Feedback, experiences, timelines, tips and useful information from people that have recently been through the UK passport application process.
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1st Adult Passport
Type of Application:
First UK Adult Passport
Passport Office:
Hemel Hempstead
Submission Date:
2022-06-21
Date Received:
2022-07-26
Overall Experience:
4 Star – Easy
Comments:
The experience was alright. Not bad considering the news for delays during and before summer holidays. It was as expected based on many tinelines shared.
Adult Renewal Passport
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Liverpool (Bootle)
Submission Date:
2022-08-01
Date Received:
2022-08-26
Overall Experience:
3 Star – Average
Comments:
Passport renewal was very easy and quick – it only took 17 days! But then delivery by TNT was a nightmare, after 10 days of multiple failed deliveries I ended up having to go and pick the passport up from the depot, otherwise I probably still wouldn’t have it.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Hemel Hempstead
Submission Date:
2022-08-11
Date Received:
2022-08-31
Overall Experience:
4 Star – Easy
Comments:
Quicker than expected. The “10 weeks” time on the Government website is misleading.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Belfast
Submission Date:
2022-07-29
Date Received:
2022-08-31
Overall Experience:
4 Star – Easy
Comments:
Application 29/7
Old passport posted 1st class signed for 30/7
Documents received 16/8
Approved 26/8
Printed 27/8
Delivered 31/8
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Liverpool (Bootle)
Submission Date:
2022-08-15
Date Received:
2022-08-31
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Submitted online, sent old passport straight away by signed for mail. HMPO kept me up to date with texts and emails, great service, no stress at all.
Lost or Stolen Passport Application
Type of Application:
Lost/Stolen Passport
Passport Office:
Newport
Submission Date:
2022-06-18
Date Received:
2022-08-31
Overall Experience:
2 Star – Stressful
Comments:
Not a nice experience at all. Throughout the whole time I felt like my application was lost. Very little communication even when I rung the passport office.
From 18th June to 27th August I heard nothing.
1st Child Passport
Type of Application:
First Child Passport
Passport Office:
Liverpool (Bootle)
Submission Date:
2022-08-09
Date Received:
2022-08-31
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
It was so easy and kept updated along the way.
I submitted my application 9th august and arrived 31st august. My documents were received on 15th August.
Child Renewal
Type of Application:
Child Renewal
Passport Office:
Belfast
Submission Date:
2022-04-27
Date Received:
2022-08-29
Overall Experience:
3 Star – Average
Comments:
Service for overseas applications poor. No estimated timescale. No opportunity to fast track, expedite or upgrade. No opportunity to attend in person 48hours before travel.
Type of Application:
Child Renewal
Passport Office:
Not Sure
Submission Date:
2022-08-12
Date Received:
2022-08-31
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Would have arrived earlier but TNT went to the wrong address. Luckily they did not post it. But I was able to get delivery on a different day with better driver.
Overseas Passport Application
Type of Application:
Adult Renewal (Overseas Application)
Passport Office:
Durham
Submission Date:
2022-05-05
Date Received:
2022-05-10
Overall Experience:
1 Star – Very Stressful
Comments:
I have been waiting 15 weeks for receive my passport after applying from Uganda. I’ve lost relatives, haven’t seen family in years and missed weddings and funerals. Also not having my passport in Uganda means I can’t open a bank account or get a phone line. The Contact number doesn’t work and emailing them gets nowhere, this is industrial fraud and everyone who has waited more than 10 weeks should be reimbursed at the very least.
Type of Application:
Adult Renewal (Overseas Application)
Passport Office:
Durham
Submission Date:
2022-07-15
Date Received:
2022-08-02
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Excellent. Imagined that it would take a lot longer. Tip – Get your photo taken by a professional in order to avoid rejection.
Type of Application:
First UK Passport (Overseas Application)
Passport Office:
Durham
Submission Date:
2022-06-26
Date Received:
2022-08-29
Overall Experience:
4 Star – Easy
Comments:
Where to begin? Overall, I wish I could give Her Majesty’s Passport Office a five and they probably deserve a 4.5. (I will give our beloved Queen more than a 5; she’s beyond marvelous!) I rate them a four (4) because it was not clear that I needed to provide a marriage certificate for any prior marriages to establish more that the one name change I have had, and the use of DHL to deliver to US is beyond irksome. (It appears many think of that company as “gangstas.” Read the Google reviews. Claims that they steal, claims that they say they delivered when they didn’t, and more, thus the opinion of gangstas.)
Applied online using the HMPO website and uploaded my own photo taken at a US Drugstore passport photo service giving the drugstore UK requirements. (The photos were both printed in UK size and provided in non=UK digital format-shot of head and shoulders which the HMPO website then cropped for me.) More about this below.
After applying on June 26, 2022, I waited an extra two (2) days for my contact to confirm my identity (not the fault of HMPO). When I was requested to send in my docs, ( identity confirmed on June 29, 2022), I overnighted my documents via UPS. (My photo was rated as “fair” and I was asked why I believed they should be admitted. I challenged the automatic photo checker and stated that the photo was taken in a shop, which it was, and THE APPLICATION PROCESS CROPPED IT FOR ME.) Regardless for good measure, I also sent in two (2) hard copy photos UK sized and signed the back of them.)
I then waited from June 30, 2022, when my supporting documents were shipped (along with the two (2) printed pictures of my photo), to July 6 , 20222, when the supporting documents were signed for by HMPO, to August 15, 2022, when they told me via text and email to send proof of my other name changes prior to my current name. (Herein lies half of the point I deducted from the perfect 5 points I would have loved to give in my rating.) I sent proof of the prior marriage certificates on August 15, 2022. I HAD those documents on hand and could have sent them in with my first documents, had it been made clear. Why it was NOT made clear in the very beginning eludes me greatly. They tell you, we will tell you if we need more documents. Had I to do this again, I would have sent too many documents rather than too few to begin with. I paid another approx $110 USD to overnight those docs to HMPO, which was received on August 17, 2022. I then waited to hear from HMPO.
I received an email on Aug 22, 2022 AGAIN asking me to send in my documents (which they, in fact, ALREADY had received on August 17, 2022). This worried and confused me (why did they not acknowledge their receipt of those documents on August 17, 2022), so I reached out to them on August 22, 2022 via the chat function. The chat function is hard to use! It DOES WORK, but you have to wait and keep checking for an agent to become available. The web page will refresh itself to allow for this, but it takes many attempts and sometimes by the time you are able to type in your enquiry, it then tells you that no agents are available and you have to wait all over again. (Maddening.)
I also used the email messaging system available and, believe it or not, they responded within 20 minutes or less. I emailed back and forth with them politely arguing and explaining that I sent my second set of documents to them and they were received because I sent them with tracking, but they still were asking me for the second set of documents when they already had them.
They told me that it can take up to a week for them to acknowledge the documents in their system and they DON’T update the status to state that further documents were received. This is true. (My status never has shown the second document coming in. )
I received a final email back stating that they would escalate my case to a higher-up, but there was no guarantee that I’d receive an email prior to 72 hours. That was all on August 22, 2022.
On August 24, 2022, I got a text and email that my application had been approved. I TRIED tracking using just the numerals of my PEX number on DHL but that did NOT WORK. I don’t recommend it.
I received an email and text message on August 25, 2022 saying my passport had been printed. Still could not track it on DHL.
August 26, 2022 I received a text from DHL with a tracking number saying that my passport’s delivery was expected to be on August 29, 2022. Here’s where the real fun begins. NOT. I clicked the link on the text and got on the website and signed up for emails and text updates.
They sent updates, and I COULD track the shipment (others on here have said not possible – but it was) telling me where it was, when it cleared customs, etc. all the way up to the distribution center near my town. SO FAR SO GOOD, but, “end of day” happened on August 29, 2022 and NO PASSPORT. I used their chat function and they were no help, and after waiting and writing messages, they clicked off and chat became unavailable until the next day as it became after hours.
The next day I called them and used the chat function. Chat told me I didn’t get the package because it was tied up in customs. LIE- it cleared customs on August 27. I called and was told that it got in too late to go out in the August 29 shipment. This was not true. I learned on a second call that it was logged TWICE on August 29, at 6AM and 10:15 AM and likely it was mis-sorted and didn’t make it onto the truck. I made a Better Business Bureau complaint, and left a massively BAD Google review. Lo and behold, on August 30, 2022 they called me and had their person personally drive out to my home (thank you Alejandro Nunez at the LV facility) and it was delivered about 10:15 AM today.
Below is all the tracking information for HMPO:
Application history
Status Date
Passport printed 5:44am on 25 August 2022
Application approved 10:13am on 24 August 2022
Documents received 1:29pm on 6 July 2022
Application received 7:12pm on 29 June 2022
Identity details received 7:11pm on 29 June 2022
Email sent to person confirming your identity 6:16pm on 29 June 2022
Email sent to person confirming your identity 4:23am on 26 June 2022
Ask someone to confirm your identity 3:03am on 26 June 2022
Application submitted 3:03am on 26 June 2022
DHL:
Tracking Results
Delivered:
Tuesday, August 30, 2022 at 1:07 PM (IT WAS ABOUT 10:15 AM)
Origin Service Area: LONDON – HEATHROW – UK
Destination Service Area: LAS VEGAS, NV – USA
1 Pieces
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
13 Delivered LAS VEGAS, NV – USA 1:07 PM Monday, August 29, 2022
12 Arrived at DHL Delivery Facility LAS VEGAS – USA LAS VEGAS, NV – USA 6:00 AM
11 Shipment has departed from a DHL facility LOS ANGELES GATEWAY – USA LOS ANGELES GATEWAY, CA – USA 1:27 AM
10 Processed at LOS ANGELES GATEWAY – USA LOS ANGELES GATEWAY, CA – USA 1:25 AM Saturday, August 27, 2022
9 Processed at LOS ANGELES GATEWAY – USA LOS ANGELES GATEWAY, CA – USA 10:14 PM 1
8 Clearance processing complete at LOS ANGELES GATEWAY – USA LOS ANGELES GATEWAY, CA – USA 7:20 PM
7 Arrived at DHL Sort Facility LOS ANGELES GATEWAY – USA LOS ANGELES GATEWAY, CA – USA 3:03 PM
6 Customs clearance status updated. Note – The Customs clearance process may start while the shipment is in transit to the destination. LOS ANGELES GATEWAY, CA – USA 9:51 AM
5 Scheduled to depart on the next planned movement LONDON-HEATHROW – UK 6:59 AM Friday, August 26, 2022
4 Arrived at DHL Sort Facility LONDON-HEATHROW – UK LONDON-HEATHROW – UK 8:02 PM
3 Shipment has departed from a DHL facility LONDON-HEATHROW – UK LONDON-HEATHROW – UK 7:33 PM
2 Processed at LONDON-HEATHROW – UK LONDON-HEATHROW – UK 1:25 PM
1 Shipment picked up LONDON-HEATHROW – UK 12:05 PM
I sure hope that this narrative helps someone! God bless and good luck to you!