Recent UK Passport Applicant Timelines

25th Feb - Application submitted 2nd March - Documents posted recorded delivery next day 10th March - Documents confirmed received 19th March - Application approved 21st March - Passport received

On Mon 16/03/2026 took PhotoMe photo at 10am, Applied for a passport renewal at 10:15am, sent my old passport to Hemel Hampstead via Royal Mail signed for 1st class at 11am. On Tue 17th, 6:30pm received "We've received your old passport" text. On Wed 18th, 4:45am received "Your passport has been approved" text. On Wed 18th, 10:45am received "Your passport has been printed" text. On Thu 19th, 2pm received new passport via Royal Mail. Took 4 days in total! :)

Application submitted 12:10pm on 17 March 2026 Application received 12:11pm on 17 March 2026 Documents received 2:42pm on 18 March 2026 Application approved 1:55am on 19 March 2026 Passport printed 6:39pm on 19 March 2026 Passport delivered 11:29am on 21 March 2026

Despite my British passport and French passport not having matching names (French passports typically list the maiden name and married name), my renewal has just been approved with no issues apart from them not liking the photo. They obviously had someone on a late shift at the Passport Office tonight who was bored out of their skull so after the message from them saying the photo wasn't up to scratch (ironically deemed 'good' by their automated online checker), I immediately uploaded the same one but digitised in different lighting (at my office at work, which has no natural light, as opposed to the one I originally sent, digitised in natural light), and the passport application was approved 2 minutes later (even though the new photo had equally ironically been deemed 'poor' by the same automated online checker...!). I had been expecting to have SO many problems with this because of the not-matching-names thing, so in anticipation of this, threw in a copy of my marriage certificate and a letter explaining why the names do not match (not to mention that they changed my maiden name on my old British passport into my married name using that exact same marriage certificate, so they would have been hard pushed not to accept it this time IMO). In the end the whole process was pretty seamless. As I am abroad, the passport was sent via DHL, who attempted to deliver on Wednesday 18th March; when nobody was home, I rescheduled delivery for Friday 20th March, which was when the passport was delivered - less than one month after applying for it (not bad in the context of an overseas application).

Docs took 5 days after delivery to update. After 10 more days we were asked for additional docs. They were signed for and two days later the application was approved.

Application submitted 22/02/26 Passport signed for 25/02/26 Status updated to passport received 02/03/26 Application approved 10/03/26 Passport printed 11/03/26 Passport delivered 12/03/26

Application Submitted: 15th March Documents received: 18th March Application Approved and printed: 19th March Delivery due 20th March

Application history Passport delivered 2:00pm on 19th March Passport printed 10:58pm on 17 March 2026 Application approved 1:01pm on 16 March 2026 Documents received 7:35pm on 6 March 2026 Application received 9:52pm on 2 March 2026 Identity details received 9:52pm on 2 March 2026 Email sent to person confirming your identity 6:34pm on 2 March 2026 Ask someone to confirm your identity 6:31pm on 2 March 2026 Application submitted 6:31pm on 2 March 2026

Application history Passport delivered 2:00pm on 19 March 2026 Passport printed 10:59pm on 17 March 2026 Application approved 1:04pm on 16 March 2026 Documents received 7:35pm on 6 March 2026 Application received 11:01am on 2 March 2026 Application submitted 11:00am on 2 March 2026

Passport printed: 12 March 2026 Application approved: 12 March 2026 Documents received: 2 March 2026 Application received: 17 February 2026 Application submitted: 17 February 2026 The documents were sent from Ontario via Canada Post, tracked and signed delivery, on the same day the application was submitted (17 February 2026).

Family application was split up - two went though fine, one needed more docs, which I argued against.

Application online was significantly easier than when renewing passport in November 2015. Option to submit own digital photo an improvement on having to find and pay for a local photographer who could produce and image which met UK passport photo dimensions. Online tool which indicated suitability of digital photo submission was helpful. It would have been nice if the gov.uk website had information more readily available about renewing a passport while visiting the UK (especially returning passport to a temporary address), as I could have done this on a recent work trip and it could have saved me a significant amount of money in both online renewal fee and postage. Paid over $100 for end-of-third-day UPS shipping, easily doubling the total cost of the passport renewal. I think UPS charge more for the "perceived value" of the item compared to another document of similar weight and dimensions. The online UPS postage tools were far too complicated to be able to produce a solid enough "quote" to argue. Gov.UK tool to check passport progress worked easily and was accurate, though was never really necessary as email updates at each stage (submission, receipt, printing, shipping) were sent out in a timely manner. I submitted application on Wednesday 18 February, received reminder to return old passport Thursday 19 February, shipped old passport via UPS on Monday 23 March, received notification old passport arrived at HMPO on Thursday 26 March, was notified passport renewal approved Monday 9 March, notified new passport printed Tuesday 10 March, was notified new passport shipped with DHL Tuesday 10 March, received new passport in Washington, D.C. on Thursday 12 March, received old passport in Washington D.C. on Wednesday 18 March. Renewal fee includes return shipping with DHL and long gone are the days when you had to provide a pre-addressed (and pre-paid postage if in UK) return envelope when you sent off your old passport. New passport was delivered by courier with instructions (email, text, package label) stating the document had to be signed for by recipient and under no circumstances to be left at a house (including through a mailbox) without signature, nor to be signed for by a neighbour. New passport showed up 24 hours earlier than DHL originally stated and I received one-hour update notification of this. Not sure how complicated, or what the delay, in claiming the package would be if I had been out. I was glad I had not cancelled or moved any of the appointments I had scheduled for the original date of delivery. Old passport returned a week after receipt of new passport, also shipped by DHL. Online and text notification from DHL said this would also need to be signed for but the document was left on doorstep without signature (to be fair DHL's own packaging/ address label did not state signature was required). DHL delivery text messaging included additional notification delivery was imminent (within 30 mins) of actual delivery. Had wondered whether despite renewing at a slower time of year there would be a delay due to the timing coinciding with the new rules coming into play requiring dual citizens to enter UK on a British passport (i.e. wondered if there might be a spike in applications) but in the event this does not seem to have been the case. I had expected to receive the most recent issue of UK passports - dark blue outer cover bearing King Charles III coat of arms, interior pages showcasing some of the United Kingdom's UNESCO World Heritage Sites - as this style began being issued in early December 2025. Instead I received the 'inter-reign' passport - post-Brexit dark blue cover, Queen Elizabeth II coat of arms on cover though inside updated to state passport issued in name of King Charles III, blank compass pages. Of course, not a problem but at first I wasn't sure if the passport was genuine as I was not familiar with the 2020 compass design and it doesn't look quite right when you expect images. Clearly stock is still being used up. GOOD TO KNOW: a personal email address was required by US Customs to send documents overseas - very unhappy about this when name and full return address already clearly provided but that is hardly the fault of HMPO. Also, UPS said phone number for HMPO was required for US Customs form and had I known this I would have looked one up ahead of time to have it ready to provide. I used +44 0300 222 0000.

Very straightforward end-to-end and useful status updates from HMPO throughout. Biggest stresses were sending original documents, being on a timeline for travel in June, and uncertainty re: how long the process would take.

processing took 10 days

Brilliant