Recent UK Passport Applicant Timelines

First time adult application from NZ. Just over three weeks door to door including a bank holiday in the UK. Sent using NZ post international courier - arrived in 4 days to UK. Six days from printing to arrive in NZ.

This was a very good experience and I am soooo very excited to have my passport.

It went super smooth, Sent by FEDEX on Friday 14th, they received them August 21st, Passport approved on Aug 28th and in my hands Sept 4th.

Such a frustrating process. Not being able to talk to a human at HMPO made it worse. The best thing that happened was a lovely lady from HMPO gave me a call one night and we had a good conversation but that was a long time after I applied. They really need to look at their operational policies. So much of what was requested was unnecessary, illogical and their rejection of official documents was ridiculous, while placing more value on non-official supporting documents, some of which didn't exist. Expecting a person to have school reports, medical records from several decades ago is just crazy. I had to send three lots of docs to the UK at a huge expense. All up this cost me about $600. HMPO need to get much better at comms. Tell apicants what to send upfront instead of drawing out the process with multiple requests, causing significant delays, ever increasing costs for the applicant and a huge amount of stress. So much could be ironed out in a phone call at the start of the process. Yes there needs to be integrity in the passport process but there are many other ways in which to operate. Sending constant automated emails which can be intimidating is not good, especially when you're in a different part of the world and do not have the same accessibility to government services.

British born but most of life in Australia. No previous British passport, no parents passport. We read many posts on this page before applying. Then when we located or purchased and sent the paperwork. We didn’t send just what the passport office said. We sent other things that some had been asked to send after review. All originals..both parents birth certificates, parents wedding certificate, my birth certificate, my wedding certificate, Australian arrival card from the mid 1960’s, colour photocopies of licence and every page of my Australian passport, bank statement to show residency. We wrote and signed a cover letter explaining each document and why we are applying from overseas (some people had to respond to that question after applying!) Used DHL, way faster than Australia Post. Passport Printed on 17 August, arrived in Australia 24th August, plus another envelope with our certificates at the same time!

All smooth and efficient. It would help if DHL assisted with tracking passport after they received it Passport received: 11 August Application approved and Passport printed: 5 August 2026 Documents received: 28 July 2026 Identity details received: 23 July 2026 Application submitted: 1 23 July 2026

I applied from Canada as a UK citizen by descent through my father. The Passport Office clearly details what documents are required and the couple of questions I had, were answered via the online question form within 24 hours. The instructions are designed for UK residents so I asked whether Canadian counterparts on the list of professions that can verify identity would be acceptable. (Yes) And should I list the passport number from my father's 1940s era passport. (No, it would not be in their system). Once I had assembled the package and sent it off to Hemel Hempstead by DHL courier everything moved along quickly. Both the passport and the supporting documents arrived the same day in two separate envelopes. From start to finish, a total of 26 days. Overall, I thought the system was pretty efficient.

Slowest part of the process was with Australia Post taking 10 days for the documents to arrive at Corby. Suggest that if you are in a hurry, request priority international post. It is more expensive but may reduce your anxiety if a quicker turnaround is needed. My documents were returned and received 3 days after the passport.

Applied for my 17-year-olds first UK (adult) passport. Sent original birth certificate for him and his father's British birth certificate. Had a friend verify identity in UK on the 4th and then shipped out on the 12th via USPS priority. Item was delivered to Corby on the 15th, marked received on the 20th, approved on the 28th, shipped on the 29th and will be delivered in NYC on the 30th of July. Super quick turnaround!

Documents received by them 13th July. Christian name on British birth certificate spelt Clive. All paperwork in Australia, and I sent everything I could find including 2 Australian passports, spelt Clyve. 1 webchat after request for childhood records which were unavailable. Ok’d in 2 hours

UK passport expired 2005. Technically a first time adult application. 3 name changes. Original documents Birth certificate Marriage certificate Change of name certificate Colour Photocopy of Australian passport including front/back cover. Colour photocopy of Australian driving license 2 recent bills with current address. Death certificate as I was travelling for my brother’s funeral.

Applying for first Adult Passport after registration from India. Compulsory Paper application with all documents submitted in person via VFS global office in Chennai. After initial application submitted on 19th March, it took Eight weeks for any further updates from HMPO — in my case this was then requesting an online interview. After Interview completed (75min long), further documents were requested which again required another inperson appointment with VFS global Chennai. After second round of documents submitted, it took another 6 weeks until application was approved and new passport couriered to Chennai for collection.

We had to use an agent in the end as trying to navigate the passport office was a nightmare. I was already in Europe when this came into effect my eta was cancelled after only 3 months and I had to return to Australia to facilitate a new UK passport as my Schengen days had ended I had intended to return to complete my UK vacation after spending 3 months in UK September to December 2025 however I could not The extra travel costly

I submitted my application on May 30th but didn’t send out my documents until June 11th. The turnaround time was a lot quicker than I expected..

Used DHL to send 2 sets of documents. First set included UK birth certificate and a colour copy of my Canadian passport. In the second set of documents, I found and sent the passport my late mother used in the 1960s which I traveled under to enter Canada. Would be useful if we were able to upload colour copies of documents and letters explaining our history rather than using DHL to send them quickly.

UK born 1961. Emigrated to Australia 1984. Old blue hardback UK passport expired in 1999. 2 name changes by marriage. I used the group 3 document guide so ended up sending extra stuff to prove use of current name & address plus hand written letter explaining why I wasn't applying from my country of birth. Sent 2 old UK passports. One was cancelled but was the document used to enter Australia. I photocopied my Aus passport at home and put 2 images per page. As requested I sent birth certificate(s) & marriage/divorce certificates. Used Australia Post international express to send. Passport & docs returned by DHL with signature.

The whole process was very quick. I wasn’t required to submit any additional documents and within a week of my documents being received my passport was approved. Approved on a Thursday and I received my passport via DHL five days later.

I was very anxious given some of the stories I had read about. I wrote a statement explaining discrepancies of my name. What was on my birth certificate is a name I had never really been known as, the name I had been know by for most of my life (even though it wasn't officially changed until a few years ago) and now my married name. I also supplied various documents from when I was born, my schooling years and my adult life supporting what I had written in my statement. I am happy I still had all of those documents available. This was in addition to the usual documents they asked for (such as original birth certificate/change of name certificate/marriage certificate, copy of the British passport we arrived in Australia on and a copy of my Australian passport). Overall, I was very impressed with how quickly my application was processed. I also received all my documents back 2 days after I received my UK passport.

Photo taken by Australia Post, which was accepted and used in my Australian passport was rejected by HMPO. But a selfie taken T home myself in the bathroom was accepted.. Parents wedding certificate was rejected as invalid, despite it being accepted a couple of years ago for my mother to get hers. A copy from Births, Deaths & Marriages Aust, was unable to be obtained due to not able to obtain permission from my parents to get a copy. Second round of documents, requested proof of name change. This should have been asked at the first stage of documents when I selected and entered a “other known name”. Third round of documents requested was for a hand written letter, explain why I was applying from outside of the UK. Given my residential address is in Australia, the supporting documents shows my address as Australia, I sent a copy of my Australian passport and Australian drivers license, one would think HMPO could establish why I was applying from outside of Australia without the handwritten letter. Or again, it could have been asked for the first time around.

I had no issues - I am back to my birth name after divorce so needed minimal certificates. Had Birth Certificate sent direct to Passport offie

Nothing like the stories of head. Just over a month from posting application from Australia passport delivered to Australia

Very frustrating to not be asked for all of the documents in the first place. Have to second a second round of documents explaining a name change and reason for applying for the passport out side of the UK are all self explanatory.