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Hjiki I would go 48 hours beforehand but I’m at work until the Thursday which is the day before travel so I’m going to have to go first thing in the Friday. Eek! Really hope it works out. The system is so flawed, how did they not pre-empt that people would be travelling this time of year?!
Anyway I will hope for the best and go the day before with fingers toes and eyes crossed!After it reaching a week until my flight, I frantically called the support line.
Unaware of this upgrade service until then (I had been busy worrying about work the last few weeks and assumed my passport would “show up” on time – the fool that i was), they told me they would start the request and someone would call me back.the next day, nobody called back by 6pm, so I re-called the support line and they informed me nothing had been done, and they forwarded me to the support line again, who promised THIS time they would start my request to upgrade.
today, the third day in this hellish process, nobody called me. As it approached 7pm, i called the support line once more and they informed me the “upgrade team” is behind shedule, and taking upwards of 3 days to call people back for “urgent” requests.
It’s now 4 days until i fly, and nobody is being helpful at all!!
at this rate i’m going to have to drive all the way to the passport office to beg them to give me my passport 24 hours before my flight- which is about 3 hours from where i live and even further from where i’m supposed to be catching my plane from!!!!what a nightmare!
But it does seem the passport upgrade service is overwhelmed at the moment- likely due to a number of requests all reaching the 10+ week timeline now (i wonder how backed up they are for it to have gotten this bad, yikes)!
@forgotteninnit if it helps from experience it is possible to put yourself in an upgrades list and get a passport within 4days
i got my little brothers today
put on upgrades list ; wednesday 13/7
passport collected and printed ; friday 15/7
travelling : sunday 17/7
so it was done within 2 days so don’t be overly stressedi can tell you step by step what you need to do to help you if you want me to just lmk
also when are you flying and at what time
also which HMPO is closest to you (durham?)@mr_cr9 i have good news today that can reassure you even more
we are going to travel on 17/7 a family trip my lil brother didn’t receive his first child british passport so this is what i did
wednesday 13/7 –> sent an upgrade email
friday 15/7 today (48hours before) –> received a call ,passport was then printed and collected from victoriagoing to travel sunday 17/7
PS: i did go to my nearest HMPO today because i was in the 48hour mark
overall they did it in 2days so this success story proves that it is possible to get within 2 1/2 days i hope this eases your worry
lmk if you need anything else
just want to say i’m so grateful for this forum helped me get passports for 2 of my family members my self included
without this ik it would be highly unlikely that i would have got a passport so i’m so thankful, i was so stressed and sympathise with everyone
that’s why even though i don’t have any personal need for this forum anymore i will still check this forum to answer questions
EVERYONE FEEL FREE TO ASK ME ANY DOUBTS AT ALL OR ANYTHING YOU NEED CLARITY ON (i’ll answer to the best of my ability) ask as many questions as you guys likei want to give back to everyone this forum was truly a lifesaver
PS: good luck everyone rooting for you to get the passport that you need
PS: good luck everyone
@hjiki thank you so much for your replies, i’m put slightly more at ease about everything!
hopefully tomorrow (sat 16/07) they finalise me on the upgrades list after a call back!
I know they’re closed sunday (17/07), so if it took them two days it would hopefully be ready monday (18/07) if your estimation is right!Also, I’m flying from london on Weds at 5am, so really i’d need to be able to pick it up tuesday (18/08) at the latest!
My closest HMPO is Liverpool, which is i believe where my passport currently is!my process so far has been requesting the upgrade, and then 48 hours of silence, if that also helps.
@hjiki this is music to my ears. So it is achievable to get a passport within the same short time frame I have. I just hope they can pull it out the bag for me.
Thank you for your feedback @hjiki and the rest of the guys. I’ll keep you all up to date with my application. @hjiki you go and enjoy your holiday now and have a well deserved cocktail on the beach, enjoy.
@hjiki quick question. Did you receive the call to pay and collect on Friday or did the upgrade team call you before the passport collection phone call?
@forgotteninnit make sure you call them and ask them
1. where your application is (like what upgrade team you will be on durham,belfast,liverpool etc
2. what your application reference number iswhen you talk to the progress team or customer service management team today stay on call whilst they send you an email like make sure you receive an upgrade email then only cut the call cuz sometimes they send it to the wrong email address
@mr_cr9 i’m travelling on the 17/7 so friday (yesterday) i hit the 48hour deadline so i was already at my nearest HMPO
my mother (who i listed as an alternative contact cuz this application was to do with my baby brother) got a call from the upgrades team whilst i was at the HMPO conveniently at around 11 ish they told her passport approved and ready to print and i could collect it later today– takes a little while to print around 1-2hours since i was already there i took a break went to my nearest shop, ate and came back at around 3 ish to print
in short
roughly 11am –> call from upgrades team passport approved + ready to print
roughly 2-3am –> collected my passportyou have to wait a lil while after upgrades team call you to collect passport because the HMPO still needs to print + put passport together
good luck 🙂
@mr_cr9 ps; if upgrade team call you to say passport approved ready to print, if they need payment they most likely will ask for bank details over the phone (within the same phone call)
so for me the belfast team called me passport ready to print, took my bank details over the phone etc
@mr_cr9 ps; if upgrade team call you to say passport approved ready to print, if they need payment they most likely will ask for bank details over the phone (within the same phone call)
so for me the belfast team called me passport ready to print, took my bank details over the phone etc
Update:
I got a callback at 9am, which had no noise and immediatley cut off!
I was horrified that my chance to upgrade might have been jeaprodised, but after calling the general line they re-listed me for an urgent callback and assured me someone would be in touch later today.I got that callback today around 2pm to confirm my details, and they’ve said I should be clear to pick up my passport on Tuesday (24 hours to flight) from Liverpool unless they find any glaring holes in my paperwork!
thank you all so much for your help, and I’ll update again if any problems pop up on monday in case anyone else has similar problems in the future!
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