Recent UK Passport Applicant Timelines

Absolute circus, complete lack of clarity with regards to which documents we needed. There was a delay as the original birth certificate we received from the hospital (that was already in English on the reverse of the document) was rejected as it was an international version. We had to order a shorter document and have it translated at great expense (£70) from the ONLY translation service in the WHOLE OF SWITZERLAND that the British embassy recommends as an official translation service. It’s ridiculous and backwards. We also had to provide a signed and dated letter with British grandparents details due to an already known policy change. Why this wasn’t requested at the initial round of documents is beyond me. It caused enough of a delay that we had to cancel holiday plans as they retained her Swiss passport for the duration of the two month application process… we still don’t have it back.

I had to renew for damage passport. A bit stressful for renewal as I had a travel booked already but didn’t notice my passport was damaged just before we go holiday. Thank God it arrived in time

Relatively smooth. Longest ‘delay’ was waiting for duplicate certificates ordered from UK GRO, but even that was quick, I just hadn’t done it before I sent application in.

Straightforward process Passport printed on 30 April 2026 Application approved on 29 April 2026 Documents received on 23 April 2026 Application received on 17 April 2026 Application submitted on 17 April 2026

Received a message stating that the photo wasn't good enough (shadows). Submitted a new photo and the application was approved a couple of minutes later!

We had a series of frustrating mishaps with misplaced supporting documents, requests for additional documents, and our US passport eventually being declared lost. Extremely frustrating and expensive process.

Hi I took 5 days from receiving documents to application approved

Documents sent: 30 March Documents marked as delivered by DHL: 5 April (Easter Sunday) Documents marked received by Passport office: 8 April Application approved: 19 April Passport printed and sent: 21 April DHL tracking from Heathrow: 27 April Passport delivered: 28 April It was a little stressful that there was no tracking between the passport office and the DHL office at Heathrow, particularly as it took 6 days apparently to travel from Corby to London. It's weird (but consistent with others on here) that the passport was approved on a Sunday.

Required to send extra documentation. Wouldn’t accept electronic copy. Had to print the electronic copy I had and put it in an envelope and post it to them

Multi documents needed to be sent and took four people to verify my picture.

Passport Received - April 27th 3:00 pm PDT Application history Passport printed 8:44am on 20 April 2026 Application approved 10:56am on 17 April 2026 Documents received 1:41pm on 4 April 2026 Application received 1:52pm on 27 March 2026 Identity details received 1:52pm on 27 March 2026 Email sent to person confirming your identity 7:33pm on 26 March 2026 Ask someone to confirm your identity 3:11am on 26 March 2026 Application submitted 3:11am on 26 March 2026

Dual National in US. Application was straight forward. List of required documents was long. Expired Passports of parents at time of conception was a bit odd but my mother actually still had them. Biggest problem was the person to provide identification verification. UK Passport website says it must be a UK resident but not related by marriage or birth, which I could not do. However, elsewhere on UK.gov it allows for a US citizen to provide verification. Very confusing. I had a UK relative call UK passport office and verify that a US citizen can provide the identification and the problem was solved. Sent Application and documents 4/23/26. UPS second day took 4 days to arrive at Hemel Hemptead then additional 3 days for Passport office to acknoledge receipt. Once documents were acknowledged process was only 13 days to approval. Printing and acceptance by return carrier took 6 more days. then finally an additional 6 days transit time from UK to US west coast.

Documents were marked as received on April 2, and we had received delivery confirmation on March 30. The passports (for 2 adults--our teenage sons) were approved on April 16. We did not have to send any additional documents other than those requested upon application. The most stressful part of the process had nothing to do with the passport office but waiting for the documents to arrive. We sent them through USPS International Priority Express, which took just under 2 weeks.

We sent the requested documents via USPS International Priority Express, and it took almost 2 weeks for them to arrive at the passport office. The documents were marked as received on April 2, but we had received delivery confirmation on March 30. We did not have to send any additional documents before the passport was received.

It was quite stressful as the new requirements for dual citizens were a surprise and we already had a trip booked to visit family. It was frustrating to receive an additional request for the passport used to get to the place where we live (not possible -- emigration was decades ago as a child) or a letter explaining why the application wasn't submitted from the country of birth (the new rules made it impossible to travel to the country of birth without the passport being applied for). Fortunately, the passport arrived just in time. The documents arrived in multiple packages, with the last being received April 27.

Parents' church marriage certificate wasn't accepted. Had to wait about a month to receive the civil certificate and send it. Other frustration was several days' delay between UPS saying documents had been delivered and any communication or update from Passport Office. Document return was staggered, with final document received April 27.