Durham

[Good Life]

Hi @Rayclark. Unfortunately not for me! I have been waiting on the “Old Passport Received” stage since the 24th May.
My timeline is as follows :
“Application submitted” online 12:19 28th April 2022 for a (straightforward) adult renewal
“Application received” 12:19 28th April 2022
(Old passport posted on 29th April and tracked as received by HMPO Durham on 4th May 2022)
“Documents received” 15:48 24th May 2022
I was half hoping that once the “documents received” stage has been reached that everything will be plain sailing however it just seems to be sitting there (I appreciate that there are others who have been or are in a much worse situation). I wonder if it makes a difference being an Overseas Application?
Is anyone else in the same position or can give me hope?
I have tried the helplines for advice but to no avail. I have now almost admitted defeat. Being overseas I am not eligible for the usual fast track, upgrade etc options.

[Caz86]

Hi @GoodLife I have an overseas renewal in for my son submitted start of April. Tracking only updated as documents recieved 12th May….been waiting till 4th June to change to approved. Last night I got an email saying passport printed and got an sms text this morning from passport office saying it will be delivered to the address I gave. Hoping it is delivered by this Saturday as we are due to fly on Monday. Was told by helpline this morning as we are in Republic of Ireland it will be delivered by DHL but haven’t heard from them yet notifying of a delivery time frame.

[Good Life]

Hi @Caz86
Thanks for the reply. It is truly reassuring to hear back from others in the same situation especially where there is good news at the end of it!! I will have my fingers tightly crossed for you that you receive your passport well before Saturday… here’s wishing you a lovely holiday in advance 🙂.

[Richie]

Hi @Rayckarke @Goidlife & @Brussels83
To try and give some hope in this distressing situation, I applied for an overseas application passport renewal (Europe)
Application submitted 5/5/2022
Signed for in Durham 6/5/2022 (DHL delivery) at a cost of €38.00
Received by Passport office 1/6/2022
Application Approved 8/6/2022

What I do know is if all your details and paperwork is correct with no errors including a good photo then all should flow reasonably smoothly however if there is any slight discrepancy then a delay is inevitable, do have patience with the help line, stay calm and say thanks often you will get the necessary help required, good luck to all..

[Good Life]

Hi @Richie
I had been wondering how your application was going. Thank you so much for your update. I am extremely pleased that you have now been “approved”…it gives me some hope. Fingers crossed that yours will be printed and sent within the next few days. I was just wondering if you needed to contact the helpline at any stage and whether you felt it had helped? Please keep us updated! It’s good to see how other overseas applicants are getting along.

[Upsidedown]

Glad some of you are getting approved. We are on day 111 since submitting our overseas application. Having replied with the requested additional information we have since heard nothing.

It’s frustrating.

[mikecul]

Hi All, I have finally had a response from the upgrade team asking for proof of travel. I’ve booked my holiday separately so does anybody know if me just sending the email confirmation from the hotel is enough?

[MaxNRG]

@Upsidedown 111 days is crazy, you need to call them and tell the agent that you need the new passport to renew a visa (my justification for an escalation) or some other important sounding reason.

[MaxNRG]

For those waiting for supporting documents for an overseas application… I just got a notification 17 days after getting my passport that DHL have collected my documents and will deliver them to me here in Hong Kong within the next 5 days. Full timeline below:

Application received Sun 03rd Apr 2022
[Old passport sent] Mon 04th Apr 2022
[Old passport signed for] Fri 08th Apr 2022
Documents received Wed 27th Apr 2022
Application approved Mon 16th May 2022
Passport printed and sent Tue 17th May 2022
[DHL Tracking Passport] Thu 19th May 2022
[New Passport Delivered] Mon 23rd May 2022
[DHL Tracking Documents] Thu 09th Jun 2022

[Richie]

#17102 #Goodlife. Yes I did contact the helpline initially as I knew applying overseas would mean I could not avail of any fast track option, I also contacted the British consulate to explain my concerns, although they informed me that if I did not receive my passport in time to travel I could apply on line for a emergency passport at cost of €100 they also stated that if on line proved to be an issue I could call directly to to consulate office where they would assist in issuing an emergency passport, this would not effect my original application as I had the Gov passport tracker with updates.

As the helpline extreme patients is required, I did get to talk to a very nice operator called Julie who did make some off line calls to assist, but I have seen reports that if they put a note on your application this can lead to your application going to manual route which is worrying, if desperate then call the help line be polite and ask for phone assistance as they can do this rather than rely on e-mail.

[Jacky]

FINALLY!! Submitted 2 adult renewals on 12th April, one came back in 17 days, the other, after 8 weeks and many, many emails sent, we received it today. Very stressful experience, particularly when no one responds for weeks, and the 2 replies we did get were conflicting and false, also online chat never works. Understand their busy, but a quicker response and easier contact system would really help.

Passport printed 4:13pm on 7 June 2022
Application approved 8:38am on 3 June 2022
Application being processed 3:58pm on 29 April 2022
Documents received 12:12pm on 16 April 2022
Application received 5:49pm on 12 April 2022
Application submitted 5:48pm on 12 April 2022

[Laura1984]

To Mikecul, I’ve been to Durham passport office this morning and had to show them proof of travel, they wanted to see the email confirming the flight details with the passenger list to show the names person on the passport was due to fly. Hope that helps!

[Mcgrizzle]

@Laura1984 anyone been to the office under 6 weeks it will only be 5 and a bit weeks for me. Really doubtful but need to try

[brussels83]

What email address did you use for Durham please?

[Jacky]

Durham@hmpo.gov.uk or DurhamUpgradeTeam@hmpo.gov.uk

I repetitivly sent about 30 emails over 6 weeks,finally had a call a week ago, received passport today after 8 weeks from submitting application.

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