Manual processing

Through applying for a passport this month and seeing all the updates from people I would say that 90% of the time ‘processing’ means there’s an issue with the passport and it’s likely put in a pile for manual processing. The passport office don’t know if or when you’re going on holiday, so these passports aren’t triaged or prioritised. Getting in touch with them seems the best way to get them picked out and worked on, otherwise you’re just depending on someone to work their way through the pile and to get to yours. So Definitely get in touch with them if you’re on holiday soon, and if you applied 6+ or 10+ weeks ago you have a good case to push for priority.

Not always. I spoke with progress team 2 weeks ago who said there was no issue and the photo was fine, I just had to wait. Still waiting and now 10 weeks since submitted -

12 weeks yesterday since submitted my application 20/04 went into processing phase so yeah

Anyone waiting their passport morethan 10 weeks. Application being processed. Please update yours. Thank you

Submitted in March 23 (11 weeks) Moved to processing March 31 (10 weeks) On June 04 was upgraded to fast track due to flights. 08 June still sat in processing and no further along despite being upgraded.

Applied March 29 for renewal April 5th went to processing Read on here we would need to cancel the expired one as it was lost May 19 Never got a lost reference Applied for upgrade on Sat 4 June Application approved Monday 6 June Printed Wednesday 8th of June (10 weeks 1 day) Flights booked for 18th June. Waiting delivery. I think they saw the upgrade email and figured it was one they could push through in time. Wish we had emailed sooner

Application Update for info Applied 31/3 Old passport received 1/4 Processing since 7/4 Nothing for next 9 weeks Suddenly after nothing all that time update yesterday morning approved....2 hours later updated printing.....sending to dispatch. Shocked to receive today. 24 hrs later?,,, Will add did pay the extra £5 for faster postage all those weeks ago. Also received old and new same envelope???? End result bang on 10wk today since applied....almost like after all waiting was pushed out to fit 10wk statitstics. Good luck to all hope you finally get yours too. A planning nightmare not knowing how long it takes....especially as not always date order compared to other people's updates.

Out for delivery today. No text but found out by looking on the TNT website. Driver didn't even attempt delivery. Having to try and convince them to turn around and come back. They should contract out with Amazon delivery drivers - never had a failed delivery with them. So angry right now.

First adult passport, overseas application. Been in processing since 14 April (application submitted 18 February). It appears someone took issue with a birth certificate (which had previously been accepted for another UK passport application) (and had also incidentally been accepted for an Australian passport application). They also wanted the document used to arrive in Australia (not possible as it was a parent's passport 50 years ago). Because this latter document no longer exists we were advised to send a letter, this was received 24 May according to tracking. On 30 May we received a reminder email threatening to cancel the application if letter was not received. This time there was an email address to reply to and we emailed a copy of the letter and a statement that the letter had already arrived there and been signed for. Since then there have been no updates or further contact.

UPDATE Applied 25 March Processing 31 March Upgraded 04 June Approved 09 June After several phone calls finally spoke to someone today in Customer Management who was diagnosed ally able to help and got us approved. Suggest calling 0300 105 0850 to get direct to this team rather than general advice.

Application approved 2:32pm on 9 June 2022 Application being processed 10:37am on 20 April 2022 Documents received 9:44am on 25 March 2022 Application received 12:42pm on 10 March 2022 Identity details received 12:41pm on 10 March 2022 Email sent to person confirming your identity 12:20pm on 10 March 2022 Ask someone to confirm your identity 12:13pm on 10 March 2022 Application submitted 12:13pm on 10 March 2022

I need to get Belfast passport office contact email. Please anyone can help this. Thank you.

Rajux1 I would assume it was belfastupgradeteam@hmpo.gov.uk

Adult lost/stolen replacement application done online (standard application, no fast track). Reported lost/stolen online first, cancellation reference was then given which you then have to use when filling in the online replacement application (so if you do it like this in this order, there is no need to call and link the two as some posters have mentioned, it gets done automatically). I did not call or message HMPO at all during this process, the results are below. Application submitted: 4.16pm on 29 March 2022 Ask someone to confirm your identity: 4.16pm on 29 March 2022 Email sent to person confirming your identity: 4.40pm on 29 March 2022 Identity details received: 4.52pm on 29 March 2022 Application being processed: 1.56pm on 5 April 2022 Application approved: 8.22am on 5 June 2022 (Sunday bank holiday weekend!) Passport printed: 9.57pm on 7 June 2022 Passport delivered (by DHL): 9 June 2022 (I received an email/text from DHL on morning of 9 June informing me of their intention to deliver it late afternoon the same day - so no prior day notification. Interestingly, they state someone needs to be in to sign for it, but they didn't ring the bell, they just stuck it half in-half out of the letterbox, left it like that, and took a picture of it. No-one signed for it!) Total of 10 weeks and 2 days from application to delivery.

I applied my first passport 28th March (two applications) I did online chat twise and I did speak with them today (I was waiting 30 minutes) where they person told me that he is going to put a note. I am very surprised as I got approval update today for both of us at 5.27pm and 7.21pm today. Many thanks to the forum. 😊

Passports finally delivered today! 6 days ahead of our travel to can finally enjoy the countdown! Applied March 25 Application being processed March 31 Application upgraded June 04 Application Approved June 09 Application Printed June 10 Application Delivered June 11 Thanks for everyone’s help and advice! Good luck, hope you all get sorted!

Hi #davbell87 Pleased for you. Seems we were all around the same time in the forgotten pile. End march era. Hopefully others who been waiting unfair amounts of time get theirs too now.

Wanted to add one more to the forgotten March/April piles getting sorted now. Hopefully this will give some hope to those who are in the same boat. Good luck everyone. Type: First Adult passport after Naturalisation Passport Office: HMPO Peterborough Online application submitted: 24 March 2022 Email sent to person confirming your identity: 24 March 2022 Identity details received: 24 March 2022 Documents sent: 28 March 2022 Documents delivered by Royal Mail: 29 March 2022 Documents confirmed received by HMPO: 06 April 2022, again on 03 May 2022 Application being processed: 05 May 2022 Application approved: 11 June 2022

Husband just got off the phone with HMPO and apparently his application is now with an examiner. No word on how long till approval though.

Hello I have two first child passports which I applied for on March 18th, took a month for documents to be recieved then processing since 29th April. For some reason today the tracking has gone back to documents recieved 19th April and the processing line has vanished. Has this happened to anyone else? Could this mean they're finally being looked at?

Hi all Has anybody else's status change when they were in manual processing? Previously my status was 'application being progressed', however now it has reverted to 'we've received your old passport'. Has this happened to anybody else?

Looks like a lot of people have the same problem was hoping this was a positive sign but could be just a system error!

We’re at ten weeks and the ‘processing’ has also disappeared from our tracking

I imagine they’re getting fed up of our (reasonable) question of why do some take so long when others are approved instantly!

I submitted my passport application on 27 March, documents received 19 April and in processing from 5 May. I am due to go on holiday at the end of July. For the past month I have escalated to the Progress Team on average 1-2 a week and they sent internal emails to Durham to escalate. No updates. I have also been emailing my MP on a weekly basis and he has been raising with the Home Office. Again, no updates. I am aware that you can only escalate if you are within 2 weeks of travel which for me is cutting it very fine. What I did was to go onto the Ryanair website and book a random flight (to Germany in my case) for the beginning of July. It cost less than £10. I then escalated to the Progress Team and said that a) my application was > 10 weeks and b) I was travelling in less than two weeks. The next day I got a call from a very cheery sounding official at Durham who said that he was approving my request and he was calling to put my mind at ease. My passport should be with me in 3-4 days. In the end they didn't ask for proof of travel.