Passport shambles

S

Superbretty

Well-known member
Supposed to be flying to Greece on the 16th for a family holiday and we've now been waiting 16 WEEKS for my seven year olds passport.
It's a ** shambles and we could miss out on a 4.5k holiday through no fault of our own.
Anyone else waiting on a new passport?
 
Superbretty said:
Supposed to be flying to Greece on the 16th for a family holiday and we've now been waiting 16 WEEKS for my seven year olds passport.
It's a ** shambles and we could miss out on a 4.5k holiday through no fault of our own.
Anyone else waiting on a new passport?
Click to expand...
Couple of options for you as my friend was in the same situation and resolved it this way.

Find out where the passport is - there are loads of passport offices and one in Belfast.

If you're within 1 week of your holiday you can go to the office and wait. Theyll ask who's flying out in 7 / 6 / 5 etc days time and theyll prioritise the most in need I.e. those who are nearest to departure. You'll then be called when your passport is ready - usually within a couple of hours.

Hopefully this info helps
 
Superbretty said:
Supposed to be flying to Greece on the 16th for a family holiday and we've now been waiting 16 WEEKS for my seven year olds passport.
It's a ** shambles and we could miss out on a 4.5k holiday through no fault of our own.
Anyone else waiting on a new passport?
Click to expand...
Have you tried phoning or seeing if you can fast track it?

You can make appointments for fast track (I think) and then plead your case. You may have to travel beyond Liverpool to get the appt.

You could just turn up at Liverpool 8am.

Contact your local MP also as they have daily contact with the HO on these matters. Do this today!
 
We applied for four passports online at the same time. They told us to send the applications to different offices and my youngest daughter's was sent to Liverpool, which sounds like it is in chaos. All the others came back within 7 weeks.
 
Long-shanks said:
Couple of options for you as my friend was in the same situation and resolved it this way.

Find out where the passport is - there are loads of passport offices and one in Belfast.

If you're within 1 week of your holiday you can go to the office and wait. Theyll ask who's flying out in 7 / 6 / 5 etc days time and theyll prioritise the most in need I.e. those who are nearest to departure. You'll then be called when your passport is ready - usually within a couple of hours.

Hopefully this info helps
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. The passport is in Liverpool and we are in Ayrshire. The passport office are advising you will only be seen if you turn up within 48 hours of your flight so there is no guarantee they will deal with us before then. If it doesn't arrive may have to go down a week on Thursday
 
My Niece and Nephew both applied at the same time months ago one came one didn't so he had to stay with his Dad whilst the rest of the family flew out on a Family holiday in April.

It arrived two days later so my sis flew to Manchester meeting him at the airport and brought him back to Spain costing a small fortune.
 
fcblackpool said:
Have you tried phoning or seeing if you can fast track it?

You can make appointments for fast track (I think) and then plead your case. You may have to travel beyond Liverpool to get the appt.

You could just turn up at Liverpool 8am.

Contact your local MP also as they have daily contact with the HO on these matters. Do this today!
Click to expand...
MP has already been involved and they have admitted there is no guarantee we will get it and be prepared to go to the office 48 hours before
 
poolseasider said:
My Niece and Nephew both applied at the same time months ago one came one didn't so he had to stay with his Dad whilst the rest of the family flew out on a Family holiday in April.

It arrived two days later so my sis flew to Manchester meeting him at the airport and brought him back to Spain costing a small fortune.
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What a nightmare. I fear we may be facing the same thing
 
From memory I'm sure theres a facebook group that has been set up by people in a similar position to help others out.... I'll try and get a link and post it here
 
fcblackpool said:
You won't. You'll get it. But as I say it might be a Liverpool trip.

Meantime keep on at the MP's office (e mail MP direct I think they have to read them).
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MP has been good to be fair, was straight on to them and passport is being expidited but they still can't give us any guarantees apparently
 
We managed to get a fast track appointment in Liverpool and got the passport this week, within 7 days of the appointment. Didn't trust we'd get it back in time otherwise
 
Delfino said:
We managed to get a fast track appointment in Liverpool and got the passport this week, within 7 days of the appointment. Didn't trust we'd get it back in time otherwise
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We've been advised we can't fast track the application as it is already in the system. Is that wrong?
 
I’ve seen this online, I’m not sure if it is true or not but it’s worth a go.

For anyone who wants to save themselves some time and stress with their passport and need it ASAP, the upgrade office will only agree to upgrade your passport within 2 weeks of your holiday and still then they will only call you to come collect it 2 days before you fly (which is probably the biggest stress ever )

but if you book yourself a cheap flight for the following week (doesn’t matter where I just booked a flight for £9) and send them this as your proof of flying they will process your passport 2 days before the date you provide them therefore saving you so much time and stress for the sake of a tenner
 
Superbretty said:
We've been advised we can't fast track the application as it is already in the system. Is that wrong?
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I think it is correct. There is a question on the appointment website which asks if you have already submitted an application. Obvs I answered no; it will probably kick you out if you answer Yes. You could try it though....
 
Superbretty said:
We've been advised we can't fast track the application as it is already in the system. Is that wrong?
Click to expand...
Not wrong my sis had the same problem from my post above.

Just been told by my wife her Niece and partner in Scotland are still waiting for their three kids Passports and are due to fly next week. 👎
 
Renewed mine last year during covid, 8 days I had it back. Old passport which has my US Visa in took 3 more days to be returned.
I hope you get it and have a great trip.
 
I was in the security line at Birmingham last Thursday and the chap in front had been waiting 17 weeks and had to delay his flight by a day as he had to drive to Durham to collect it.
 
I renewed mine in April just at the start of the delays.

It was news headlines a few days after I completed my online renewal.
I was a little worried as travelling to Turkey the following month.
Received a few emails notifying me of progress.
It arrived within 3 weeks and no problems whatsoever.


I know someone who works in the Liverpool passport office and most of delays are due to incomplete or mistakes by the applicant.

Make sure you treble check!
 
Also heard they are opening some fast track appointments.

For anyone else needing to renew, I was strongly advised to do it online. Paper applications are going into a post Covid backlog / black hole. So do not send it off or use the post office service. Best to get a proper photo done in a booth (costs £8) and save your photo into the database. You get a reference number which links the photo directly into your online application.
I started my renewal online on Tuesday last week, sent my old passport back on the Wed, and the new passport arrived midday yesterday. So no complaints here!
 
tangerine_neil said:
Also heard they are opening some fast track appointments.

For anyone else needing to renew, I was strongly advised to do it online. Paper applications are going into a post Covid backlog / black hole. So do not send it off or use the post office service. Best to get a proper photo done in a booth (costs £8) and save your photo into the database. You get a reference number which links the photo directly into your online application.
I started my renewal online on Tuesday last week, sent my old passport back on the Wed, and the new passport arrived midday yesterday. So no complaints here!
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Ffs. We also did ours online, but apparently some of the ones sent in March fell into a bit of a black hole.
 
We spent an entire day hanging around Liverpool waiting for Mrs Lytham's once, that was fun, about 7 hours, we got it in the end though.
 
It's yet another Brexit inspired mess (Brexit means more countries now require UK passports to have more months left on them, and be under 10 years old, to let you in so more people are having to renew; plus we now have a lower labour pool to choose from so are struggling to get more staff into the Passport Offices) which has then been exacerbated further by Covid and the 2 years of no-travel. This country really is in an almighty mess. At least the passport will be frigging blue when it finally arrives.
 
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Exacerbated. That's correct. I know several people, including one of my own family, who suddenly realised their passport needed renewing after not going anywhere for over two years. Imagine multiplying that up over the entire population. I don't think office staff working from home helps either.
 
Everyone who I know have had to make a dash to Liverpool for it. Seems like there is no other way. Not me. No chance of heading abroad.
 
Liverpool passport office took on over 100 new staff over the last few months just to get the passports flowing again.
But they then spent even more time getting enhanced DBS, Terrorist screening and references for staff, some have been waiting 3 months for a start date.
Now there's thousands of passports sitting at all the offices with nobody to action them......
 
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