Overseas application - in dire need of an advice

hi, hope this helps, you can send an email to your MP for assistance (Go to http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/ to get your current MP of your area and thier contact information) you can also email DurhamUpgradeTeam@hmpo.gov.uk and all necessary tracking information , send my proof of travel as an attachment. send your wedding invitation as well. make sure your email Subject goes like this "14 weeks delay to travel in xxx, full name of applicant, Reference Number" iv been on this for 13 weeks had to move my ticket 2ce. finally got a call last week friday it was approved after help from my MPs office also got notified my passport was printed today. now just hoping DHL picks up intime as i travel on Monday the 1st. Good luck

@BByod thanks for your reply. Unfortunately my partner has not been living in the UK for 15 years and he's not registered as a voter anymore. He doesn't have an MP. So, that's not an option, sadly. I've emailed the Durham upgrade team email address as well but never received any reply from them, not even an auto reply. I will try emailing Durham again but I'm not sure they will reply. Being overseas is really difficult as we don't have many options.

I'm an overseas applicant too, I have a slight advantage as I'm still a registered voter so a can call on the offices of my MP if needed (I'm only 7 weeks in at mo) therefore probably not at that stage yet. I did get through to HMPOs SMS service (at great expense, to clarify a couple of points), one nugget I found out from this exchange is, if one needs a passort for legal compliance issue such as renewing a visa (which I will later this year) they will expedite the application.

@Pumpkinhead, is your application a straight renewal or something other?

@Foster it's a lost replacement application. Just got an update actually: it's been approved and printed! Can't believe it. Now here's hoping DHL won't lost it in the post. Not sure what nudged them, but I did send the proof of flights to the expedite team and Durham international. I also used the webchat and told them about the flight date and why we have to go. The webchat staff said she made a note for the examiner about the date and purpose of traveling. So, that's 13 weeks waiting with no update, and then 10 days for them to approve and print after they rejected the photo.

Good news indeed Pumpkin, from what I have worked out the 12/13 mark is when international passports are are actioned. What was the Durham international email you used if you don't mind me asking?

@Foster, these are the email addresses that I wrote to: ExpeditedService@hmpo.gov.uk Escalatedservice@hmpo.gov.uk durhamupgradeteam@hmpo.gov.uk durhaminternational@hmpo.gov.uk Expedited service and Durham international sent an auto-reply almost instantly. The other two I never heard back. I didn't bombard them with emails tho. We basically sat tight until it reached 10 weeks, and then we called the advice line. They suggested us to send an email to the Durham upgrade team, but we never get a reply from them. I think I only emailed them twice, asking for an upgrade (this is before I knew that overseas application cannot be upgraded). I called again the week after that, and the advice line staff made a note of the person who confirmed the identity details (she has Irish passport). When there's no update, I called again a week later, and that went nowhere. 2 hours, 26 euros, no result. By week 13, they updated the tracker and said the photo was rejected and they asked for more details. We immediately sent them. 7 days later and no movement, I sent an email to those 4 email addresses with proof of flights and purpose of travelling. I also used the webchat on the same day to tell the staff that we really needed the passport to come on time. She was very helpful and put a note to the examiner (that we are going for our wedding), although she did say that there is no guarantee that her note would actually make any difference. And then, 4 days later: approved and printed! Hopefully our experience will at least give you some reassurance that overseas applications are being processed, albeit super slow. I do think that bombarding the passport office with emails and calls don't really help, but at the same, I totally understand the stress and anxiety people are feeling because there is really no transparency. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me, and I will do my best to help.

@Pumpkin, that was very useful, thanks for taking the time to respond in such detail. I agree about bombarding HMPO with eMails there comes a point when it gets counterproductive. On one of the FB groups someone claimed they had sent over a 100 emails in the course of a week and was advocating others to do like wise, I just could not see that being helpful to them or others. Thanks again.

@Foster, no problem! I hope you will get your application sorted out sooner rather than later. Wish you the best of luck!

Hey Pumpkin, thanks for your advice. Seems that the webchat idea could be helpful. I tried it and the webpage shows webchat is unavailable due to technical problems. Did that happen to you? Cheers.

@vicching you need to refresh the page a few times until it says either you can talk to someone now or everyone is busy now. Sometimes the page said the webchat wasn't available due to technical problems but it would change after a while. What I did was just to let the open window sit on one side of my screen, while I worked on the other side (easy when you're on a PC and have a massive screen). The page will change and provide you a link to go to a pop-up window when there's someone available. You just have to wait unfortunately.

I got the webchat to work off a mobile phone running a VPN, I didn't get it to work from a lap top. But as Pumkin says you have to refreshing, but it does work.

thanks pumpkin and foster, am literally refreshing the page now~ =)

so, I finally got my passport today, after 12.5 weeks of waiting. thanks for your advices~

@vicching Horaay! Glad to hear you've got your passport now :)

Mine has just been approved, so there is hope.

@Foster great news! It only took a few days from approved to print. DHL didn't send a tracking link tho; they just sent a code to my partner's phone so he could pick it up from one of their secure pickup point. Odd that they didn't send via signed delivery. I hope you will receive yours soon!

Thanks @Pumpkin, I believe once it is sent it can be tracked using the PEX No. once DHL have it. I'll feedback when I get to that stage. Thanks for your help and support.

@Pumpkin, Out of interest how many days did it take from being approved to being printed?

@Foster only one day, and then it arrived around 5 days after we got the update that ot had been printed.

Thanks.

My passport was printed yesterday and only has to make the 7000 or so miles to me now. I'm hoping the end of this week or early next brings more good news.