New Passport Upgrade Service!

[kath223]

I should add – I know my application is being delt with at Durham as I got through to someone on Webchat but it is by no means my closest office

[ahussain]

I might just take the risk see what happens

[Rub_03hen]

Hi

I’ve recently emailed the upgrade team with my flight details and today got a message saying they’ve approved my application. Does anyone know what happens next? The automated response had said they would be in touch 48 hours so I was just expecting a call to pay for the upgrade. Hoping this means the ball is rolling

[wantmypassport]

Hi

Wondering if anyone who has so far managed to get an upgrade has done so without calling up first, my 14 days starts tomorrow and just wondering whether I should send off the email today after many unsuccessful attempts to get through on the phone.
Also if you did manage to get upgraded without calling first, did you email the office where you sent your passport or your local office?
My son and I for some reason had to send our passports to different offices despite doing the online applications one after the next.

[help00]

Hi, I just picked mine up, got the call at about 11 this morning and I fly at 12 tomorrow. Very close to the mark but they seem to be getting them done

[imedga]

<How long did it take for them to receive your documents?? I’m waiting for my old passport to be received to get upgraded but it seems to be taking forever>

It really varies – seems to average at 2-3 weeks from what I can tell but can be longer.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by imedga.

[wantmypassport]

I posted earlier to ask if anyone has emailed without first getting through on the phone. (3rd post up)
Whilst writing the email to request the upgrade for me and my son, I went to check the status of my application and it said its been printed!!!

Applied 2nd May
Old passport signed for 4th May
Documents acknowledged 9th May
Application approved 11th May
Printed 12th May
Arrives in my hands….TBC
Old document was sent to Newport, so it seems they are on fire!

Same cannot be said for my Son’s applied same day and old passport signed for same day, however no status updated still says “send us your old passport” Despite doing the applications one after the other I was asked to send his to Peterborough.

Fingers crossed for everyone here.

[Gemzy]

That’s great you’ve got yours! How often did you chase? We fly 2 weeks today and the email reply said not to. 😬

[jonesy_78]

Hi – has anyone been able to get through to Durham office by phone? I got zero luck when I called the 0300 number (option 8 then 3). THey put me through to the team that gives a status update but not the actual upgrade team. So I’m no closer…. fly on Sunday. Any advice? I’ve emailed ‘URGENT’, nothing back. Should I go up there? Long old drive but I’m desperate now. They’ve confirmed receipt of upgrade request and travel on Tuesday last week

Thank you!!

[Gemzy]

We fly two weeks today & have had an acknowledgment from the London Team that they’ll deal with it asap.

How often would you chase, it said specifically not to chase as it could affect your place in the queue 🙁

So anxious, it’s my sons renewal and has been in ‘being processing’ stage since 27th Apr

[kev]

Hi, I fly on the 23rd of may. Sent the initial email off to the upgrade team and got a automated reply stating this is only for people we asked to contact us.

Sent another email today and got another automated email stating they have received the email but do not send anymore. I’m flying on a Monday morning so hope they will get back to me by the Friday.

[amber9514]

Update, I applied for an upgrade on the 1st of May, I leave on Sunday 15th May so I applied for upgrade as soon as I could, I did so with the progress team on the phone who at the time told me they would send off for the upgrade and told me to email myself too. I didn’t get any confirmation email atall so a few days later tried emailing from a different email with the advice of how to write it from another user on here and I got an automatic email sent from DurhamUpgradeTeam@hmpo.gov.uk saying they have noted my date of travel and not to email again. Didn’t hear anything atall so have been calling to check on progress but wasn’t given anything but to sit and wait till 48-72hours before travel. Yesterday I was really worried so called up to speak to the progress team again and asked them to re apply for an upgrade as I was unsure if it actually worked the first time, the lady on the phone was really lovely and said of course so she sent off for an urgent upgrade stating I need the passport by Saturday 14th May. She then told me to email myself with evidence stating it was my second email. Well before I had even got off the phone I had an automatic email from noreply@postroom.com which said Thank you for contacting us about your passport application, that you have asked, to be upgraded.

Your request has now been sent to the relevant team who will contact you within 48 hours to discuss further.

For your application to be processed using this service, you will need to provide evidence to support your request to assess If you are eligible for your application to be upgraded. If the evidence is not in English, a translation must be provided.

You must send this evidence to us within 48 hours, or your application will continue to be processed under our standard service.

The evidence should be sent by email to the following email address and the subject header of the email should state the applicant’s name:

DurhamUpgradeTeam@hmpo.gov.uk
HM Passport Office will contact you by telephone or email if we need more information from you.

Yours sincerely,

Her Majesty’s Passport Office. I then called again this morning to see if there was any update and was told my application had been handed over to an assessor and all travel evidence had been received so I was likely to receive a call today. Well I can happily say I did at 10am this morning saying my daughters passport was done and they asked if I wanted to collect or have it sent out for 1 day delivery. I said I would definitely collect it and they had it all ready to pick up at 3pm today 🙌 just got home with the passport and I’m over the moon. Anyways my point of this long message is to anyone who hasn’t received an email similar to the one I just put it’s worth calling up again and asking them to re apply for your upgrade. Wishing everyone the best of luck, I really didn’t think it was going to happen but it did so please everyone don’t loose hope, just keep calling and trying 🤞

[AMSGxx]

Hi, we are waiting for the Durham upgrade team to call us back to upgrade we fly on the 23rd. Has anyone had them actually call back? Also has anyone had the cost confirmed for the upgrade?

[AMSGxx]

@amber9514 what was the format of the email you send?

[AMSGxx]

What was the format that you put the email in? Made up you got your passport

[Author]

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