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That’s great news @bobokitty!
Not all first passports have interviews – I know someone who went through process in January and did not have interview, passport application process only took about 4 weeks grr. That was a person here in Australia though, possibly they don’t do interviews for overseas applicants.
@Nimmy it took 4 weeks between them signing for our documents and being officially received. Two weeks after being flipped to “processing” we got an email which said “we don’t accept photocopies, please send us your original birth certificate”. Three years ago, when applying for our daughter’s UK passport, my husband couldn’t find his original (handwritten) birth certificate and we had to get a new one reissued, which was accepted for her application with no problem (and also has been accepted for his Australian passport) this time they have decided to query it. They also wanted the document he came to his current country on, since it is not the country of his birth (this document no longer exists as it was one of his parents’ passports 50 years ago). When he phoned to tell them this he was asked to send it to them in a letter. That letter was received by them on 24 May according to tracking, then on 30 May he got another email complaining that he had not responded and threatening to cancel the application if it didn’t arrive by 20 June. This time there was an email address so he emailed back a copy of the letter and said it is already there. We haven’t heard anything from them since, not even an acknowledgement of the email, which I think is a bit rude considering the threat of non-refundable cancellation. He phoned last week and was told it is with an examiner and they could see the letter had arrived, but there has been no follow up at all.
@Nimmy we are first time applicants in Australia, application submitted 18 Feb but documents not marked received till 13 April.
I know someone who applied back in January from here and got her passport very quickly, interestingly interview was not required.
Hi, are you far form your nearest passport office? I would probably be giving it one more try on the phone (it seems to be possible sometimes to be put through to the progress team but I am not sure if they can take your money) and then heading to your nearest passport office with proof of travel.
Thanks for sharing your experience. We are 17 weeks from application submission but only 9 weeks 2 days from receipt of documents. Like everyone else we were “Processing” but have now gone back to “documents received”. Hopefully will see some movement soon.
Agree re chaos – the Australian passport office here is also getting a lot of criticism for long delays etc. You would think it would be obvious to the “powers that be” that there would be high demand once travel opened up.
@Rapha, it was just the normal advice line. He got straight through and spoke to someone who put him through to the progress team without even asking for his PEX number.
Are you not eligible for an urgent upgrade? I have seen people on this forum have success going to their local office and queuing when their flights are so soon. Or you could try the upgrade team (I have seen the address for Durham posted here) and attach your proof of flight.
@st_tommy nearly 4 months (since 18 Feb) and has been in processing since 14 April. It is a first passport overseas application.
Husband was shocked to be put straight through to the progress team just now. They told him his application is with an examiner, hopefully not much longer.
Husband just got off the phone with HMPO and apparently his application is now with an examiner. No word on how long till approval though.
@wanting3 not always – we are dealing with Durham too and were told nobody would look at them for “2-3 weeks” after they arrived. We did receive a reminder from the person handling our application asking where the documents were, (about a week after tracking told us they’d arrived at HMPO) so the holdup is in the mail room I think.
The really frustrating thing is that you would think the upgrade process would include some kind of fast-tracking for your additional documents to be scanned. People here claim they’ve succeeded in getting things expedited by emailing and phoning daily. What passport office are you dealing with?
@Caz86 have you tried using the number without the PEX on the courier tracking site? I have seen others on here who tracked that way.
