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Hi,
I applied from the US about 10 weeks ago for first UK adult passport and need to travel soon, called the passport office and a nice young lady told me that overseas applications could not be expedited — but she didn’t seem 100% sure of it.Could anyone share:
1) if application from the US can be expedited or
2) a recent wait time experience applying from the US?Thanks.
Yes overseas applications can be expedited in the case you require you passport to remain legally compliant in the country of residence – a Government department can’t put you legally at large at no fault of your own. It can’t be expedited in terms that it can be arranged to be picked up at a local PO, that is perhaps what the call centre lady was alluding too. The training and knowledge of the call centre operatives is mixed.
If you trawl back trough the forum there is a couple of posts from a lady in Auz who succesfully expedited.
If you are registered to vote, it is worth dropping your MP a line.
Good luck.
Thanks so much for the response. I’m a bit unclear on the legally compliant bit, I should probably have provided more info on my situation. I’m a US/UK dual citizen, lived in the US my whole life but moving to Scotland as my wife took a job there (she’s on work visa). So I’m not in any US legal jeopardy by not having a passport (that I’m aware of) – it’s more that I’m stuck here away from my family. Sadly not registered to vote as I’ve never lived in UK.
And yes, I’ve encountered a variety of mixed knowledge indeed 🙂
The issue is, the 1st point of contact with the HMPO is via a subcontracted company called Teleperformance be it by phone or SMS or eMail. As nice and well intentioned as the indivduals are they are reading from a script and/or working with a system they can’t override. Their training simply does not extend to dealing with overseas applicants and its a complete crapshoot what they tell you you need to somehow bounce past this. I was told when I rang in, that I should have not sent my old passport in when I have a screenshot when applied to do precisely that.
I would drop an email to the expedited email address and/or ring 01633745738 (this bypassess Teleperformance and get you to the HMPO) and explain your situation, you have hit the magic 10 week mark – they are duty bound to expedite you.
Hi Foster, is that number correct? I’d really like to get through to someone as I’ve been waiting for almost 14 weeks but it doesn’t appear to work for me.
Yes, I have just rung it to check it, albeit it went straight to hold. I take it you are dropping the 1st zero and adding 0044. Do feedback if you get through.
I’ve also been told by 2 other agents over the last couple days that overseas applications can absolutely not be expedited in any situation, 10 weeks or not, no exceptions. If anyone has any creative ways around this please let me know!
“I’ve also been told by 2 other agents over the last couple days that overseas applications can absolutely not be expedited in any situation, 10 weeks or not, no exceptions. If anyone has any creative ways around this please let me know!”
I have it in writing from the HMPO they will expedite if one needs a passport to remain legally compliant in country of residence, for example to a renew an visa. Yes, they will not expedite overseas applications for travel.
The call handlers are clearly not trained to deal with overseas applications, keep in mind they working to a script and thier IT system is limited and they cannot see much more that you can on the online portal.
Ah yes, sorry – they did mention the legal compliance exception but I don’t quite understand it / don’t think it’s relevant to me as a US citizen and resident. I’m not sure what kind of legal jeopardy I would be in for not having a passport. Thanks again for the responses.
“Ah yes, sorry – they did mention the legal compliance exception but I don’t quite understand it / don’t think it’s relevant to me as a US citizen and resident. I’m not sure what kind of legal jeopardy I would be in for not having a passport. Thanks again for the responses. “
The legal compliance exception is for British Nationals who are overseas and need to renew visas an the like. If you are a US citizen and in the US I assume you don’t need a visa therefore you are unlikley to be in legal jeopardy and it looks like you you will have to sit it out, I’m afraid. Hopefully when the school holidays are over HMPO can concentrate on the backlog.
I am in an EU country. Does the ‘legal compliance’ cause apply in my case? How would one go about proving it?
“I am in an EU country. Does the ‘legal compliance’ cause apply in my case? How would one go about proving it?”
Sorry don’t know for the EU. Do you need a visa to stay in the country of residence? If you can’t apply for a visa or extend one without your passport – also some countries require overseas nationals to present a passport on demand, if either of those apply you are potentially legally as risk. Do either of those situatons apply?
For instance I live in SE Asia and my visa runs out mid Dec and I will need my passport to renew my visa, I have been told that is a case for escalation but can only push for it after 10 weeks, which I’m a couple of weeks shy of.
Update here — my application was just approved this morning and passport is being printed. Applied May 27 documents received June 27, 9-10 weeks/5 weeks. Thanks for your help and good luck!
Hi,
I have applied for the first adult passport through overseas online form. Here is my timeline:
Application history
Passport printed 12:39am on 1 August 2022
Application approved 10:16am on 29 July 2022
Documents received 6:14pm on 14 April 2022
Application received 9:45am on 27 March 2022
Identity details received 9:45am on 27 March 2022
Email sent to person confirming your identity 8:28pm on 22 March 2022
Ask someone to confirm your identity 8:21pm on 22 March 2022
Application submitted 8:21pm on 22 March 2022The documents have been handed to and signed for by the Durham office on the 29th of March by UPS, it took them just over 2 weeks to add them to my application. On the 8th of May the application status changed to Processing, but as for many people here that later reverted back to documents received.
I have waited patiently for the 10 week mark from the documents received stage, nothing happened. It is said on the HMPO website that overseas applications may take longer than 10 weeks, so I have waited for another 5.
On the day of 15 week mark (28th of July) it was evident that my application is properly stuck so I decided to act. I have sent emails to all expedited addresses I could find, also one to the MP of the city I have lived in and used a webform on the HMPO website. Did not bother with the advice line or the chat as the advice line is generally useless and the chat is always unavailable. Surprisingly, got a reply from the HMPO to the form I have sent through their website within 2 hours asking for some more details. After I have provided those, I was told that my application is “awaiting processing”. Did not receive any responses from the expedited teams or the MP.
To my surprise the application got approved the next day. Did not require any interviews, the passport got printed the next working day and now is in the hands of DHL who will be delivering it tomorrow.
Should also mention that I did not have any travel booked (following the official guidance), but mentioned in all my emails that I am left with no travel documents since I’ve had to send my foreign passport as one of the supporting documents and therefore can’t book holiday or business travel.
I do not know what exactly made my application unstuck, I can just advise anyone in a similar situation to try and contact HMPO through all possible means. It seems to have worked for me, I hope it does for you too.
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