bigAPE

Mine needs to be renewed soon and as we are planning a trip to the Canberra at the end of January I was wondering if anyone knew if you can get it done in person at the consulate faster ?

Al

Carbery

I think our recent renewal took 20 days from mailing to receiving new passport (last October) maybe with the Xmas backlog it will take a bit longer but if you are not going until the end of Jan it hardly seems worth it.

bigAPE

Yep, I understand the postal processing times.

I'm really interested in anyones experience in going to Canberra to renew in person.

Al

Pollyana

Something in the back of my mind suggests that Wol might have done it - give him a go. If I'm wrong I apologise, but its just a niggling thought......

quoll

Took my son's passport in on Friday (2 Jan) to be renewed. I live in Canberra and so am going to collect it for him. Chap there said we should get a call about 15 Jan for me to go and pick it up so their processing times are down from the 6 weeks it took when I got mine done last year. You wont get it done over the counter but you can cut off the initial posting period. Costs $290 now (ouch!). The Passport office is now at Brindabella Park close to the airport and it is open from 9am - 2pm and in the past I have had to take a number and wait anything up to an hour to be seen but this time we walked in, got a number, got frisked and went straight to the counter and out within 10 minutes.

You wont get it done immediately over the counter though.

sasbear

A friend of ours out here on holiday with UK passport mislaid it, and had to go and get a new one so he could fly home - took 2 days.

Sas

Gibbo

I went to renew mine in person last time. Was only there overnight. Can't remember if it was a Monday or Tuesday we went in. It was delivered to my home on the Thursday or Friday of the same week.

bigAPE

Thanks guys. Quite conflicting responses but I guess that is the nature of the passport processing, it changes from time to time.

It appears though that the current processing is certainly less than 4 weeks which is all I need. In which case I'll not risk waiting to try doing it in person and just send it in by mail.

Question Two

I have been here for 22 months so far. Has anyone resolved the problem of getting a signature from a professional who has known you for two years ?

I know the Wiki and other sources have some "tips and tricks" to circumvent the 24 month requirement, but I have no idea if they worked and I'm not keen on taking the risk.

I am leaning towards "changing the form" to say 22 months and adding a brief covering letter explaining to situation.

Wol

Yes, we did have to renew Mrs Wol's in a hurry three years ago. We drove down to Canberra so as to be there when they opened (we were at the end of quite a queue even then...), filled in all the forms, drove around until about 2pm and picked it up before they closed.

But IIRC they did it as a special favour, normally one has to go back another day to pick it up.

Pollyana

Previous posts from JAJ suggest that could be the way to go, as it is the only legal route open to you.

I thought I remembered something involving you and Mrs Wol - and for once it didn't involve fingerprints.....

JAJ

The need for countersignatures, and the options in case of unreasonable denial of passport facilities, is discussed at:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Obtain...ports_overseas

bigAPE

Yep, I have read this but as I mentioned there is nothing to suggest that any of these have actually worked for the people who tried them, only that some people have "tried" the various approaches.

I am leaning towards option three (altering the form) but also including a covering letter

One of the reasons I considered taking the passport to Canberra to submit it in person was to see if I could avoid the need to have the photos countersigned as someone from the consulate could validate that I am indeed the person in the photos and my prior passport based on the present appearance and the wealth of Australian and UK ID I could provide.

As there seems to be no current evidence that you can get the passport completed overnight I think I am now back to "altering the form" and the covering letter.

Al

quoll

Of course the HC will issue a passport much quicker if there is compelling evidence that you need it to travel the next day but if there is no compelling reason then you just go in the queue which, as the chap told me on Friday, is not too long at the moment. A few months ago it stretched out quite significantly and you were lucky to see the renewal within 12 weeks! Some folk on here were having major palpitations as their travel date loomed. Sometimes it is very short and sometimes it is not!

If you are coming to Canberra then go in and see them, get it countersigned by someone anyway and amend the time period. Unless you are travelling in the near future it wont make any difference anyway. It's very straightforward.

Edited to say, when I was there last week there was a sign at the counter saying that you needed to supply a paid return envelope but I didnt take much notice of that as I will be picking DS' up for him - this is apprently a newish thing.

koalakim

Hi Al

If you remember we went through all this last year with OH passport.

It does say that if you've not changed in appearance since you last passport photo then you don't actually need to get it signed, however, because we were a bit tight on time we got our Optician to sign it as the accountant was too far away and didn't know anyone else - just in case they did check up on qualifications.

Anyway, all went through okay with no problems. It did actually take the 30 days as stated on the website - I think it arrived back with about 10 days clear before we left.

Can you not get your accountant to countersign it? There is a bit on the form where you can state that you countersignortary hasn't known you for 2 years because you've not been here that long.

I thought you were going to do this last September!

KK

NigelWaring

I'd better start saving up now. I have triple nationality and keep three passports going. The biggest ripoff for me is the New Zealand one, it costs double to renew from outside New Zealand, with the cheap airfares now might be worth considering a trip when it becomes due.

It pays to have multiple passports, many countries charge more for some citizens, Chile charges Australians a fortune to enter but it was free when I used the UK passport, actually less than the passport had cost me. When travelling to French territories the Kiwi one was handy, part of the Rainbow Warrior reparations was no fees for Kiwis for a time but I think that has finished now.