Recent UK Passport Applicant Timelines

Online Application - Aug 16 Documents posted - Aug 18 Documents received and acknowledged - Aug 24 Passport approved - Sep 1 Passport printed and sent - Sep 2 Passport received - Sep 9

Was "easy" but the online instructions very clearly stated to provide the old UK passport OR a colour photocopy of the entire book. After it was received I was told that I needed to send the original passport and that they were aware of the problem, so I had to pay another DHL fee for a second post and a had delay in total time.

I had lost my previous passport (which had already expired) so had to report it as lost first and upload a new photo. Passport delivered via DHL 12:20 14 September 2026 Initial DHL tracking info 11 September 2026 Passport printed 10:31am on 10 September 2026 Application approved 1:48pm on 9 September 2026 Form confirming identity received 9:06am on 2 September 2026 Identity details received 9:06am on 2 September 2026 Email sent to person confirming your identity 8:53am on 2 September 2026 Ask someone to confirm your identity 8:01am on 2 September 2026 Application submitted 8:01am on 2 September 2026

Submitted on 10th August Documents Received and Acknowledged 12th August Approved and Printed 20th August Received 27th August

Old passport sent by recorded delivery on 08/08/26, delivered to passport office on 14/08/26. Nothing changed on application history for 10 days, then it was approved and printed on same day, it seems it was sent on 26/08/26 and I received it by DHL on 27/08/26

I was told that the passport photo I took while submitting the application was over a month old and was required to submit a new photo. Not sure why they thought it was old photo.

My tax assessment form was not accepted as an address proof. Had to find another document and resubmit.

Chose the Aus Post cheapest option with tracking. Application submitted 6 Jul Application received 6 Jul Document delivered 24 Jul (by tracking) Document received 30 Jul Application approved 7 Aug Passport printed 7 Aug DHL delivered 14 Aug

Longer wait time due to multiple requests for additional documents which made the total cost that much more expensive as all mailings included tracking. (Passport £116; Mailings £64.95). Would have been nicer if the HMPO online instructions on what docs they wanted was a little clearer and less ambiguous.

First time renewing from abroad. The DHL delivery was a day late but all in all very smooth. Paid for a tracked post of my passport from Austria.

Very easy application. Photo taken via Officeworks photo booth. Only needed to send photocopy of Australian Passport and expired UK passport. Was asked to have someone confirm my identity 9 days after docs received, it was then approved 1 day later.

Had difficulty with photo getting jpeg ! Friend took it with her phone eventually. HMPO process smooth and well communicated. Nightmare with DHL delivery, came on wrong day then didn’t turn up when rearranged, finally made it on day 3 but a LOT of waiting around ! Deducted a point for pic hassle and one for delivery hassle.

No hassle at all. My old passport had already been invalidated (I didn't realise that the 3-months rule applies within Schengen even if you have permanent residence in a Schengen country, so I had to get a temporary passport) but I just checked the damage box and explained.

Arranging photograph was a bit of a faff as this sort of thing is done automatically at local town hall counters in Belgium and photo booths don't seem to provide digital links. The photographer I found had appropriate software to ensure compliance specifically with UK rules although it did not generate the special UK special codes. All in all reasonably efficient service by UK standards (got the renewed passport in about 3 weeks) but considerably less efficient than the turnaround time for a Belgian passport (3 days). Quite stressful to be without a passport for a prolonged period but in the end no emergency occurred so all was OK.

My first error was sending the wrong passport and then sending the correct one. Being without any passport was indeed scary as HMPO would not send the other one back. Then it was wondering when the UK would come back to me, no time frame was given but best thing is I got the UK yesterday and my Bermuda I picked up today!! Both in time for travel on Monday!!

Application from NZ for replacement of UK passport issued in Wellington NZ 2002. Classed as first time application ! so included both expired UK red passports and NZ statutory declaration inc reasons for overseas application and a NZ statutory declaration for downloaded documents for a parents name change. Inc both parents bc and their mc. Inc 3 x proof of address. Used myIR and requested tax residency certificate. HMPO did not ask for any other docs and all docs returned 4 days after passport series D arrived.

It would be more cost efficient if all supporting documents are requested at the same time, as opposed to having the applicant pay multiple DHL fees to send multiple envelops

Following all online instructions was easy….getting together all original required documents took a couple of weeks, including getting someone to authenticate me,.and Luckily for me I kept ( for sentimental purposes) my expired , in 99, British passport but once done and shipped off, all was now a waiting game….personally, I was happy with the process.

11 May - Applied 11 May - Shipped documents (old UK + current Canadian passports) via UPS 18 May - Documents delivered (5 business days, should have been 3) 19 May - Documents entered as received (1 day after delivery) 1 June - Application approved (8 business days after received) 1 June - Passport printed 3 June - Passport tracking sent by DHL (2 days after printing) 4 June - Documents tracking sent by DHL (3 days after approval) 8 June - Passport received (7 days after printing, 1 day faster than DHL delivery estimate)