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I’ll try again. I emailed proof of flights – 17/06 on 31 May. Got an automatic reply 04/06 saying
We’re working through upgrade requests by the date you need your passport. We will contact you in time to meet this date.
We can only help those that need a passport in the next 2 weeks and have evidence to support this.
But it’s still in processing- has been since 25/05. Anyone else done this if so what happened
Emailed proof of flights, still no reply. When they emailed and asked for proof we received reply in less than 24 hours. Now that we’ve sent proof, no reply in 4 days. Been in processing since 27 April. Still nothing… flight is 21 June. This is extremely frustrating. Imposssible to get a hold of a human to speak to !!
HELLY87 and BRUSSELS83 i was in this situation last week. I rang advice line, pressed 8 then 3 and asked for urgent call back, they can request these I received call about an hour and half later and spoke to progress team told them i needed passport within 2 weeks as balance due and that I was feeling very anxious They put an alert on the application and it was approved, printed and delivered in4 days. It s worth a try
Eagles6 was that during office hours not when they’re closed obviously. And did you press 8 and 3 immediately or after certain stages of the info message? Thanks
Yes, rang mid afternoon. Dialled and pressed 8 as soon as automated voice spoke. Listened until they said if….press 1 then i pressed 3. Never waited more than 5 mins for a connection. This is to advice line. Be persistent, ask to speak to a manager then ask to arrange urgent call back from progress team
Thank you, rang for a call back on Friday still waiting. If haven’t received it by Monday evening I will try again, will be fed up of hearing from me soon.
ike many others on this forum I too applied from overseas (USA) and have been anxiously reading this forum whilst I waited for both my new passport and old passport (with my US work visa) to be returned.
My application was submitted online on 20 March 2022 and was finally processed on 27 April 2022. It was processed by the Durham office and it took about 3 weeks for them register they had received my old passport even though I sent it by courier immediately after I applied. After that and once it started processing, it was about 2 days before it was completed and sent via DHL (28 April). I received it on 2 May. I received a text from DHL to say it was on its way on 28 April and continued to get tracking updates via text.
My big issue was getting my old passport with my US work visa as a) I could not leave the counry and re-enter without it. US passport control were adamant about this in spite of having Global Entry and copies of my visa which US immigration also has on their system and b) I needed it for employment verification. Like many of you, I made repeated calls to the progress team 0300 105 0850, waiting for hours on end, getting cut off and starting the process again. The progress team did send emails to the Durham office to expedite my old passport’s return but these were not replied to. I also tried the UK consulate in New York for help (they declined), emailed Durham office directly (Durham@hmpo.gov.uk) and my local MP (based on where I used to live). For the latter two, I did this around 31 May once I had been waiting four weeks for my passport to be returned. I did not receive a reply from either Durham or my local MP but it soon did not matter because miraculously on 6 June I received a text from DHL informing me my supporting documents were being returned. I also received an email from HMPO advising the same. I received my old passport on 7 June (6 weeks after I received my new passport) with regular text updates from DHL. Thank goodness they did not clip the visa page when they clipped the corner of the old passport!
I wish you all luck in receiving your new passports and your supporting documents. This has been a ridiculously stressful process and I appreciate all the advice I read on here so sharing this in case it helps others.
EAGLES6, which number did you ring? Have travel booked for 21 June and am currently in USA and need passport ASAP!!
Finally after pestering the passport office through calls/ emails we got a call back saying the passport had been sent to print 3 days ago (Friday). We leave for Canada on Friday this week (June 17)- what has been the time between sending for printing and actually receiving the passport in the mail?? Do we have a chance of receiving our passport before our flight?
This was a paper application that took over 10 weeks to process (submitted March 31st via post office).
@st_tommy I used the DurhamUpgradeTeam@hmpo.gov.uk email and then the main passport helpline number 300 222 0000. When on the phone I asked to be put through to the Durham Upgrade Team– I’m not sure who I was transferred to but it was someone in the Durham office.
Inf103 I don’t think my answer to you posted.
I think that once the passport is printed it is collected on the next working day by TNT. If yours was printed Friday, it should be collected today and delivered Tuesday/Wednesday, but TNT are not great at updates. My husband’s was printed on Saturday, so I will try tracking using the PEX number without the PEX bit tonight.
@TCL Thanks for the reply! This gives me hope. I wouldn’t mind even picking it up from Durham if it would ensure I’d have it in time. I’m not sure we’ll receive any tracking notifications, as it was a paper application and wasn’t given a PEX number. Do you know how we can track shipping without it? We did receive an application reference # but I’m not sure it doubles as TNT tracking?
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