British Passport | ExpatWoman.com
 

British Passport

73
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 May 2014 - 11:05

Does anyone have the number for the UK passport office. My passport was sent away 6 weeks ago and it just says processing on the website. I just need to speak to a human being and find out whats going on.

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EW MASTER
Latest post on 30 September 2014 - 11:51
I've just completed the form this morning, but wanted to check as it all seemed ultra easy for a renewal, is the form you print off just 6 pages, with 1 signature required and that is it? Thanks
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EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 27 September 2014 - 12:37
[u'>HM Passport Office to be abolished and boss to lose job, says Theresa May[/u'> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11122977/HM-Passport-Office-to-be-abolished-and-boss-to-lose-job-says-Theresa-May.html [i'> Her Majesty’s Passport Office, which was hit by chaotic delays earlier this year, is to be abolished and its work taken under direct control of the Home Office, Theresa May has announced. The Home Secretary said Paul Pugh, HMPO’s chief executive who saw a backlog of hundreds of thousands of applications develop, will lose his job. [b'>But it is unclear how Mrs May’s announcement will tackle one of the report’s key findings, which said it was a “mistake” to close overseas passport application centres and replace them with a centralised service in Britain. [/b'>[/i'> <em>edited by Alismum on 27/09/2014</em>
62
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 16 September 2014 - 16:57
Been 14 weeks now and still no sign of passport for our daughter. No answer to phone calls, no answer to emails, what's going on? Anybody with recent update about the situation? Is it just us? This is terrible, is the for a newborn or a renewal? Polly, this is for a newborn. We finally received the passport on the 21st of August. We paid around AED 1,800 in fines (for late visa and Emirates ID). It's a long story but we didn't face this problem with our two previous children's passport application with which we received their passports two weeks after application submission. Basically, somebody admitted that they do not know the process and our case is something they did not have any experience of. It was very stressful and we're glad that it is finally over. During such time, our daughter needed to be checked due to some heart murmur (which was communicated with them) and we were just too worried that we do not have any travel document in place in case we needed to fly due to medical emergency. Sometimes life's a ***** but thankfully, her heart murmur seems to be correcting itself as time goes by. <em>edited by farthestpoint on 16/09/2014</em>
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 18:22
Busybee2.... I was told by one person that only I needed to be there as I was the applicant but then another told me that as their dad holds a kiwi passport he had to be there as well...mind you, this was the same person who told me I cpuld do the 24hr renewal for a child..I had to tell him that his organisation had stopped doing this earlier in the year. I kind of lost the will to live after this as had spent ages on hold to call centres both times so decided not to risk it as I couldn't get clarification. If anyone has done this 7 day process in UK it wpuld be useful to know whether they required presence of both parents or just one...TIA maybe its different because you may have a british passport but the father has a nz one is that right? i would think that only 1 parent needs to be there... i understand what you mean about their help line they are never "on the ball", many years ago i had to get a renewal passport as the checkin staff in auh and the passport people at lhr and aberdeen didnt notice that my passport had already run out, so when we tried to go back i wasnt allowed to fly... hence the need to get a new passport, the issue being that my son was on my passport and as it was a "new" passport for him i was told by 6 out 7 that his birth certificate would need to be shown and it would take a week to get a new passport.... only when i went to the passport office did i explain the farce that had happened and was told that the rules had changed and that yes i could get a new passport for both of us in 4 hours! so unfortunately i think the only way of finding out for sure is to go and try and see what happens, if you are there at least you can then explain the situation and appeal to a higher person there!
553
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EW GURU
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 17:29
Busybee2.... I was told by one person that only I needed to be there as I was the applicant but then another told me that as their dad holds a kiwi passport he had to be there as well...mind you, this was the same person who told me I cpuld do the 24hr renewal for a child..I had to tell him that his organisation had stopped doing this earlier in the year. I kind of lost the will to live after this as had spent ages on hold to call centres both times so decided not to risk it as I couldn't get clarification. If anyone has done this 7 day process in UK it wpuld be useful to know whether they required presence of both parents or just one...TIA
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 16:10
If you do the 7 day process you def need to turn up at office in person. One member of staff told me that it would be ok if only I turned up. Another told me that my husband must turn up as well. This was to process my DD renewal. If you do the general renewal which takes week you only need one person to be in uk ie the person applying. i think that if its a childs renewal only 1 parent needs to be there, but yes you do need to be resident and attend the office etc
1443
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EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 14:23
Buddha, I have been home and come back now, so I will be sending from here. Just finished the process, ready to nip up to DHL.. Thanks ladies
553
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EW GURU
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 13:57
If you do the 7 day process you def need to turn up at office in person. One member of staff told me that it would be ok if only I turned up. Another told me that my husband must turn up as well. This was to process my DD renewal. If you do the general renewal which takes week you only need one person to be in uk ie the person applying.
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 13:38
Just about to do a couple passport renewals and have a quick question for anyone that has recently done their passports. Is the courier fee that's paid online just for the return of the passport? Do I have to organise the courier myself to get the documents to the UK in the first place. If so which courier should I use. From Passport Site [i'>You’ll have to pay a fee for your passport and a courier fee of £19.86. The courier fee pays for your passport and supporting documents to be sent back to you securely.[/i'> as it says clearly, for the documents to be "sent back" to you.... yes you do have to organise the passports to be sent to the uk, they have a special rate with dhl, which is the one i always use, its like 150dhs or was last time i used them, which is cheaper than it would normally cost you to send back a small letter as that is close to 200dhs. you need to take them to dhl and they will fill out the details as they know the address in liverpool etc now. all very easy, just expensive but nowt you can do about it here. the courier fee/s are individual too, so even if you have loads to send together they go separately. edited by busybee2 on 15/09/2014 Thanks Busybee, I will send them with DHL individually, daylight robbery as it is, nowt I can do about it ;) yep it is what it is, if you can get them done in uk then its much much much cheaper, but if not then nowt you can do about it. the passport application fee includes the courier fee from uk to uae etc, you have to pay dhl this end from uae to uk. so it all adds up, we pay an awful lot more for overseas payment than even for the quick 4 hour turnaround etc.
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 13:36
Farthestpoint...I suggest you email the CEO [email protected] I got a reply almost immediately and passport processed within 48 hrs of writing. Alismum...you don't need 4 weeks in England. You can make an appt from here but can only do so for three weeks or less from when you wish the appointment. It then takes 7days from your appointment. What you need to be careful with and I kept getting conflicting advice is whether both parents require to be present to do the 7 day service. dont think you need both parents, just you need to be in the country etc when the application is processed, you can then get it sent onto another address etc from there.
553
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EW GURU
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 13:12
Farthestpoint...I suggest you email the CEO [email protected] I got a reply almost immediately and passport processed within 48 hrs of writing. Alismum...you don't need 4 weeks in England. You can make an appt from here but can only do so for three weeks or less from when you wish the appointment. It then takes 7days from your appointment. What you need to be careful with and I kept getting conflicting advice is whether both parents require to be present to do the 7 day service.
1443
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EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 12:48
Just about to do a couple passport renewals and have a quick question for anyone that has recently done their passports. Is the courier fee that's paid online just for the return of the passport? Do I have to organise the courier myself to get the documents to the UK in the first place. If so which courier should I use. From Passport Site [i'>You’ll have to pay a fee for your passport and a courier fee of £19.86. The courier fee pays for your passport and supporting documents to be sent back to you securely.[/i'> as it says clearly, for the documents to be "sent back" to you.... yes you do have to organise the passports to be sent to the uk, they have a special rate with dhl, which is the one i always use, its like 150dhs or was last time i used them, which is cheaper than it would normally cost you to send back a small letter as that is close to 200dhs. you need to take them to dhl and they will fill out the details as they know the address in liverpool etc now. all very easy, just expensive but nowt you can do about it here. the courier fee/s are individual too, so even if you have loads to send together they go separately. edited by busybee2 on 15/09/2014 Thanks Busybee, I will send them with DHL individually, daylight robbery as it is, nowt I can do about it ;)
4747
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 11:37
Been 14 weeks now and still no sign of passport for our daughter. No answer to phone calls, no answer to emails, what's going on? Anybody with recent update about the situation? Is it just us? This is terrible, is the for a newborn or a renewal? i would have been onto them much much sooner, no way can it take 14 weeks, something is a miss....
4423
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 11:33
Been 14 weeks now and still no sign of passport for our daughter. No answer to phone calls, no answer to emails, what's going on? Anybody with recent update about the situation? Is it just us? This is terrible, is the for a newborn or a renewal?
4747
Posts
EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 11:29
I have just spoke to passport office to renew my sons passport, and you need to get an appointment at an office to do the 7days service, and the appointments can take three weeks, I was lucky I got an appointment for next week. Yikes!! 3 weeks for an appointment, then 7 days service??, so that's around 4 weeks, may as well post it and have regular service?? Buddha, might give it a miss then and come back and send it off from here. I will have 6 months left anyway in August. I can't hang around for 4 weeks in the UK, I am only going there for 2 weeks and I really can't trek up to Liverpool or Peterborough. the apts may not be 3 weeks, they only allow you to "book" an appointment time 3 weeks in advance. so you ring up 3 weeks before you need the appointment.
4747
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 11:26
Just about to do a couple passport renewals and have a quick question for anyone that has recently done their passports. Is the courier fee that's paid online just for the return of the passport? Do I have to organise the courier myself to get the documents to the UK in the first place. If so which courier should I use. From Passport Site [i'>You’ll have to pay a fee for your passport and a courier fee of £19.86. The courier fee pays for your passport and supporting documents to be sent back to you securely.[/i'> as it says clearly, for the documents to be "sent back" to you.... yes you do have to organise the passports to be sent to the uk, they have a special rate with dhl, which is the one i always use, its like 150dhs or was last time i used them, which is cheaper than it would normally cost you to send back a small letter as that is close to 200dhs. you need to take them to dhl and they will fill out the details as they know the address in liverpool etc now. all very easy, just expensive but nowt you can do about it here. the courier fee/s are individual too, so even if you have loads to send together they go separately. <em>edited by busybee2 on 15/09/2014</em>
1443
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EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 15 September 2014 - 09:19
Just about to do a couple passport renewals and have a quick question for anyone that has recently done their passports. Is the courier fee that's paid online just for the return of the passport? Do I have to organise the courier myself to get the documents to the UK in the first place. If so which courier should I use. From Passport Site [i'>You’ll have to pay a fee for your passport and a courier fee of £19.86. The courier fee pays for your passport and supporting documents to be sent back to you securely.[/i'>
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 13 August 2014 - 03:04
The one day thing doesn't apply to children any more but they can get it in a week I think... Applied for my son's renewal in the UK on 24th July and it came last Thursday so just over 2 weeks... I should of mentioned the one day service doesn't apply to children. At the time the passport office were not offering the week service for passport returns. <em>edited by salsB on 13/08/2014</em>
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 12 August 2014 - 00:21
The one day thing doesn't apply to children any more but they can get it in a week I think... Applied for my son's renewal in the UK on 24th July and it came last Thursday so just over 2 weeks...
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 11 August 2014 - 22:44
Another EW user has flown to the UK and has her appointment booked for 13th Aug for the one day service. Really not sure if they have their act together, but wasnt there a strike last Monday!! My GD who lives in the UK waited 4 working weeks for her's. I heard they were prioritizing overseas passport's, but his is only a rumour.
62
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 August 2014 - 00:20
Been 14 weeks now and still no sign of passport for our daughter. No answer to phone calls, no answer to emails, what's going on? Anybody with recent update about the situation? Is it just us?
4423
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 21 July 2014 - 13:48
Has the backlog been sorted or are people still waiting for their passports? Thanks My friend got her newborn baby's back In a very short space of time. Perhaps they got their act together finally I'm hoping so, don't need to apply for a new one until October, and really don't want to waste time back in the UK sorting it out!
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 21 July 2014 - 13:23
Has the backlog been sorted or are people still waiting for their passports? Thanks My friend got her newborn baby's back In a very short space of time. Perhaps they got their act together finally
8965
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 21 July 2014 - 13:22
Has the backlog been sorted or are people still waiting for their passports? Thanks My friend got her newborn baby's back In a very short space of time. Perhaps they got their act together finally
4423
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 21 July 2014 - 12:27
Has the backlog been sorted or are people still waiting for their passports? Thanks
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 18 July 2014 - 10:08
Just wanted to let you know my scenario. My GD lives in the UK, sent her passport on 7th June.Still not received. We still have abit of time, got her flight booked for 28th July.... Anyone know what the email address to use. Tia Sals she could try the Paul Pugh address or contact her MP. [email protected] Her passport came back but thank you for the emaill address.
511
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EW GURU
Latest post on 17 July 2014 - 07:26
Yes you definitely have to attend an appointment but we have a passport office very close so wasn't too inconvenient. I knew when I was travelling back, so I called from the UAE a week or two before to get my appointment for as soon as I got back to the UK, you don't need to be in the UK when you make an appointment, it's just that they only release appointments for the following 3 weeks at a time. I usually do the one day service for my renewals, it's shame you cant do this for the first passport but it's because they have to check nationality entitlement which is done by a specific department.
1443
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EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 16 July 2014 - 15:43
I have just spoke to passport office to renew my sons passport, and you need to get an appointment at an office to do the 7days service, and the appointments can take three weeks, I was lucky I got an appointment for next week. Yikes!! 3 weeks for an appointment, then 7 days service??, so that's around 4 weeks, may as well post it and have regular service?? Buddha, might give it a miss then and come back and send it off from here. I will have 6 months left anyway in August. I can't hang around for 4 weeks in the UK, I am only going there for 2 weeks and I really can't trek up to Liverpool or Peterborough.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 16 July 2014 - 15:00
I have just spoke to passport office to renew my sons passport, and you need to get an appointment at an office to do the 7days service, and the appointments can take three weeks, I was lucky I got an appointment for next week.
553
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EW GURU
Latest post on 16 July 2014 - 14:12
Alismum - I was given so much disinformation when I called the passport office but I was told twice that for the 7 day service I had to present at an office, I was also told that my DD's father had to be there which was why I decided not to use the 7 day service. However, I was told several other things which were wrongs who knows. I do think that you have to present at office for the 7 or 1 day service. The one day service can not be done for child renewal.
 
 

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