Recent UK Passport Applicant Timelines

I sent my old passport on the 2nd Mar and they showed as received on 6th Mar. On the 16th Mar I realised I forgot to send my current foreign passport so I sent photocopy on the day. I also received a request for further supporting docs the same day, which I also sent on the day. These were never marked as received but I spoke to an agent daily via webchat providing the Royal mail tracking numbers. On Sun 22nd Mar I was notified my application was approved. I received my passport on the 25th March.

Note this is one of 3 child first time passports for overseas. We had imminent travel (3/25/2026) pre-booked before the dual citizens rules came into effect. As soon as I realized this would affect the children we took action. 2/19: Application submitted / identity confirmed / Appplication received 2/20: Documents mailed via DHL 2/24: Documents delivered 2/26: Documents marked as received 3/9: Request for more documents to show lineage as mother (English) was born after 31 Dec 1982 / Documents mailed after confirming with a phonecall 3/10: Documents delivered 3/14: Called passport office to confirm they didn't need anymore information and to explain we had imminent travel 3/15: Application Approved 3/17: Passport printed and sent 3/18: Delivered to Epsom Relay @ 06.20 3/23: notification of delivery the next day of passports and supporting documents by DHL 3/24: Passport and supporting documents received I have to say everyone I spoke with at the passport office were amazing they were knowledgeable, kind and understanding.

The service was very easy and quick, except there was a delay in my documents being scanned as recieved, I talked to them on the chat and it was escalated and scanned the next day. Application submitted online 5 March Sent documents delivered 9 March Documents scanned as received 12 March Application approved 22 March Passport printed 24 March Passport delivered 25 March

My application was a very easy renewal, only needed my ID verified. Photo was professional and on website said good, but it was declined. 2nd photo was taken on phone, on website said fair. This was approved

It was relatively easy and customer service were helpful but I know they thought my daughter’s birth certificate was a copy and it wasn’t so when I called, they documented that it was real. My documents took 8 days to be marked as received though.

Overly complicated having to send my mother’s birth certificate when she is already a British passport holder. Don’t understand why they are not able to see her citizenship status when I’m applying for my passport.

Overall resonably fast. I felt that the process got stuck from time to time (e.g. the documents did not show as received for ages). Each time this happened, I filled in the online enquiry form to ask what was going and found them very helpful and responsive then. Documents back 20th March 2026 Passport arrived 20th March 2026 Passport printed 19th March 2026 Application approved 18th March 2026 (again, this happened after I enquired) Documents received 9th March 2026 (they were signed for on 4th March, but only showed up in HMPO's system as received on 9th March after I enquired) Identity details received 2nd March 2026 Application submitted 2nd March 2026

Online process quick and easy Saturday 28 February. Posted my old passport Monday 2 March. They confirmed received 9 March. Application approved 18 March. Printed 19 March. Delivered by DHL 25 March.

2/19 Submitted, identity confirmed, Application received 2/26 Documents Received 3/9 More Documents requested and new identity referee wanted 3/9 Documents sent and identity referee confirmed identity 3/14 Documents received and after a phone call to ensure nothing more was needed and to let them know we have imminent travel. 3/15 Application approved 3/17 Printed and sent 3/18 Received at Epsom Relay @ 6:20am 3/23 DHL notification of delivery received 3/24 Passport received

Recommend calling before you send documents to ensure you send everything needed the first time. If the parent is British and born after 31 December 1982, be prepared to send lineage (birth certificates for parents of the parent of the child and marriage certificates). 2/19 : Application submitted / Identity confirmed / Application received 2/20 : Documents sent via DHL 2/24 : Documents delivered 2/16: Documents marked received 3/9: More documents requested, called to confirm exactly what was needed. Extra documents sent 3/10: Documents delivered 3/14: Called to remind we had imminent travel and ask what else maybe needed / Documents received 3/15: Application approved 3/17: Passport printed & sent 3/18: delivered to Epsom Relay / notification from DHL of delivery date 3/19: Passport delivered 3/24: Documents for passport application delilvered

They first refused my counter signer even though the person in question is a factory director then on the same day and same time they requested me to send deedpoll paperwork to a name of change which never happened and they said my name on the renewal forms doesn’t match their system when I got a call back from management I asked where they got this information from as my name never changed and if they check the two previous applications they will see it’s the same name throughout the fiat to this application the lady manager then went on to tell me that the previous applications only stay on the system for 1 year now passports for a child is 5 years so where they getting their information about the name change when if never happened. Then the lady manager could see I was in the right and then they changed their conversation and said they are requesting my child’s BC and my passport to confirm parental responsibility of my daughter.

It’s an abysmal exercise by HMPO from start to finish. No consistency, errors in website coding, still in beta form, difficult to get answers, poor communication that all of this was suddenly required, no thought to courier charges from overseas. They couldn’t have made this worse if they tried.

07/03 applied online 08/03 identity was confirmed 10/03 old passport received (this could’ve been quicker if identity was confirmed on the day and we could have sent the passport straight away. Identity was confirmed on a Sunday so had to send passport on Monday) 19/03 application approved 20/03 passport printed 21/03 passport delivered.