Update to my post of 4th July: Durham still yet to acknowledge receipt of my old passport yet my wife's new (Blue) one has just arrived in the past 10 minutes (processed by Glasgow), a turnaround of 10 days!

Update Had callback on 5th July but no help, now this evening finally had message say photo was no good despite showing top end of good when submitted. New photo taken and submitted again top end of good again, now gave to wait alledgedly 2 days for it to be checked.

Forgot to mention another 4 days for an email response saying there was delays. Letter sent to local MP awaiting reply.

Hope this gives someone some hope we are due to travel 17/6 . Not sure which worked but it’s taken many phone calls , MP sending an email and lots of twitter back and forth . Fingers crossed it doesn’t take as long to be printed and posted . Application approved 8:28pm on 7 July 2020 Application being processed 2:41pm on 11 June 2020 Documents received 11:06am on 11 June 2020 Application received 11:50am on 2 June 2020 Identity details received 11:50am on 2 June 2020 Email sent to person confirming your identity 11:29am on 2 June 2020 Ask someone to confirm your identity 11:25am on 2 June 2020 Application submitted 11:25am on 2 June 2020

@OwBrH I do but not until September. My mum was due to go to a wedding but her friend chose to postpone as she wanted her guests to enjoy it properly. Travel republic wouldn’t let her switch her tickets or cancel them so we booked me flights and reserved seats together for it. I feel reasonably confident in the arrival for that as I have a few more months than most on here.

@Gemski91 yep it's nice to have a decent bit of time till you go! So is this your first time overseas?

So, I've had another night feeling incredibly edgy. We've all paid min £80 for a service with an indeterminate completion date. Submitted Adult renewal online on 26th June. On 6th July, tracker registered old passport received. (1 week after signed for). Am I missing the point entirely, or is it now simply.... 1.) Review scan of old passport photo versus online application photo 2.) Is this woman the same person, 10 years older? Check 3.) Photo still horrible, as per 10 years ago? Check 4.) Press button to authorise passport printing and post it 5.) End of process. Even my teenagers could do the job (if they could make it out of bed). Argh!

Adult renewal with a change of name (marriage cert posted) sent to Durham office 20/06 applied online 22/06 sent old passport and marriage certificate 23/06 received at Durham 29/06 documents logged as received 30/06 processing 01/07 approved and sent for print 03/07 passport received 08/07 still havent received my old passport or marriage certificate back

Adult renewal Application Received 29/6/20 Documents sent 30/6/20 Documents Received 2/7/20 10.17am Application Approved 2/7/20 13.51pm Passport Printed and Sent 4/7/20 (Saturday) Blue passport received 8/7/20 I also sent a child renewal on the same date nothing has been updated since 2/7/20 when they received the passport.

@OwBrH Yes, I haven't been on a plane or anything. the most out of the country for me has been Wales, and I live there now hah!

@iwasworried i'd be interested to hear how you get on with your child renewal as i am on the same timeline as you. although my childs passport was signed for on 2 july it still isn't displaying on the system as received.

@iwasworried, that was so quick. Even for pre-March timelines! Did you call / phone / nag Durham at all, in order to get things moving?

@charlie2566 I was just thinking how incredibly speedy that was as well. I'm still waiting for them to process my application, print and send it. It took 9 days for my documents to be registered on the system from delivery.

I have just had a reply on twitter (i messaged them last thursday) saying they are taking longer to process the post and link to an application, i'm tempted to reply ask why some are only taking a matter of days whereas some are taking weeks!

@gemski1 Exciting! Where are you going? I didn't realise till now because I wasn't texted/emailed but I'm not at processing stage... Application being processed 9:59am on 7 July 2020 Documents received 11:08am on 2 July 2020 Application received 8:26pm on 20 June 2020 Identity details received 8:26pm on 20 June 2020 Email sent to person confirming your identity 8:15pm on 20 June 2020 Ask someone to confirm your identity 8:06pm on 20 June 2020 Application submitted 8:06pm on 20 June 2020

@OwBrH I am off to Crete, staying in Gouves. I’m so excited because my children are going to stay at their dads. My uni course doesn’t start for a week after I return from the trip, and they both begin school at the start of September so it’s perfect timing. How about you? I presume you have something booked? Sorry if you have previously stated, it’s hard to keep up at times. Mine wasn’t processing this morning but I think I will check again now, just in case! If not, this now puts you ahead of me! The race is on haha

@OwBrH I’m still at “Documents received 7th July” it was updated about 6:30pm as well. Very peculiar time!