Home › Forums › General Passport Application Discussion › New Passport Upgrade Service!
Tagged: Upgrade process
- This topic has 1,652 replies, 347 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 3 months ago by utterlyfedup.
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July 22, 2022 at 8:40 am #19145CarmellasopranoParticipant
Can anyone tell me if the upgrade service applies to a first time child application. A bit of background..
Daughter was born at the end of December. Reduced service at the registery office (covid), Christmas opening times and a bout of covid meant we didn’t get her birth certificate until February.
Applied for irish passport in March. Disaster. Still ‘processing’.
Family wedding end of August in Portugal.
Thought sod this, applied for British passport 30th June. Documents received but application not yet processing.
Should have done British fast track but because I’ve already made a standard application, fast track no longer available.
Will pay ANYTHING for expedition of British Passport. Irish crew dont seem to offer the same service.
July 22, 2022 at 10:01 am #19146JulirParticipantI was wondering if anyone can shed some light on support documents for me. We are due to travel on 11 August and have had no progress since applying on 31 May. We will begin fast track next week when we have 2 weeks to go. Unfortunately I used my partners and my passport as documentation as he is a citizen and I am not, and both of these are now stuck in the system. If I fast track is there any way of collecting my documents along with my daughters passport?
July 22, 2022 at 11:05 am #19153wanting3ParticipantCarmellaSorano I believe you can upgrade a child’s first passport but you have to have been 6 weeks from application/documents received depending on who you talk to and 2 weeks of travel. Best bet is to ring the helpline when those two criteria are met and asked to get added to the upgrades list.
July 22, 2022 at 11:08 am #19155wanting3ParticipantJulir usually you get any supporting documents returned to you within 3 weeks of receiving your passport. They are in a mailroom somewhere so it’s unlikely if you turn up to the passport office that they will be able to find them and give them to you as they are prioritising scanning in applications and received documents. I’m sure if you make them aware though of your situation they might be able to speed things up.
July 24, 2022 at 2:58 pm #19179UTGParticipantFirstly thanks to everyone posting in this forum. It’s made my process a lot less stressful seeing so many success stories and put my mind at ease a little.
I submitted my renewal online 7 weeks ago and travel in 12 days. I’ve emailed the Upgrade team my flight info and request expedition. I’ve also spoken to a helpful chap on one of the numbers posted on here that bypass the switchboards, he’s confident that it will process in time.
Quick question just want to see what people think. If all else fails and I get no progress I’ll goto my local office. As my flight is on Friday 5th of August early doors, can I technically turn on from the Tuesday so it leaves Wednesday and Thursday to process or is Wednesday the earliest? When I sent my email to the upgrade team I made it clear my date of travel was 5/8 but noted I have a stupid early flight so need it by 4/8.
If I don’t have a passport in hand by close of business Thursday I’m not travelling. But no sure if this is too early?!
Does anyone have any tips on what to take to the office? Obviously ID and flight info, just wondering if I’ll need anything else?
- This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by UTG.
July 25, 2022 at 7:21 pm #16090KS1982ParticipantAlso worth checking out this thread https://www.passportwaitingtime.co.uk/forums/topic/traveled-to-passport-office/
And this FB group: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=passport%20chaos%202022
August 1, 2022 at 7:57 am #19357adamc1983ParticipantHi all. Just a quick thank you for all the information.
Just had an odd experience that may help or not help.
We fly in 2 weeks and we need our daughters passport that we applied for just over 7 weeks ago.
I called to go through the upgrade system this morning and I spoke to the lady who told me the procedure. The worrying thing is that the passport is in Peterborough, the email we got from the upgrades team was from Liverpool but the lady on the phone was adamant that all upgrades requests go through Durham!
Anyway, fingers crossed we get the call but this has been a stressful few weeks.
August 6, 2022 at 11:17 pm #19501amberm1307ParticipantHi please can anyone tell me the email for the Liverpool upgrade service team/ where to find it ?
August 6, 2022 at 11:20 pm #19502amberm1307ParticipantHi can I have the email for liverpool and durham upgrade team please!
August 6, 2022 at 11:23 pm #19503hjikiParticipanthello
1. you need to make sure your passports are upgraded in durham or liverpool as if you send a email to the wrong upgrade team it would confuse the whole system and might delay u actually getting the passport
2. to be on the upgrade team you must have evidence for travelling in less than 2 weeks + have a passport application in the system for a minimum of 6 weeks
give me one sec for me to find the email
August 6, 2022 at 11:27 pm #19504amberm1307ParticipantHi – our passport was sent off just under 8 weeks ago , but passport office are saying that we can’t upgrade as they only received it 5 and a half weeks ago.. can I still send an email asking for an upgrade ?
August 6, 2022 at 11:29 pm #19505hjikiParticipant3. alternatively you can call the passport team phone number and ask for the customer service management team or the progress team to tell u where ur passport is being upgraded and to give the email
usually the email would be:
(the place)upgradeteam@hmpo.gov.ukthe place = liverpool , durham, belfast ,peterborough etc –> basically substitute it for where u upgrade application is
PS:please call the upgrades team or progress team because they need to do something from their side for the upgrades thing to be actually considered + u have to draft the email in a certain way, i only wrote the email in case ur approved for an upgrade and lost the email
usually after email sent u are meant to get an automatic reply 5hours after confirming that upgrades team got it
August 6, 2022 at 11:32 pm #19506hjikiParticipantwait before u sent the email would u mind me asking when are u guys travelling? like the exact date
in regards to previous question yes they are correct only qualify for an upgrade if both criteria is met, yes they only count the dates from when they received the passport (5 1/2 weeks) not when u sent it (8weeks ago)
August 7, 2022 at 6:08 am #19507amberm1307ParticipantAh okay. We travel on 18th.. and I think the application has been had by them for around 5 1/2 week. Have seen a lot of people just going to the passport office and collecting the passport if travelling within 48 hours too .. so this is also an option if upgrade team don’t reply. Have already emailed .. but will email next Friday when my application has been there for 6 weeks 🙂
August 9, 2022 at 1:09 pm #19540Adeline123ParticipantHi everyone. How long did it take you to receive a response from the upgrade team?
I finally managed to request an upgrade from Liverpool on Saturday after speaking to the helpline.
Tried to chase on the phone but must have caught an intern on his first day who seemed clueless on the process! -
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