Durham

@Passportanxiety Love the name - Was this after chasing from your end or was this just letting "the process" happen?

@greaz90 I direct messaged on Twitter, also called up. No idea how effective this was, but I was assured by the operator that Adult Renewals were going through a tad quicker. When I first called the HMPO, I was redirected to another number in Newport: 01633285422. I found that calling this number bypassed the switchboard/ call back option. However, I can't comment on whether this was effective or I was just lucky!

Hi guys - so heres my update - apologies for the rant - its quite therapeutic though!! losing the will to live here - both passports child renewal and adult renewal have been at 'application processing' - children renewal at 10 days and adult renewal at 16 days!!! and i thought the adult one was meant to be quicker!! applied on the 28th June - seeing peoples timelines who have applied after me and received their passports - im just like WHAT!! Anxious, frustated, tired!!! Tried calling complaints - got call back answer message - left a message two days ago Called the normal line - got call back answer message again - left another message yesterday. Sent email to the liverpool email that I saw posted on here with travel evidence and booking pre-covid Twitter messaged a few times - still waiting response two days later Contacted MP office - said they have received information and will deal with my case - however have a backlog of cases to deal with. So ive done all I can and still I sit here waiting...3 weeks to travel and I have also added info that I need to add API 7 days prior to travel.

@sprajax1 My understanding is they will only escalate once the 14 days pre-travel date has passed. I’ve just recieved a text informing me mine is now printed and being posted today. Good luck with yours

Thanks mrmarkt - I know they will escalate it 14 days before, but it just makes me wonder why they are holding on to passports for so long before processing them, while others are being processed so quickly...if they processed in a timely manner, they might receive less calls and complaints from us!! Glad you have received yours - when do you travel? im planning to have a party if and when I receive mine!!! Lol!!!

@sprayjax1 I was where you are with the passport anxiety. (Adult renewal). Application submitted online 26th June. Arrived yesterday. I filled in the online form via gov.uk marked URGENT to expedite and quite soon afterwards, I was asked for evidence from this email address: HMPassportOfficeLiverpoolRQCSC@hmpo.gov.uk That's when I was told that where you send your expired passport to (in my case, Durham) has no bearing on where the passport is actually processed (Liverpool). Further delays were caused by my evidence not arriving due to their HM Passport servers blocking password protected attachments. I only realised when I chased again and they said 'send evidence'. (I screenshotted everything and resubmitted). Keep at them. Phone every day and keeping tweeting. They replied to tweet after 5 days. You will get there, I'm sure. Passport had been 'processing' for 7 days, then they phoned me back once in receipt of evidence and it was approved and posted within a further 2 days. I know how you feel!

@sprajax1 Yes I can empathise with you. I don’t think we will truly know but there is suggestion of 400,000 backlog and I can imagine trying to determine who should get priority would be a logistical nightmare, especially the people who didn’t renew as didn’t think it would go ahead. As someone who has personally worked throughout this (running a psychiatric hospital) and had to quickly adapt and rapidly learn I do feel for them I have to say but the prospect of losing travel doesn’t help when waiting does it. I have a trip on 31st July and 19th August. I’ll update when the passport is actually delivered.

They only escalate it if holiday was booked prior to March I know as I had to send proof before they escalated if it wasn’t they said there nothing they can do it once I did had all 4 of my passports within 4 days

I’ve had the notification that my passport has been printed and sent (likely TNT) which has eased my anxiety somewhat however there is no tracking info - any experience of this anyone or do TNT issue the tracking info once it’s in their possession?

Hi all - thanks for your words of encouragement. I managed to get a call back today and the lady took all my details and said that the processing team will call me back in a couple of days..but still they cannot guarantee anything (why do they say this - it just creates more anxiety). The lady said the processing team may ask me for evidence, which I said im ready to provide..so I guess I'll wait a couple of days and see what happens. Has anyone had experience of this?

@sprajax1 Yes they said they would call me but they didn’t they just processed the passport two days after saying someone would call me, but they were already in possession of my evidence as had emailed it over to them to get that response

Passport printed and sent 10:41am on 23 July 2020 Application approved 2:23pm on 21 July 2020 Documents received 10:41am on 20 July 2020 Application received 1:11pm on 8 July 2020 Application submitted 1:11pm on 8 July 2020 Passport documents were posted by me on next day guaranteed delivery on 08/7/20 I very much doubt the passport office will pay for Saturday delivery so expecting to receive it on Monday. Will be pleased to get new passport but sad that it will likely be blue and flimsy and showing me older than my last passport picture which I actually didn’t mind rather than a wild haired Covid lockdown picture haha

Thanks @mrmarkt - I shall be patient and wait a couple of days then and see what happens!!

Thanks for that email @charlie2566 - Ill give it a couple of days now and see if they get back to me about the evidence. Yeah I didnt realise that the issue of the passports are not necessarily where the old passports were sent! I told the lady ours was sent to Glagow and Durham, but she asked me where my closest passport office is, which for me, would bePpeterborough! So I dont really know where the new passports are coming from.

Re: tracking information, I sent a private tweet to @HMPassport Office outlining my PEX number and asked for TNT tracking information. The reply tweet stated the tracking number. It was sent by courier Friday 5pm and arrived the next Wednesday. Clearly, it's on a 3-day service. So no rush, for them!

Hi, Applied for my passport 09 July, Passport delivered on the 14/ July but still showing as "Send your Old Passport" I spoke with the passport office today as my travel date is 07/08 and he took some details, saying he would pass them on and they would be in touch within two working days. Has anybody else experienced this? After this stage was your application sped up? What sort of evidence do they require? Is a screenshot of the flight booking from January when I booked it acceptable?

@lewismorgan10 That was how mine got processed. As I understood it, the evidence needs to be a hotel booking or flight confirmation that shows the date of booking to be before pandemic and date of travel within 14 days I was asked for. I sent that on a Saturday, Monday my passport suddenly was recieved, Tuesday the application accepted and today notification that it is in the post Good luck

Don’t expect them to call you back I had to call a few times as they never call back in my experience

Getting very frustrated with Durham. Applied for child renewal 28 June, still being 'processed'. I've tweeted several times and no response. We were hoping to travel next week, thankfully nothing booked but still it's going to be at least another week before we get the passport and we are limited as to the weeks we can travel in August.

Our timeline for comparison. Non-urgent application. No chasing so essentially the standard service right now. Longest delays were for documents to be acknowledged and actual processing Passport printed and sent 8:51am on 25 July 2020 Application approved 11:01am on 24 July 2020 Application being processed 1:33pm on 10 July 2020 Documents received 12:26pm on 8 July 2020 Application received 9:10pm on 27 June 2020 Identity details received 9:09pm on 27 June 2020 Email sent to person confirming your identity 6:36pm on 27 June 2020 Ask someone to confirm your identity 3:15pm on 27 June 2020 Application submitted 3:15pm on 27 June 2020

I was wondering how long it took for others to receive their old passport back from the HMPO. My new one was delivered on 23rd, but the TNT tracking website indicated that the shipment was ‘supporting documents.’ Obviously, I was happy that they delivered the new passport, but as I paid for tracked delivery of old one (it appears that this was a mistake), I wondered if I would be able to track that delivery using the same PAN number. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

Applied for replacement passport after mine got rained on in Rome We moved our planned holiday to May next year but were still hoping to go away in September if it came in time After having to resubmit photos twice (first because apparently it looked edited and the second because it didnt look like a recent photo, even though it was taken the morning i submitted it ?delay tactics), my passport has finally been approved Application approved 6:01pm on 27 July 2020 New photo received 9:26am on 25 July 2020 Photo rejected 7:24pm on 24 July 2020 New photo received 8:13am on 22 July 2020 Photo rejected 8:58pm on 21 July 2020 Application being processed 9:05am on 15 July 2020 Documents received 6:58pm on 10 July 2020 Application received 5:52pm on 18 June 2020 Application submitted 5:52pm on 18 June 2020

I have been processing now for 18 days! I seem to be really stuck. Applied 19 June. Guess they’ve just stuck me in a pile now haha

After I mentioned that I was traveling within two weeks I jumped through the hoops and was told someone would call me back within two days. Nobody rang back so after 3 days I called them and the lady took my details again. About an hour later my passport has gone to approved. It never went to pending status, straight from Recieved your Passport to Approved. Fingers crossed they can get it posted by next Friday.

@Gemski91 we're also stuck at processing - since 16 July, applied 28th June. It's so frustrating..