just_jenn

Thanks for the empathy! I just want to kick myself and the rep that told me to send the darn passport in when it wasn't needed! At this point in time, I'm considering taking the train down too! (I'm in Northern NJ).

aml1982

Jenn, you and I are in almost identical situations. My wife and I are moving back to the UK on 24th August with our little boy. We were told by the border agency that he absolutely had to have his British passport if we were entering the UK to settle, and that his Canadian passport would not get him in. So we sent in his application which arrived June 10th. I've since been told that he could have entered as a visitor and applied for his passport there.

We only sent in copies of the photo pages of our own passports and his Canadian passport, but they have the originals of my birth certificate, my son's birth certificate and my wife and my marriage certificate. No payment taken as yet, meaning the careline can't tell me anything, and I've no way of contacting anyone about anything or getting the case escalated. And once they take the payment, you can't get a refund.

It's a ridiculous situation. No-one can tell you what's going on, there's no way of holding anyone accountable, and right now it seems like it's a crap shoot as to whether we are one of the lucky one's who get the passport on time.

Sue

Here's an article on similar delays being experience due to delays in Dusseldorf

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/briti...ts-407481.html

just_jenn

AML and Shazban: sorry you're both in this same poo situation. I've just had a bit of luck that I thought I would pass along in case it's of any use to you! I called the Careline yesterday (twice actually, the first guy was completely useless and confusing but did apparently do what I asked him to...so the second person I spoke to could talk to me like a moron, but that's a different story).

I told them my situation and said that I'd like to have the application returned to me. They said someone would call from the embassy about it. Well, I wasn't holding my breath and didn't expect anyone to call until Tuesday, if ever, but someone just did and they were really helpful! She asked a couple of questions about how I'd sent it (when, in what carrier, what name is on the envelope etc) and said she's going to try and locate it and then talk to the "examiner" about whether they can either push the application through, or just return my UK PP to me from the package and mail my son's out to relatives. If they can't do either of those they'll just return my documents immediately. I'll keep you posted!

In the meanwhile, it might be worth giving them a call and seeing what they can do? The person I spoke to was very nice and didn't make me feel bad for having travel booked already. She was very understanding that the process i out of the norm. Good luck!

mshedden

Laurie?

Shazban

Fabulous! You've given me hope. I plan to call careline today. I'm expecting to have to make several calls to them but I'm not going to stop until I get the results I need. Thanks so much for sharing your information. Hope you get your documents soon!

just_jenn

I'm not sure....and I feel horrible for not remembering her name. It was a lady with an American accent and very soothing voice. I'd say she missed her calling and should be reading children's audio books

just_jenn

Turns out the lady's name was Janine.

Anyway, just to keep you posted for the folks who are in a similar situation, Janine did call back and gave me the option of either returning the application or escalating it--she'd already checked with the examiner that I had all the correct documents. I was kind of surprised that she was pushing for escalating it as I figured I'm not exactly an emergency and it would be easier for them to return it and have one less high strung passport applicationee to worry about, lol. I figured they just wanted the fee but looking on another thread they probably would have charged me anyway and were probably looking to avoid having my flip my lid when I looked at my bank statement.

Anyway, I just noticed they processed the fee this morning so hopefully we'll be making our August flights.

aml1982

Thanks for your updates, Jenn. I think I will give them until next Thursday (which will be exactly 4 weeks since our application arrived in DC and 7 weeks before our travel), then I will call them. Dean suggested in the delays thread that they are starting to make some headway in the backlog now, so fingers crossed everything will go smoothly.

Shazban

Here's my update - I just got off the phone with Careline. This was my first time calling them. Got through immediately to a gentleman named Peter. 7 mins & 43 seconds later I have my case ref. number and a promise to escalate to Washington. My request was to have my supporting documents returned to me so we could at least make our August 12th flights but Peter decided we may as well request to have the passport processed and in our hands by the flight date. He says someone in Washington should call me by Thursday. Keeping my fingers crossed because this seems altogether too easy....I was expecting to have a good old rant on the phone. LOL!

aml1982

I just tried this. First of all tried asking straight up if there was any way to contact DC to escalate, was told no. So asked if they could send my stuff back and we would take our chances on my son's Canadian passport. Guy told me to write a letter.

So angry.

aml1982

Followed up my completely useless call to the helpline by emailing the passport feedback address, the careline address, and also William Hague. Go big or go home (and go home is all I want to do) I guess.

Shazban

Oh no, so sorry to hear your experience wasnt pleasant. Can you try calling again? Maybe try on a week day early in the morning that way your chances of getting the same crappy reps are lessened.

just_jenn

I agree that you should totally try calling again--couldn't hurt at this point, right? The answers you get from these idiots varies SO much, I can't believe they let someone of them talk to people!

I saw a list of helpful reps somewhere on here.

Shazban

Anyone know when you call Careline when the clock starts ticking? Wondering if they charge you for the time it takes them to take down your CC details.