Durham

[maryw]

Applied for my passport on May 2nd for a child to adult renewal and my documents were sent next day special delivery. But it wasn’t updated on the system until May 16th as received and then I received another message on June 6 saying my documents had been received again.

I am travelling on July 1st so I called the helpline on June 1st as I was a bit worried and they said I can apply for an upgrade on June 17th. But I thought let me try my luck and send a request for an upgrade a few days earlier.

So after sending the request to the Durham upgrade team on June 12th I got a call today(17th June)telling me I can upgrade. Due to having waited 6 weeks and nearly 7. So in the end I paid the upgrade top-up on the phone and you either had the choice to pick it up tomorrow from the nearest passport office or pay for it to be delivered to me. And is estimated to come between June 21st to June 22nd which is soon. After the call my passport was printed within a couple of hours as I received the email.

Will update when i receive my passport.

I hope that this will end well for you all guys too.

[amylousie22]

Would love to know how you managed that, i emailed them on the 11th june, i am due to travel on the 25th june. 12 weeks today since sent passport off and still noone has contacted me

[maryw]

@louiseamy22

Hey I called this number 0300 123 1973 and explained my situation and I’m sure with having waited 12 weeks you should be prioritised but obviously this isn’t case as you said you’ve emailed the upgrade team. May I ask which email you sent it to for an upgrade?

However I do know this my friend (who had also waited about 10 weeks) did call the helpline and said he needs to travel for compassionate reasons which is wrong but he couldn’t afford to waste money due to fully paying for a holiday. The email is different to the upgrade team email but they will only read your email if they’ve been informed by the helpline that you’ll be contacting them. He said they take your details and your application reference number is given to their upgrade team so this way they will be able to contact you quickly. 5 days later he got call allowing him to upgrade in which he did and he could pick up his passport the next day!

So I know this wrong but you could try that.

[maccas5]

Timeline for renewal from child to adult
Application submitted 29th April
Documents received 13th May
Application approved 12th June
Printed 14th June

1 of 5 applications made for my family, all made either 28th or 29th April, all sent to different offices but this took the longest

[amylousie22]

I emailed DurhamUpgradeTeam@hmpo.gov.uk

Iv emailed it a few times since and i only got an auto reply last Saturday when i sent it. Been on hold for passport office nearly to hours this morning and still waiting

[maryw]

With the number I used I called and dialed 8 then 3 then I was put into a someone within 5 minutes. You could try that

[amylousie22]

I spoke to advise line who tranfered me yo the case management team, i waited 2 hours on hold. I explained the situation she said as its been over 10 weeks i should have to upgrade i should expedited and that she wpuld send an ‘extremely urgent’ 3’email to the escalation team.
However i said already been told this days ago and also emailed the escalation team and still not heard anything.
She said to call back Tuesday if not heard anything but frok my experience so far i bet i will be doing. Or turning up at durham 48hrs before flight

[amylousie22]

Shouldnt have to upgrade**

[maryw]

Oh I understand, that must be very frustrating but I hope you get your passport when you go down to Durham.

[csy30006]

We are due to fly on the 27th June but after 7 weeks of waiting, my husband still hasn’t received his passport. He submitted his passport for a renewal with a name change and have emailed the Durham upgrade team to no response.
Is it worth driving to Durham on the Saturday to request for his old passport if we are due to fly on the Monday? Does anyone have any successful experience turning up at the passport with no appointment?

[Rapha]

@maryw

Your friend who called the helpline and said he needed to travel for urgent/compassionate reasons – I thought that particular team asked for strict evidence for such a thing, and that they’re very particular who they allow through on ‘urgent and compassionate’ grounds, no?

I’ve had to supply medical evidence, and if it’s a relative’s ill health, they can even contact hospitals, doctors etc to verify your loved one’s state of health (which seems a bit Big Brother to me) but that is what people have said they needed to supply, to qualify. I wonder how your friend got through these hoops?

[maryw]

@rapha

My friend emailed both the urgent compassionate team and the upgrade team. And got an automated response from both, he wrote he wasn’t able to supply evidence right now in the email to the urgent compassionate team. So I think him emailing both sped up the urgency of his application. So we thought maybe him receiving a call to upgrade was due to the upgrade team not the urgent compassionate team. But the urgent compassionate team normally reject some urgent requests but no rejection email or call was sent his way.

[Nimmy]

Hey @bobokitty any updates yet?

[bobokitty]

None at all. Currently on hold with passport office once again as we speak . No one will give me any info or tell me anything, it’s becoming absolute bull !!!

[Nimmy]

Hello! Just a general update for my fellow overseas passport awaitees .. I decided to call the HMPO Advice Line, I’m applying from Toronto ,Canada. I got through to an agent fairly quickly (3-4min on hold), he was surprised to hear that I’ve been waiting this long as my docs were received on April 16th. He put me right through to the Progress Team and the agent there was helpful as well. The agent said that it taking normally 10-12 weeks for overseas applicants to get their passports printed. This week is my 10th week and she said by July 9th I would be passed through the Examiner and printed. FYI, she did tell me that the Processing stage means that the applications is waiting to be examined now, meaning it’s just sitting at some examiner’s desk now. It’s a little relieving to have some answers, but who knows how accurate they are!? I am hoping there is some substance to what I was told, 10-12 weeks folks for those of you overseas. I will call back at the beginning of next week until July 9th for updates. She did state (as it says online as well) that the supporting docs (so my Canadian passport) will come 2 weeks after my UK one. I need my Canadian passport urgently for travel now postponed from June to August, and she put me through to the Customer Service Management line and I got a voicemail that said “we are busy at the moment and no longer taking calls.” And the call dropped lol. The agent said only that Progress team can perhaps let the examiner know to send my Canadian passport back if they’re done looking at it… I thought I was speaking with the progress team lol, very confused! Anyways 10-12 weeks is what we’re working with now!!! FYI:

First Adult Passport Application
Overseas: Canada
Docs Received: April 16
In processing: May 14

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