Recent UK Passport Applicant Timelines

Only required to send birth certificate (born in UK), colour photocopy of full Canadian passport, and expired UK passport (2006). Had to give parents' birth dates and wedding date. Locations unknown so none put in the online form, just UK. Note that the applicant is a senior over 70. Sent by DHL to the UK and passport sent to us via DHL.

Very quick was a renew

Very quick was a renew

The process was straightforward but it would have been great to see a status update such as "In queue for review" between the documents received (23 Feb) and application approved (5 Mar) statuses.

It was stressful because of having to apply at very short notice after finding out about the new and ineptly communicated dual citizen regulations. It was not, however, a make or break situation since I had a Plan B, namely bring along an old expired passport. The passport arrived at the end of the day on a Friday and my flight leaves on Sunday (DHL does not deliver on weekends). Talk about the 11th hour! This said, I was favourably impressed with the processing speed and the communication about each step. I don't know if the processing time was average for a renewal of a recently expired passport or if someone kindly fasttracked the application. I did include a nice note explaining my predicament.

Application submitted 28/02 Documents sent 28/02 Documents arrived 03/03 Documents acknowledged 03/03 Approved 12/03 Printed 12/03 Royal Mail received 13/03 Delivered 14/03

Application date: 15/2/26 Documents sent: 16/2/26 Delivered: 2/24/26 Marked as received: 2/25/26 Approved: 3/7/26 Printed: 3/9/26 Sent: 3/9/26 Arrived: 3/12/26

Application submitted: 18.02.26 Identity confirmed: 19.02.26 Documents RMail signed: 20.02.26 Documents received: 25.02.26 Additional documents requested: 05.03.26 Additional documents RMail signed: 06.03.26 Application approved: 10.03.26 Passport printed: 11.03.26 Passport received: 12.03.26

Followed the timeline I expected from seeing others. It took them 4 days to mark documents as received (delivered 24th Feb not uploaded and acknowledged as received until 28th Feb) passport was then approved after 9 days. And delivered 3 days after it was approved (2 days after printing). Returned documents arrived the day before the passport did

:Application submitted 4:58pm on 25 feb 2026 :Docs received 9.54pm 27 feb 26 :photo rejected 1pm 9th March : new photo submitted 2.33pm 9th March : Application approved 2.34pm 9th March : passport printed 6.25pm 10th March : passport delivered 1.30pm 12th March

It was fine but they could communicate much more clearly. Also had to provide proof of residence after the application and I don't understand why this was required

Application was quite clear in what documents to send. Taking the picture ourselves wasn't easy so we went to a local photographer, they only charged 10 euro and then we were sure it was the right quality photo. Applied on 14/02, documents sent on 16/02 (monday), arrived in the UK on 19/02 - Application was approved on 05/03, passports printed next day, arrived on the 10/03. Haven't recieved the documents back yet that we sent along, but that's luckily not an issue . All in all, very smooth and quick process, especially since they must be busy ATM with the recent clarification about the ETA/dual nationality rules.

All smoothly done

Passport delivered 15:28pm on 12 March 2026 Passport printed 4:24pm on 10 March 2026 Application approved 1:32pm on 9 March 2026 Documents received 12:01pm on 27 February 2026 Application received 3:28pm on 26 February 2026 Identity details received 3:28pm on 26 February 2026 Email sent to person confirming your identity 3:12pm on 26 February 2026 Ask someone to confirm your identity 2:54pm on 26 February 2026 Application submitted 2:54pm on 26 February 2026

very quick and easy, I actually renewed both my childrens passports at the same time..one received on 11th and one on 12th. Passport printed 2:59am on 11 March 2026 Application approved 11:00am on 10 March 2026 Documents received 6:37am on 2 March 2026 Application received 11:26pm on 25 February 2026 Identity details received 11:26pm on 25 February 2026 Email sent to person confirming your identity 8:25pm on 25 February 2026 Ask someone to confirm your identity 8:22pm on 25 February 2026 Application submitted 8:22pm on 25 February 2026

Passport delivered - 11 March Passport printed - 10 March Application approved - 9 March Documents received - 27 February Application received - 19 February Identity details received - 19 February Application submitted - 19 February

Documents physically received by HMPO on 24Feb but acknowledged received on 27Feb. Application approved on 9Mar, printed on 10Mar, received on 11Mar. Incredible efficiency by the UK civil service! This website should specify exactly what is meant by submission date as it can mean different things: online submission vs documents posted vs post office delivered vs acknowledged received, the 3rd one is the one that makes sense I think but what's important is that everyone is consistent so you should specify what is meant.

post office reported delivery to HMPO on 24Feb, acknowledged received on 27Feb, approved on 9Mar, printed on 10Mar, received on 11Mar.

The tracking was a little bit slow on letting me know my documents were received, had to speak with a chat bot to sort it out give them my tracking number and then they found them.