New Passport Upgrade Service!

@travel2022 we didn’t make an appointment and none of the other people did just turn up in the morning and they will see you. @nonum it’s 10 weeks from when you submitted the application.

@pavel81 I would say go to where the documents are as everyone in the queue turned up there because that’s where their documents were. I think it would be the best bet as it’s being so close to flying. A few people said they don’t print the passports on a Saturday I’m not sure if that is true but with the large numbers of people needing then I’m sure they are.

My husband turned up at Peterborough for 7:15am and there were about 30 people ahead of him. When they opened, they organised the queue by people who were flying first so people behind him were able to jump ahead if they were flying out sooner. Those who turned up later were able to go ahead of him too. When he got to the front, the Upgrade team called him and said if he paid £90, they were able to print the passport at Peterborough for him to collect. This was a massive relief as we weren’t sure whether it was already in the post or printed in Durham where the application went to.

@csy30006, you would get a text if the passport has been printed, ours was printed the following day after being approved, then royal mail next day delivery to us.

going to the passport office is ok if you're near by, i'm the east coast of Scotland and my passport is in Belfast

hi guys, probably joining in on the pile of moaning comments haha, i ordered my new passport, reported a stolen passport in november but only just got around to ordering a new one on the 2nd may and i fly away on july 1st. i’ve had no progress on my application since the day i applied and phoning the office has been little to no help, i’ve been put forward to the upgrade but had nothing in 5 days. i just want some clarity on whether i’m wasting my time constantly refreshing my phone for an update. what are my options, i can drive to liverpool no problem if that’s a way of getting a passport. thanks!

My boyfriend is on 11 weeks now flying july 5th - made the call on Monday who advised emailing upgrade team and 72 hour wait for call back. No call so he rung again - same answer. His application was online how do you know where your passport is for him to try going there? Liverpool is the closest. Also for people just turning up days before flight with application in progress (his was stolen) do you have to take any other documents? thanks in advance

@saphron101 When you speak to a member of the Progress Team or Customer Services Management you can ask them which office is dealing with your application and they will confirm that for you. As far as I understand it, you need to take proof of booking for your upcoming flight with you when queuing. Hope this helps!

i’m going to head to liverpool for 7am monday/tuesday and pray that they can sort it out for me, last ditch attempt for me as the stress im going through is ridiculous.

Can anyone list the documents you need to carry when you go directly to the passport office? Do I need print out of tickets? How do I show them that I have been waiting for more than 6 weeks? Can I show them by logging into the website on my mobile? If the passport is for my child, do I have to take them with me? Or can I go by myself? Would they ask for my identity? If so, would a driving license be sufficient?

Looking for a bit of advice, am starting to panic! Live in Belfast, daughter's renewal sent to Bootle in April with documents received 4th May. When I logged in the day after the application was made online to see if documents had been received I realised I had entered the wrong year of birth on her application - phoned and was advised to send a letter clarifying the mistake and it would be logged with her application. Did this, still sitting on documents received. Due to travel to the US on 26th July and can't apply for ESTA's until we get her passport. Am confused about my options, or if I even have any at this stage. We fly to the US on a Tuesday, would I have to book a flight and travel to Bootle to try and sort her application out there or can I approach the Belfast office? All her documents were sent off with her application so should I order a new birth certificate for the Belfast office? We stand to lose a huge amount of money, was supposed to be holiday of a lifetime for us, saved for years to afford it. Am hardly sleeping worrying about it and so annoyed at myself for making such a stupid mistake. Any help would be much appreciated

@Eskimo32 I’m not 100% sure, but from reading everyone’s experiences on here over the past few weeks, if I were you I would wait until you’re over the 10 weeks from application submission mark and then queue up at Belfast. I think if you’re over 10 weeks there’s a good chance they’ll see you, even if your flight isn’t within 48 hours, which seems to be the general criteria for approaching the offices if you’ve only applied 6 weeks ago for example. I’m planning to go to Peterborough next Saturday (we are supposed to be flying on Tuesday 5th) and I’ll be taking my son’s birth certificate just in case. Best to be on the safe side! I’m sorry I don’t have any definitive answers and I hope you get everything sorted out in time!

What is the Phone number I need to contact for this flying in two weeks fast service? Also the relevant email address please?

My partner applied for his passport at the beginning of April and we are travelling on the 28th June. We struggled to get any help via the advice line and the upgrade team never got back to us. However, as a last resort on Friday he travelled from London to Durham Passport Office where his passport was being processed. When he arrived there were two separate queue lines, one for appointments and a general queue. As he didn’t have an appointment he had to go in the general queue, it took approximately 3-4hrs to be seen. Once he got to the front desk, the lady he spoke to was very helpful and as he travelled from London during the train strikes she pushed to get it printed that same day but there was no guarantee. Thankfully he waited around all day and managed to pick his passport up at 5pm. We are so relieved and can finally look forward to flying on Tuesday! Durham passport office team were really helpful, friendly and want to help! If you do decide to go to the passport office please be aware you will need to bring proof of ID and a copy of your flight confirmation/holiday booking.

I am currently waiting on an upgrade call back as we travel next thursday but just planning for desperation next week if nothing has happened The application is with Durham but our local office is London - which one should we turn up to 48 hours before? and what do we need to bring - i was planning ID, proof of travel and signed photos anything else?

Does anyone know how much it costs for the upgrade when they call you?

@allingine I also fly next Thursday. I'm currently at 9 weeks and 1 day now since I applied for my replacement passport. Did you email the upgrade team Thursday just gone? I had to resend my email again on Saturday as I didn't receive the automated response from the Liverpool Upgrade Team, so I'm praying I get a call back today.

Just had my upgrade call, after being put through 5 different operators, giving false information, cut off multiple times I was finally able to send off my upgrade email on Saturday, after waiting 48 hours was contacted promptly by someone this morning very professional confirmed everything for me told me all was left was to be transferred for payment after being put on hold for an hour a half I got put through to someone who had no idea who I was told me I couldn’t make a payment because I haven’t applied for an upgrade? And told me someone from processing would call me back in 48 hours, im soo confused I’ve received the acknowledgment of upgrade email, sent the required email with sufficient evidence been contacted 48 hours later by them but the person after completely shut me down and cut me off I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong my flights on the 5th it’s a digital application if they don’t upgrade me within 6 days can I turn up 48 hours beforehand and get a passport upgrade in person? My application has been processing then back to identiy details received mid April im 8 and a half weeks into my application. Sorry for the hassle guys but the stress is unreal I spent the majority of Friday and Saturday trying to get through to someone with no success so I had to spend 6 hours on hold and getting palmed around

1 person I got put through to, asked about an upgrade told me that I couldn’t upgrade as I was still more than 14 days from travel and had to call back Monday and from then I could begin to apply for an upgrade ( already I knew something was wrong because I called up the Saturday just go meaning I had 10 days left until I fly ) he hung up the call and told me there was nothing more to be done. I then proceeded to call up again and received a very professional friendly lady that was more than willing to offer me the right to upgrade and began to transfer me to the next line to initiate the phone then cut off mid transfer I called up again, I got put through to a man with a very thick Indian accent it was very hard to communicate with him and he did not seem to be aware of anything 100% reading from a script he said he was going to transfer me to the relevant department and he transferred me to the wrong department, I then called up again and was put through to an woman who acknowledged my request and gave me the relevant information and what email to contact Received the confirmation email and sent my own off waited 48 hours and well my previous post shows how that went down, not to mention this all went down while I was in the middle of shift at work (I work 55 hours a week in a kitchen in a restaurant and I don’t have Spare time off to myself that isn’t at night it’s caused me so much stress

Also why is there different rates for upgrades people have been offered ones for the price of £102 While the operator who contacted me this morning told me it would cost me £63 What is the criteria for setting the upgrade prices my application hasn’t even been 10 weeks?

What passport office is dealing with your upgrade, and what time did you send the email to them on Saturday? I sent mine to the Liverpool Upgrade Team just before 6pm on Saturday (after being passed to about 7 different people over the space of 2 hours on the phone). Each person kept telling me they were putting me through to the upgrade team and it wasn't until the final person I spoke to, was told that you can't be put through to the upgrade team - they only work via email and outbound calls!

I was able to send the email at half 8 maybe 9pm Saturday contacted by 9:30am today told me everything was above board and payment was just next then transferred and shut down and palmed another 48 hours, Durham is handling my claim, i live in Essex though and do not drive It’s a joke

What's worrying me, is that the person I spoke to on Saturday requested an upgrade for me over the phone. She asked me what my nearest office was and I said to her Peterborough but also stated that my application is at Liverpool. After we got off the phone, I received the following email: Thank you for contacting us about your passport application, that you have asked, to be upgraded. Your request has now been sent to the relevant team who will contact you within 48 hours to discuss further. For your application to be processed using this service, you will need to provide evidence to support your request to assess If you are eligible for your application to be upgraded. If the evidence is not in English, a translation must be provided. You must send this evidence to us within 48 hours, or your application will continue to be processed under our standard service. The evidence should be sent by email to the following email address and the subject header of the email should state the applicant's name: PeterboroughUpgradeTeam@hmpo.gov.uk HM Passport Office will contact you by telephone or email if we need more information from you. So based on that, I forwarded the email I sent to Liverpool to the Peterborough Team too. Now I'm panicking thinking that it's going to cause confusion their end and more delays. Got the automated response from Liverpool Team but not Peterborough. I fly on the 7th July.

I’m confused by this 48 acknowledgement, we submitted my sons for upgrade last Monday based on advice from the 0300 150 0850 number to Durham, as we flew within 14 days (now 7) we are over 10 weeks and been processing more than 6… we rang the same number this morning and were told the 48 hour acknowledgement isn’t a thing anymore and not to expect contact till around 72 hours before flight, I can see above someone flying after us has been called 🤷🏻‍♂️ Have I missed a step or something I should have done? was told this morning via the number above it will be getting looked at and they sent an urgent referral too… I have zero clue what it right anymore!

Emailed upgrade team on Friday not had a reply from them yet but 11 days to flight and Status updated to passport approved today. Fingers crossed get it in time.