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:
Corby
Submission Date:
2023-04-06
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Passport Delivered 11:00am on 25 April 2023
Passport printed 10:00pm on 23 April 2023
Application approved 2:17pm on 23 April 2023
Documents received 10:45am on 13 April 2023
Application received 9:06am on 6 April 2023
Identity details received 9:06am on 6 April 2023
Email sent to person confirming your identity 1:51am on 6 April 2023
Ask someone to confirm your identity 1:49am on 6 April 2023
Application submitted 1:49am on 6 April 2023
Adult Renewal Passport
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Corby
Submission Date:
2023-04-20
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
Please Rate out of 5
Comments:
Had the shock of my life upon checking in 2 1/2 weeks before my holiday to find my passport didn’t have the 3 months I needed for travel! After lots of panicking and tears, being told there were no fast track appointments for up to 3 weeks time and premium appointments were also hard to come by, I bit the bullet and applied online via the standard service as a last resort.
Application was submitted & received Thursday 20th at 3:35pm (using digital Photo Booth photo)
Old passport was set special recorded delivery on Thursday and received 21st at 1:30pm
Application was approved & Printed at 11:31pm Saturday 22nd.
Tuesday 25th April at 4:34am my passport was dispatched for delivery.
Honestly cannot fault the service, it’s been an absolute god send & so much quicker than the fast track appointments. Highly recommend for those in a rush.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Not Sure
Submission Date:
2023-04-03
Date Received:
2023-04-19
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
All very quick and easy. Photo accepted first time. Really good updates by email. Updated that they had receive dmy old passport really quickly. My only gripe was that they didn’t send my new passport special delivery- was just put through door.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Corby
Submission Date:
2023-04-06
Date Received:
2023-04-24
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
I booked a holiday in June without checking my passport expiry date, so was very worried about the 10-week waiting time. However, this website really helped alleviate that worry, and I decided not to go for the fast-track service as a result, saving myself £100. Even with the strike, my passport arrived within 12 working days.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Hemel Hempstead
Submission Date:
2023-04-06
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Filled out online renewal form, sent my old passport and supporting documents off and received my new passport around 3 weeks later. Very easy throughout.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Not Sure
Submission Date:
2023-04-09
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
4 Star – Easy
Comments:
Photo was rejected as I took it on the phone and there was a slight textured background but when I had uploaded it had said it was a good photo. This should have been picked up straightaway so I could have corrected it. I spoke to the office and they advised to use a Photo Booth instead so it is guaranteed. Once I put the code in from the booth it was accepted and approved straightaway. Rest of the process is straightforward, still awaiting old passport.
Passport printed 11:20pm on 24 April 2023
Application approved 7:00pm on 21 April 2023
New photo received 6:59pm on 21 April 2023
Photo rejected 12:14pm on 21 April 2023
Documents received 3:35pm on 12 April 2023
Application received 5:51pm on 9 April 2023
Application submitted 5:51pm on 9 April 2023
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Liverpool (Bootle)
Submission Date:
2023-04-02
Date Received:
2023-04-11
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Application submitted: 9:53pm on 2 April 2023
Application received: 9:54pm on 2 April 2023
Documents posted: 9:31am on 3 April 2023 using Royal Mail Special Delivery by 1pm
Royal Mail confirmed delivery at 10:37am on 4 April 2023
Documents received: 9:53pm on 5 April 2023
Application approved: 7:40am on 6 April 2023
Passport printed: 12:41am on 7 April 2023
New Passport received: 11 April 2023
Would have received passport sooner if it wasn’t for Good Friday/Easter Monday bank holidays.
The whole process from sending my old passport to receiving my new passport took only 5 working days which was a shock considering it was during the strike period so very happy with turnaround time
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Hemel Hempstead
Submission Date:
2023-04-11
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Great experience, 2 weeks in total (including weekends).
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Corby
Submission Date:
2023-04-11
Date Received:
2023-04-24
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Very easy process and quicker than expected given it was during strike.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Not Sure
Submission Date:
2023-04-04
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Great experience despite the strikes starting 1 day after I submitted my adult passport renewal application. Very annoying that the media coverage made me so anxious and that people will have used up emergency appointments and paid premiums due to the hysteria. Mine took 3 weeks exactly and the service updates were great.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Corby
Submission Date:
2023-04-08
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
4 Star – Easy
Comments:
Took a bit longer than I was expecting compared to other reports on this site but can’t complain really. 17 day turn around from start to finish with useful email and text updates at every stage from the passport office.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Liverpool (Bootle)
Submission Date:
2023-04-19
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Applied online, was able to upload digital image using code supplied by photo booth. Updated every step by text message, excellent service. Husbands application done at the same time was sent to the Corby office, he has not received any updates or his passport yet.
Type of Application:
Adult Passport Renewal
Passport Office:
Corby
Submission Date:
2023-04-11
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Whole process took exactly 14 days, when applying on line I use the online photo app, very easy to use. Send old passport by special delivery. Applied during the strike and received new passport before it ends…. Very impressive service!
Received – 12:40pm 25 April 2023
Passport printed 11:07pm on 24 April 2023
Application approved 8:00am on 22 April 2023
Documents received 10:22pm on 12 April 2023
Application received 2:20pm on 11 April 2023
Application submitted 2:19pm on 11 April 2023
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1st Child Passport
Type of Application:
First Child Passport
Passport Office:
Corby
Submission Date:
2023-03-07
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
2 Star – Stressful
Comments:
I found the application process for his passport to be a lot worse than when I applied for that of my first son in 2018. I applied before the start of the strike period so don’t necessarily consider this to be relevant.
My son Julien was born 2 weeks early at home in the Netherlands, on February 24th 2023.
Months prior to his birth I had already taken the trouble of ordering my birth certificate and my parents’ birth certificates (we are all British from birth, and born in Britain, and both my parents’ parents are also British and born in Britain), knowing from applying for my older son Etienne’s passport in 2018 that these documents would be required, as Julien is also British through me and my parents. As such I thought I would be well-prepared for the application procedure, which had proven very straightforward with Etienne (he had his British passport by the time he was 7 weeks old). How wrong I was.
When I applied online for Julien’s passport on March 7 (bearing in mind that he was not even 2 weeks old at this point, I could not have done this much more quickly), I was shocked to be asked for the birth certificates and marriage certificate of my parents-in-law, who are French and have never lived in Britain. Julien’s claim for a British passport has nothing to do with them so this seemed like a totally irrelevant request (which indeed was not required for Etienne’s application in 2018, bearing in mind that he was also born in the Netherlands), especially since no documents were requested in relation to the children’s father (why skip a generation?). HMPO has not been able to give me a satisfactory answer by phone or by email as to why these documents are needed. Nonetheless, since the application could not proceed without them, I applied for the documents, which naturally introduced an unnecessary delay in my sending everything away to the Corby passport office. When these documents arrived, everything was sent and marked as received by HMPO on their online platform on March 30.
I was then contacted by HMPO on April 4th with the claim that my son’s countersignatory was not British and that I was therefore required to post a photocopy of her foreign passport to Corby (over the long Easter weekend no less). This is not only incorrect (as she is a Dutch/British dual national), but I was also not able/permitted to email this copy of her passport to anyone at HMPO or to upload it to the application platform (which would seem to be a reasonable request as it is only a photocopy to begin with, as opposed to being an original document, such as a birth certificate; being able to do this would also have expedited the process considerably). Again, nobody at HMPO has been able to explain to me how this error came to be made (my son’s countersignatory is British), or why this document needed to be posted as opposed to communicated digitally, or why it is not requested that the countersignatory uploads their passport copies as a matter of course when filling out these details online.
Again this has introduced a further delay to the process. I sent the requested photocopy by post on April 5th and my tracking information shows that it was received at the Corby office on April 11.
This was becoming very stressful as my husband, my two sons and I were due to travel to England on May 18 so that my family can meet Julien, including my 89-year-old grandmother who cannot travel abroad. I was increasingly losing hope of the passport being delivered on time. It seems to me that overseas applications for first child passports are deliberately deprioritised; given that according to https://www.passportwaitingtime.co.uk/latest-uk-passport-waiting-times/ the average wait time for a first child passport was 15.81 days at that time, we were clearly way past that point for what seemed to be no real reason. It seems outrageous that effectively a British citizen was barred from entering Britain because of HMPO Corby’s incompetence.
If I could have applied for a fast-track passport from the outset, and paid the necessary extra to do so, for my own peace of mind, I would have done, but this option was never offered. When I asked about this as an option over the phone, I was simply told it cannot be done for overseas applications, which seems discriminatory, especially as HMPO was unable to provide a reason why when asked.
I appreciate that HMPO is under pressure from the current industrial action and I have the impression that everyone I have communicated with from HMPO has been well-meaning and kind. However, the delays that I experienced seemed unacceptable.
As such, I wrote to ‘my’ MP of the town that I lived in from 1987 to 2008 (and again for work in 2020) in the hope that she could intervene. Luckily, with my MP being Theresa May, she has considerable power, status and contacts. I wrote to her on April 18, and the passport was magically approved on April 19 (being printed on April 20 and delivered on April 24). I am very pleased to now have my son’s passport but it just shouldn’t take this level of intervention.
Type of Application:
First Child Passport
Passport Office:
Not Sure
Submission Date:
2023-04-06
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
4 Star – Easy
Comments:
Passport printed 10:36pm on 24 April 2023
Application approved 3:51pm on 21 April 2023
New photo received 3:50pm on 21 April 2023
Photo rejected 3:14pm on 21 April 2023
Documents received 5:53pm on 12 April 2023
Application received 2:52pm on 6 April 2023
Identity details received 2:51pm on 6 April 2023
Email sent to person confirming your identity 12:38pm on 6 April 2023
Ask someone to confirm your identity 12:33pm on 6 April 2023
Application submitted 12:33pm on 6 April 2023
Type of Application:
First Child Passport
Passport Office:
London
Submission Date:
2023-04-03
Date Received:
2023-04-20
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
Very quick and easy!
Child Renewal
Type of Application:
Child Renewal
Passport Office:
Hemel Hempstead
Submission Date:
2023-04-01
Date Received:
2023-04-22
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
I applied in the strike it was scary I went for standard service luckily I got my passport in 3 weeks times I thought it’s going to take forever my advice don’t panic and stress like me apply for your passport one month earlier.
1 Week Fast Track Application
Type of Application:
1 Week Fast Track Service
Passport Office:
London
Submission Date:
2023-04-19
Date Received:
2023-04-25
Overall Experience:
5 Star – Very Easy
Comments:
A little more information would have been reassuring, but I can’t fault the service. Lightning fast at Warehouse K in London.
Type of Application:
1 Week Fast Track Service
Passport Office:
London
Submission Date:
2023-04-13
Date Received:
2023-04-18
Overall Experience:
3 Star – Average
Comments:
Getting the appointment was the stressful part. If you turn up prepared with the application correct the process is smooth.
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We have a very small favour to ask………….
We really hope this information is helpful to you and reduces stress whilst you are waiting for you passport. If you are able to make a small donation for the cost of a coffee it really helps us to maintain the site and continue to make improvements for future passport applicants.