HM Passport Office - an efficient government department.

tonybvi

Full Member

Messages
1,159
HM Passport Office - an efficient government department.

My passport was due to expire next August when we will probably be overseas so I decided to renew it online last week. Here is the chronology:
Tuesday 16th January 1630 - sent off online application
Tuesday 16th January 1651 - text from HMPO “you’ve applied to renew your passport, application ref. xxxxx”
Wednesday 17th January - sent old passport by post to HMPO
Wednesday 17th January 1703 - text from HMPO “remember to send your old passport”
Thursday 18th January 1851 - text from HMPO “we’ve received your old passport”
Friday 19th January 2056 - text from HMPO “we’ve approved your application and photo, we’ll let you know when we despatch your new passport”
Saturday 20th January 0917 - text from HMPO “you should receive your new passport within a few working days”
Monday 22nd January 0853 - text from HMPO “ your new passport is being sent to the address you gave us, you should receive it within two working days”
Tuesday 23rd January 1215 - new passport delivered by courier

How’s that for service and keeping me informed!!
 
Thank you, that's really good to hear... I need to renew mine soon too.
 
We had the same good experience last year (without the kisses), when we discovered our passports were out of date just after we had booked a holiday. We panicked first, then started to fill the manual paperwork but as there would be a delay in photo verification and postage, I opted to try the online service with my own photo taken by the wife. We expected the photo to be rejected, and were prepared to carry on with the manual method, but pleasantly surprised when everything went so smoothly and I got my new passport very quickly. We then did the same for my wife, and had the same pleasant result. So we fully endorse the online method of passport renewal.:Hugging_Face_Emoji:
 
Thanks Tony
This is really "Good news" We also have to renew one of our passports later this year.
The good timescale simply makes it easier to manage...We may well do mid/late April to go away mid-May
 
I had to renew my NZ passport about 6 years ago to rush home for a family emergency,rang the embassy in London in the morning,emailed a current pic,picked up passport the next day on the way to the airport....it needs renewing again!
 
I have only one word to say about the experience I am going through at the moment aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggghhh.
 
Ok ok being as you are all begging to know what’s going on
my passport ran out a few years back and as Bill and I had made this pact 15 yrs back that we would not go abroad again until we had explored every corner of the Uk a pact that I stuck to to he hasn’t anyway with all this talk of going to Ireland and maybe France I thought I’d better get on and renew so filled the form in took it to the PO £9.75 to be checked was told that because it had ran out X amount of years back it was not a renewal it was a new passport request and required a bit more of the form filling out ie parents full names and date of birth well despite there being 5 siblings me being the middle one ( that explains a lot I hear some of you say) not one of us knew the year of our parents birth so ended up having to join this Ancestry uk thing to find out so that sorted off we go to the PO again in the additional information box we had wrote parents deceased so another £9.75 to tell us that as they were deceased we need not have filled that bit in about parents arghh!! and that my photo was not acceptable so off I go new photos done back to the PO another £9.75 a different counter clerk asked Bill if I had been known by any other name so he said well yes she was married before so rejected again as I needed marriage certificate and a copy of the decree nisi by this time I have steam coming out of my lugs and in serious need of a vodka but I suck it up and fill out the online request and paid to get copies of the documents required we are now into month 4 of this process and I am reading through the booklet that you get with your application and something is not ringing true so I gets on the phone to the passport information and explained what we had been told by this PO clerk the lady on the phones asked if we were changing my name on the passport to which I said no she replied then you don’t need the marriage certificate or the divorce papers all we need is your birth certificate and old passport so this time we are not going to the PO to have it checked it is now in the post special delivery winging its way to the passport office fingers crossed it’s OK.
Sorry to put a bit of a negative spin on this thread

yours frustrated Yorkshire.
 
When me and the wife renewed our passports a couple of years back everything went like clockwork and only took 8 days from application to receiving them via courier.
 
I find nearly all the government departments that have converted to online documents efficient. Applied for a replacement driving liecence last week it arrived in two days.
 
Phillybarbour;n21192 said:
I find nearly all the government departments that have converted to online documents efficient. Applied for a replacement driving liecence last week it arrived in two days.
Click to expand...

Just wait till you are 70

Having said that I have had excellent service from the DVLA on vehicles. As for the passport office check you give them the right information .and they are great, did an emergency renewal a few years back appointment made on line, took all the stuff to the office and seen at the correct time and told to come back in 3 hours, was a bit early but my passport was ready.
 
maxi77;n21542 said:
Just wait till you are 70

Having said that I have had excellent service from the DVLA on vehicles. As for the passport office check you give them the right information .and they are great, did an emergency renewal a few years back appointment made on line, took all the stuff to the office and seen at the correct time and told to come back in 3 hours, was a bit early but my passport was ready.
Click to expand...

DVLA also impressed me recently. Collected brand new motorhome from Travelworld on a Wednesday. They registered the van that day. Took several days to get home so that we could check everything out. On the following Monday (6 days after collection) the new V5c registration certificate arrived by mail.
Tony
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top