anne55

That really seems an excessive time. Good luck I hope you get resolution soon. But as was my case and seems to be that of others, the passports are turning up approx 2 weeks after CC charged

mama4mia

My son's passport never appeared on their system even after 4weeks post payment date. However, when I called Careline for the 2nd time and had the application escalated instead of a phone call within 72 hours I actually received the passport. Fingers crossed for you that you will get the same result. My son's passport took 8 weeks from the day I posted it to the day we received it.
Good luck

GGTrek

I got my child's passport yesterday exactly one week after they finally charged my credit card
I guess escalating to the Foreign Office in London helped to speed up the process (which was not fast by any mean since they received it on the 25th of February and sent it back on the 14th of April: 7 weeks total!)

AmerLisa

Still waiting here......

anne55

Oh no!! surely you will get it this week

Ergonome

I'm pleased to say that my passport was returned yesterday. A day short of 8weeks since it was sent (22 Feb). Visa debited on 21 March. At least this means I can travel this week.

I hope that everyone else gets theirs sorted out soon.

BrookeNYC

Hi everyone,

I found this post really helpful last week when I was panicking about my passport, and as a result called the Careline and escalated my case. Thanks for your help! Here is my timeline, in case it's useful to anyone:

21st March: Application accepted in DC

April 15th: Credit card charged

April 19th: I phoned the Careline after reading this thread, and was told it takes 4 weeks from charging the card. I told them I was traveling on 6th May - info that I had already written on the form - and the very nice lady on the phone took all my travel details - flight number, time, date, and airports, etc. She said she would email DC and that it was at their discretion to escalate my case, but then:

April 20th: Passport arrived this morning! Issued yesterday clearly as a result of my phone call.

I'll just add that I had a terrible time trying to call the Careline because I only have a smartphone, and was unable to enter my credit card info because the touchtones didn't work. Make sure you call from a landline or an old school cellphone/mobile that doesn't have a touch screen.

Hope this helps someone in a similar situation!

steevun

Thanks for sharing your experience. This seems like a rather quick turn around time from when you called Careline to having the passport arrive this morning.. Sounds like it was probably on its way regardless..

Who knows.. My application/money order was processed on April 7 and I haven't received anything yet.. Tomorrow marks 5 weeks since they received the application..

BrookeNYC

I'm pretty sure they had it shipped next day after I called - other people on this thread have had the same experience and the date of issue is 19th April. I'd definitely recommend calling and chasing them up - especially if, like me, you need to travel soon.

steevun

Yeah, I'm headed out to London on April 26 but I'll just enter with my US passport.. I did mail in my flight itinerary with the application but sounds like that doesn't really matter unless you call to have them escalate.. Not too keen about having my UK passport sitting around my work office for 2 weeks while I'm away, but since I won't be home there wouldn't be anyone there to sign for it..

I figure if it doesn't come tomorrow, then I won't see it until I return to the States.. From what I read, the UK Embassy will be closed on April 22, 25 and 29..

rachiedavis

I avoided calling the Careline for a long time because it seemed most people reported it wasn't helpful and was terribly expensive.

But last Friday (the 15th) with a travel date of April 25th looming, I figured it couldn't hurt to call. I was feeling desperate and felt like I needed to try everything and anything regardless of cost.

The gentleman at Careline said my application was processed and approved (so at least I knew it wasn't going to be rejected, which was a fear of mine because I required a name change and was concerned about supporting documentation etc.), but that it still had two weeks to go in the system. He couldn't really tell me what that meant, just that it had 2 weeks left in the system. When I asked if he could do anything to expedite the process since I had a booked trip coming up, he told me no, nothing he could do.

In frustration I sent an email to the customer service address at the ukinusa website complaining about the 4 week suggested processing time not being accurate currently and that perhaps an update to the website is in order.

At that point, I was feeling very down in the dumps and panicked about the whole thing. I had been in contact with Dean on this message board who said he might be able to help me if I was within 5 days of my travel date and still no passport, but I wasn't feeling hopeful about much of anything! But I live in Atlanta and figured I would go to the consulate here on Monday morning to see if it was possible for me to get an emergency passport.

While I was waiting for the gentleman at the consulate to make some phone calls to Washington on my behalf, my husband was texting,emailing and calling me frantically to say UPS had just delivered my passport! I couldn't believe it.

So it must have been printed Friday, or sooner, to get in the UPS system and on its way to me for Monday. So, I don't know if the guy at Careline just didn't know that information when I called on Friday, or if my calling him prompted a rush on my application even though he said he couldn't do anything for me. Or maybe my complaint email? Or maybe the sweet soul processing my application in Washington saw my travel date and was sure to push things through regardless of anything else and my passport would have mailed friday anyway. I'll never know.

In summary:
March 15: App signed for in Washington
April 8th: Credit card charged
April 15th: Called Careline. Told application would take 2 more weeks
April 18th: UPS delivered passport!

Just a day shy of 5 weeks.

Good luck to anyone else in a passport predicament. Keeping my fingers crossed for all of you!

AmerLisa

That's not a bad timeline. Ours is:

March 9th: Signed for in Washington
April 1st: Credit card charged (I'm still hoping it wasn't an April Fool's joke!)
Still waiting, waiting, waiting....

We don't have immediate travel plans (not until mid-August.) But if it hasn't shown up by the end of April I'm going to get a bit huffy! Seems like the people who called the Careline are getting better results!

Eilowny

And I'm still waiting, they got the application on Feb 24th, card was charged (24th March) & cleared payment on the March 26th & still no sign of it, I'm willing to wait til the 26th of this month but by then that will be 9 weeks from them first receiving it & almost 5 weeks from the payment being taken from the account, not very happy at all.

It's not even a first time application, only a name change so I can get on with residency stuff for Canada

steevun

Hard to understand the process.. It's clear that others who have sent in their applications well after you have received their passports, yet the website states that applications are processed based on first-come basis..

Either way, waiting til the 26th doesn't matter at this point since the offices will be closed April 22 & 25..

ian-mstm

Just because processing involves a "first-come" scenario, it doesn't necessarily follow that it involves a "first-finished" scenario.

Ian