Liverpool

To be blunt Warrennorton21 the basic agents don’t care and can’t tell you a lot more than what you see online. The processing team can give you a little more detail but not a lot really - the callback wait for them is apparently about 4/5 days but I waited 7. They should be able to tell you whether you’re awaiting examination or in examination (timescales for that in my post above). If you can bear waiting on the phone for 40 minutes you can try Liverpool directly. At the moment I’d say your application is really tight as processing seems to be a bit like purgatory. Some people get out quickly but others are stuck there weeks and there is no rhyme or reason to that. I’d try and find out if you’re just processing, awaiting examination or in examination. But really your best bet may be to declare the passport lost and book a week slot. You will have to pay twice.

Hello all, I am also stuck in Liverpool processing hell. My timeline as follows for a first child passport, applying from outside the UK: Documents Received (according to Royal Mail): 2 February Documents received (according to tracker): 10 February Application being processed: 22 February I called the Passport Office today to follow up and was not given very helpful information, other than to learn the application had made its way to Liverpool (the documents were originally sent to Durham). That led me to this thread. The one action that I would recommend taking is to write to your MP. Go to https://members.parliament.Uk/members/Commons and search using your post code to find contact details. I have done so and received a very quick response that they would raise it with the UK Visa and Immigration team at the Home Office. If everyone does the same thing and a large number of MPs reach out to that team my (perhaps naive) hope would be that it will be flagged there is a major issue and action will be taken to solve the problem. With everything going on in the world it may simply be that whoever shouts loudest at the moment gets the attention. Hopefully we can collectively raise our voices higher than the rest.

Lauraf1991 - my call back wait time was 11 days. They need to sort out whatever is going on in the Liverpool office, as wasn't this bad when I applied to renew my passport beginning of January

Hi, I thought as much with the standard agents. So do I call Liverpool directly and ask to be put through to processing or? I'm a complete novice at all this. My old passport was actually lost, I declared it lost before applying and the portal took me straight to a renew and I stupidly didn't realise that I could use the week service for a lost passport :(. Am I out of options now or is the below still relevant? "But really your best bet may be to declare the passport lost and book a week slot. You will have to pay twice." - how do I even do this? Is it fail safe or is there a risk in cancelling the application? Does cancellation take ages? Isn't it baffling that we are in 2022; somebody on a forum such as yourself is far more genuine and helpful than the people actually employed to do this.

If your passport is actually lost I don’t think it should be too much of a problem. It’s only a problem if you want the old passport back to do an in day service. I’d simply call and explain your mistake, tell them you’re flying soon, ask how to cancel the application and then apply for the week long service. The basic agents should be able to help you do that. The only reason I didn’t do that was because they continually assured me there was no particular hold up. I believe you will have to send a letter to formally cancel but could be wrong.You will have to pay again for the new service and won’t be refunded your initial £75. It has just been trial and error for lots of us I think! A total nightmare.

Another adult renewal sent to Bootle Application submitted: 26 February Application received: 26 February Old passport posted: 26 February Documents received: Pending (although Special Delivery was signed for on 28 February) ... It seems that the longest time is the gap between documents actually received and "received" by their system.

Can anybody help me who has or is in a similar situation to me… I applied for a new passport on 14.02.2022 after loosing my old one and it has been sat at application being processed since 18.02.2022. I know the gov website says the current turn around on average is 4 weeks, which takes me up until next Friday but I am mindful that I travel on 15.04.2022 and it is getting closer to that date. I rang customer service today and they said it is at the printing stage but that they couldn’t tell me anymore and also said it is at Liverpool, which is now slightly worrying given that them seem to be having lots of problems. I think I read on here that you can cancel your application and do the fast track service, just wondered if this would be an option for me as I am supposed to be going on my hen do and really don’t want to miss it. Can anybody help? Application being processed 10:42am on 18 February 2022 Identity details received 8:20pm on 14 February 2022 Email sent to person confirming your identity 3:55pm on 14 February 2022 Ask someone to confirm your identity 3:49pm on 14 February 2022 Application submitted 3:49pm on 14 February 2022

This is a really difficult one to call. If they are being honest about it being at the printing stage then cancelling the current application could take you backwards. If I were in your situation I think you might just be okay because you don't fly for 5+ weeks. I submitted my app on 18th Feb and I've been stuck in pending since 24th Feb. I rang three times and tonight on the third call a lady told me to book a fast track appointment and take a self composed cancellation letter with me to the appointment along with the other required docs/forms. The cancellation letter has to contain the PEX reference number of the application you wish to cancel it and a brief explanation as to why you're cancelling. You are in the same position as me, we have the advantage that it's easier to cancel because we lost our passports and haven't got to wait for documents back in the post. I think other people that do standard renewal have trouble waiting for documents back etc. It's totally up to you because if you don't fly until mid April and you're at the printing stage I would be shocked if you don't get it in time. However if you want to cancel and pay an extra 140ish just to be sure the option is there. The only thing I would say is appointments at Liverpool office are running out quick by the looks of things. So if you do want to go down that road, I'd hurry things up. Best of luck

lauraf1991 thanks for your advice and help. My ticket #9252 explains what I was told tonight. I still admit I'm slightly confused and sceptical about the cancellation process. At present based on the agents advice I have an appointment at Liverpool centre on the 17th but my current application hasn't been cancelled. I'm going to ring another agent tomorrow because I need to find out if I have to cancel immediately or if as the agent says I can take that letter to my appointment. I'm terrified of the idea of cancelling by post whether it be tomorrow or at the appointment my god I'm taking that letter in by hand. I hope I haven't been misguided by the agent as I have a lot riding on making this flight on the 26th March.

warrennorton21 - Thank you very much, that is helpful. I hope you get your passport sorted in time. Take care.

What a complete nightmare Liverpool seems to be - I'm currently in the documents received stage awaiting the next update - 15 days into the process. I am at a loss as to why my application went to Liverpool, as I live quite near Peterborough and if Liverpool have issues you have to wonder why new applications / renewals are still being allocated to that office - but Government depts obviously don't apply common sense!! I can only assume there is huge demand as restrictions are eased and foreign travel becomes available again. Luckily for me I don't have any deadlines for travel to get the passport by mainly because I've just completed a over 4 month application process with the DVLA and I assumed if the Passport office is in the same state of turmoil anything can happen so not risk setting travel deadlines! DVLA were sending back documents then requesting them again, each time entering the 6-10 week for just post to be dealt with! I really hope you guys with the deadlines approaching get things sorted sooner rather than later.

That sounds about right warrennorton21 - I think I read somebody doing something similar quite a while back. Hopefully they can sort that for you today. Meganmc23 - You really should get your passport on time but I think it’s unlikely you’re actually at the printing stage as your application would have updated with approved before that. I was also told that my passport was at printing stage by an agent at one point. Turned out not to be true but it had entered the examination stage which was what confused them. If it’s in examination you should be about a week from an approval. You applied about 10 days after me and I am in examination and should receive my passport next week. I think for you it depends on whether you want the stress. Jms - the longest period of time for most people is now processing which is taking between 2-3 weeks. If you skip that step you’re the lucky one.

My son's passport has been in processing for 21 days now, an email was sent to the examiner asking what the hold up is, hopefully I hear something by the end of the week. Gov.uk have changed their timelines, first adult passport is taking 6 weeks, while all others are taking 5 weeks. My son's first child passport will be 6 tomorrow, and I applied when the timelines were 3 weeks

oldhammer My son's passport arrived on 02-03-22. I sent an escalation email on 28-02-22 to the Durham office with supporting evidence (death certificate) explaining why we needed to travel urgently. The case was transferred from Liverpool to another office. I received a phone call from this office to confirm my son’s name and address on 01-03-22. Passport was then printed and posted. Received on 02-03-22.

lauraf1 - thank yous that’s really helpful. Although frustrating that they are potentially not being clear and honest about what stage it is at, as that doesn’t fill me full of confidence.

I am a new member to this forum, and it is really helpful seeing the timelines. Here is my timeline: Application type: First adult passport Application made by: Online Passport Office: Bootle (Liverpool) Application submitted: 23 Feb 2022 Idenitity confirmed: 24 Feb 2022 Document ent: 24 Feb 2022 (via Royal Mail Special Delivery) Document delivered: N/A (Note: Royal mail tracker shows it's still at Warrington mail center. However I called RM several times and all the advisor confirmed that the document was delivered but due to shear volume of Parcel delivered they couldn't scan each item. Has anyone faced this problem?) Document received by HMPO: Waiting Application processing: TBC Application approved: TBC Passport sent: TBC Passport received: TBC Supporting document received: TBC

I am now entering week 5 for my adult renewal. I submitted my application on February 3rd. Documents received on February 12th. It has taken until March 7th for the application to show as being processed. Anyone got any idea how long this stage will take? It's holding up my visa application.

Adult Renewal Timeline below for Bootle Office: Passport printed and sent 12:47pm on 7 March 2022 Application approved 3:33pm on 4 March 2022 Documents received 5:16pm on 25 February 2022 Application received 8:30pm on 16 February 2022 Application submitted 8:30pm on 16 February 2022 Applied for Mrs First Passport as well, that is stuck on Document Received since 2nd March. Need to travel on 14th April.

Does anyone know whether you get an email when application changes from 'being processed' to approved? Getting tired of checking every day. Submitted application 28th January Docs received: 8th February Being processed: 17th February. Almost into week 4 of processing Thanks

We are 21 days processing for 2 child renewals. Child first passport was marked as documents received yesterday and the other child first passport is still waiting for documents. We travel 6 weeks tomorrow. I'm ringing today, but I'm so upset over it. When we first applied it was 3 weeks for them all and now it's 5 weeks! 2.5 months should have been enough time 😭

Conz1234- yes you get an email and text when the application moves to being approved. Mine has been stuck on processing since 16th February, well my son's has, an email has been sent to an examiner to find out what the hold up is

LKT1990 - I know that feeling, I applied for my son's first passport in January, and it's still stuck on processing has been for 21 days now. All the other passports I have done, were all done within 3 weeks, even my daughters first passport went from documents received to approved in 6 days. We are due to travel on 4th April

Jespop30 - do you know the best number to ring? We had one go from documents received to approved - that's on it's way now and that was with having to send a copy of my passport to as additional information! I don't understand why they're not done on order of received.

Hi just wondered if anyone had advice on the time between printing and receipt of passport? We had a notice that the passport had been printed and sent on 7 March but TNT are saying that they have no record of it at all! Passport office saying it has been sent.

LKT1990 - this is the number I have been ringing 0300 123 1973. Haven't been on hold for very long at all. I have just sent my marriage certificate off as they aren't sure if they can link my application to my son's now as it's been awhile since mine was approved, did they put the application that needed extra documents on hold and if they did how long after them logging they recieved the extra documents, did it go to approved? If you don't mind me asking