[chrisevs1]

I applied for two passports on 4 July – one a child renewal and the other a first adult passport for my 16 year old. In each case, I was aiming to receive by 29 July (3 1/2 weeks as we leave for Croatia on 30th) so I knew it would be tight. I posted the old passports on 6 July so they were probably delivered on 8 July. Although they were sent to different offices (Durham and Peterborough), the tracking indicates both as “Received” on 15 July and “Being processed” on 21 July. Based on other comments on the forum, I’d say that’s about average (i.e. 7 days for it to be “received” and another 6 days until processing begins).

If I did nothing, I think I could have expected the applications to be approved after a further 9 days, then printed/sent a couple of days later. As that was too late for our holiday, I called the general number (0300 222 0000) on 23 July and requested a callback. Other comments on the forum suggest this is pointless, but in fact a very nice person from the Newport office returned my call 7 hours later. As I had made my holiday booking before lockdown and there was less than 2 weeks until travel, she was able to escalate my request. The following day, I received a call from another very friendly person (Geoff in Durham) who had my daughter’s application and said he would process it straight away. He also called his colleague in Peterborough to make sure my son’s application would be handled. I received official confirmation that the applications had been approved that afternoon. My daughter’s passport arrived via TNT today (27 July) and my son’s was marked as sent on Saturday so I’m expecting it tomorrow.

All in all, I’m very impressed with the people at the Passport Offices who are working tremendously hard to process the applications and prioritise the urgent requests. If you meet the two criteria above (ie booking before lockdown and less than 2 weeks before travel), I would encourage you to escalate your request via (a) the callback service and (b) Twitter DM. It’s not guaranteed but they will do their best to help you.

Hope this helps.

[Author]

Posts