Recent UK Passport Applicant Timelines

Adult renewal with name change UK Application submitted 1/4/26 Documents received 9/4/26 (Easter public hols) Application approved 16/4/26 Posted 17/4/26 Recieved 18/4/26 I found the online tracking really useful and the process stress free. I expected it to take longer when the website suggests within 3 weeks of documents received

Application online on 31.3.26, old passport sent same day. Recorded as delivered by Royal Mail on 1.4.26 but not acknowledged received by passport office until 5.4.26 (this was the Easter weekend) Approved 12.4.26, printed 14.4.26, received 15.4.26 Overall 15 days which is fine given the Easter weekend in the middle

Application submitted: 23/03/2026 Documents posted: 23/03/2026 Royal Mail marked documents as received: 25/03/2026 Marked as received on application: 29/03/2026 Additional documents requested: 05/04/2026 (They requested (1) Proof of me living in the UK (2) Proof of my titles) Additional documents sent: 05/04/2026 Additional documents delivered: 08/04/2026 Application approved: 12/04/2026 Passport printed: 14/04/2026 Passport delivered: 15/04/2026

Maybe a slight delay because I lost the Days over Easter

I did also change my name. However it took 5 days from them receiving my documents (according to RM) to them being marked as received.

We mailed our documents in the UK during a visit, which saved time and money. We were unexpectedly asked for a letter from the non-applying parent to confirm approval of the application; we would have had that ready earlier had we known it was required.

Had to send additional documents but made sure to send them in advance to avoid delays.

Very smooth and quicker than expected, considering it was over the Easter period.

Application submitted 26th Feb Documents posted from Aus 27th Feb Documents arrived 6th of March Marked as received on application 11th March Additional documents requested 23rd of March Additional documents sent 25th of March Additional documents delivered 30th of March Additional documents scanned in April 1 Application approved 3rd of April Passport printed 7th of April Passport delivered to Australia 13th of April

Generally easy. Issue with father’s birth certificate and needing a different “original” caused delay. Not having a tracking number for delivery of passport is stressful. Also HMPO could have explained that if one orders a new BCertificate it can be sent directly to HMPO. That would have saved time and $$ bills.

Dual national living in UK Application received - 30th March (documents sent that day for next day delivery) Documents received - 2nd April Application approved - 9th April Passport printed - 13th April Passport delivered - 14th April

Lots of delay between stages, but no issues overall

The process was frustrating due to getting the required documents, but once they were sorted it was smooth and straightforward, if on the expensive side as we wanted to send documents from New Zealand securely. The frustrating part was we knew we needed my UK birth cert, which took a month to be processed and sent to me. Once that was received, we discovered we also needed marriage and birth certs for grandparents too, and again I needed to order from GRO, adding another month on top. All in all, from becoming aware of the need for our children to have British passports, to having the passport in our hands took four and a half months. We needed to get NZ passports for our kids done before we could apply obviously, and the contrast between those two processes was stark. Granted, these are NZ born children but the NZ process is entirely online and from submission to delivered passports was under two weeks. All in all - the UK system works, but being far away from it makes everything that much slower.

Passport Received: 7:30pm on 13 April 2026 Passport printed 8:31pm on 7 April 2026 Application approved 12:53pm on 7 April 2026 Documents received 9:33pm on 24 March 2026 Application received 11:01pm on 20 March 2026

Passport delivered: 1.31pm on 11th April 2026 Passport printed 8:51am on 10 April 2026 Application approved 4:55am on 9 April 2026 Documents received 6:18pm on 8 April 2026 Application received 1:30pm on 6 April 2026 Application submitted 1:29pm on 6 April 2026

Learned we needed UK passports for our Canadian born children as their father is from the UK. Mailed initial documents end of February. We were asked for additional documents (address confirmation and original marriage certificate) march 13, which I mailed the same day. Passports approved march 28. Arrived April 8

Spoke numerous times regarding my Selena, assistance- NIL. Absolute debacle 😡

When we picked a guarantor we did not know that the person would have to provide a copy of their own passport page to UK passport office (they had a Canadian passport). Our guarantor said he was not willing. If we knew up front we could have used someone with a UK passport and they didn't need to provide the page. Also I spent a lot of time phoning and going on chat, only to be told untrue information such as - link for new guarantor will be received in 24 hours, will be received in 48 hours, etc. What happens is you have to wait for someone to review the application, reject the guarantor and then you receive a link for new guarantor. This information should be given to applicants.