Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi, my husband used his new passport when we arrived in the UK last month and when we got to Heathrow it wouldn’t scan. He ended up having to go to a counter where the staff member said the chips are often dodgy. He banged the passport on the counter and then it worked!
I wouldn’t worry about the holes, it is the chip that matters.
Yes, I emailed the expedited service – it’s different to the escalation and the upgrade services. It is basically for people whose applications have been stuck in the system. They say that they will ignore your email if your application hasn’t been in the system for long enough. Escalated and upgrade require proof of travel. @boblee4 email expeditedservice@hmpo.gov.uk and set out all your dealings with HMPO and when everything was submitted. That’s what I did and they got our application moving.
@Grumpy we were not asked for proof of travel either. They count 10 weeks from when they officially received your supporting documents.
@sussexplum I did not get any contact from the courier. I just looked up on the DHL site (they use DHL for overseas deliveries and TNT for UK deliveries) using then PEX number without the PEX and the spaces and it came up. You should get another text from HMPO to say it has been despatched I think.
Thanks @Brian27 – in 2 weeks! Very relieved. So grateful for all the advice from all the people on this forum over the last few months – we would still be waiting I think without it!
Durham does seem to be having a bad run. We got our passports today, 151 days after application submitted.
I really lost any faith in the personnel on the helpline, I don’t know that it’s worth phoning them unless you can get them to put you through to the progress team.
Good luck everyone and hope you get your passports soon!
@Estival does it show as printed on the tracking?
Our passports arrived today, yippee! 151 days!!!!
Good luck everybody.
You can track your passport on the courier website using your PEX number (without the PEX and spaces).
Ours were at Durham for 20 weeks and we emailed expeditedservice@hmpo.gov.uk and they were approved and printed the next business day.
@rabia1992 perhaps you should have paid the extra for faster processing.
@Foster Twelvetrees this was posted on here by a member a while ago and then they deleted – I had already copied text and sent to my husband – it seems to explain everything about what is going on:
“I work in the civil service (not passports!) and when we have work items that exceed our target we know we’ve already failed on those. Our focus then is to stop anymore items from exceeding the target so newer items will be worked as priority and older stuff picked up as and when we can. I assume this is what the passport office is also doing. We also have new staff working brand new items so it has time to be worked and checked before reaching the target. Obviously not helpful for those over 10 weeks but maybe the reason why it’s not being worked in order and some people are getting a quick turnaround.”
OK so have they got your documents? Does it show on the tracking that they have received them? Because some people on here have been told that they don’t count till they receive your documents – that’s because they can’t start working on your application till the supporting documents arrive. Calendar days means the total amount of days between dates. For example in my case we submitted the application on 18 February and that is 148 days ago. We are expecting passports to arrive on Monday or Tuesday according to postal tracking, so will probably end up with a figure of 150 of 151 days. Hopefully you will be much luckier! don’t think your MP can do much as you have only submitted very recently.
@rabia1992 you will probably not have to wait that long as things have been moving more quickly for applications submitted recently. I believe there is/was a huge backlog of applications from February/March/April which is still being worked through. The length of time here is an average number of calendar days since submitting the application. Some people are longer and some are shorter. What does your tracking say? Good luck and hopefully you will get your passport soon.
@Tabooze you have the address wrong – it is expeditedservice@hmpo.gov.uk – you have added an extra s!
Good luck
