KPD

I applied for my daughter's first passport at British Consulate in Moscow, 3rd February.
Payment was taken by Liverpool in a couple of days.
Received a request for further document early March. Nothing since then.

Call the help line more than 10 times - completely inefficient and incompetent.

We need to return to the UK in 2 weeks time when my new contract starts and there is no flexibility with that. Looks like I'll have to leave the family behind and go on my own.
Wrote to my MP last week but there was not much enthusiasm from that side either.
Perhaps, some "publicity" in a national/international press could help.

Application for my son in 2012 took one month.

johno5175

holy sh! 4 months? Thats terrible. Go straight to the papers today with that

windsong

I agree. Perhaps three or four people here could contact the press en masse. I've read some personal stories here where the waiting time has caused enormous stress. It is absolutely disgraceful and I feel the only way for the situation to receive enough attention where something might be done to rectify things quickly is via the press.

Razakhtar

I just received an email from the Liverpool passport office they cannot find my sons applications on their system...they waited 10 fkin weeks to tell me this.
I am going to the press tomorrow morning and will seek legal action.
Might even call the police.
As far as I am concerned I have proof they received my application and took a. Payment. As they have my wife's passport I declare that has theft .
I will let you know what happens next

37100

OMG! That's %&*#!!! Words fail me at the shambles of the HMPO. Now what? Start again? Hasn't China changed and you now need an interview? Any hope they they will fast track you now? When you say that you have proof, you couried the bundle? And what did the email say? Or rather, did they tell you how to move forward?

Dashie

Woah! I'd suggest they check the bottom of the in tray of the people who processed your payment. But yes, at this point it's gone way too far. Delays are one thing, taking money and losing someone's passport, not funny.

Razakhtar

At the time of applying I had to sent the application directly so I have proof from dhl it arrived at their office and was signed for by a member of their team.
I also have my back account statement as proof the payment was taken, the payment form was with the application.

They said can you give us the name of the child so we can search again, which is BS as that is what they had before.
Just got off the phone to the useless clowns at the passport advice line, and the lady said I might have to reapply.
What suck is because of some punk at the office I genuinely believed I had to send my wife's original passport. Something which I now know I don't .

I have no idea how long it will take for my wife to get a new passport. I am so angry right now.
I did everything on my part, only to be let down by the most shambolic operation I have ever witnessed.

I called at 4 weeks and was told to wait for 6
I called at 6 weeks and was told I would be called back...got nothing
I called at 8 weeks and finally got a call from the IPS, was told it was being processed
I called at 10 weeks and now emailed they don't have it!

If I have to dedicate the next 6 months of my life to take this to the press, get a lawyer and pursue legal action I will.
I will be compensated

Razakhtar

What also gets me is the sheer arrogance and ego from the IPS.

How can you send someone, who has been waiting for over 10 weeks an email saying they can't find your sons application form and not even reply to my response.

They expect me to wait for 72 hours? After sending an email like that.
A disgrace

37100

I think I'd be spewing fire! So, if it's missing, at 8 weeks the 'being processed' was just a standard reply. They hadn't even bothered to check, just read the computer screen!! Your son's name!! You can't search for an application and say it's lost if you don't know the name! Do you have a copy of your son's birth cert to re-submit? No wonder, in China, the application process was changed. I suspect that more than one went a miss. So much for the 'higher security' excuse for centralisng PP applications. Surely, at this point, the least they can do is be prepared to speak to your mother (and lawyer)???

Firsttimemom

Just wanted to update on the latest... Still no contact from Liverpool office even after countless "you will be contacted in 72 hours" speeches from the passport advice line. As previously mentioned, I took my plight to the local mp of where I used to live and he agreed to look into the situation for me. His office have just informed me that they have made contact with the Liverpool office and my application was apparently dispatched on 26th May - expected to take 10 days to reach me here in Thailand.

Application received by Liverpool on 24th March
Dispatched (apparently) on 26th May.

Hope this helps to give estimated time frame to some of you.

I will keep you posted on whether it does arrive this week (still sceptical) as I still have not had any contact from Liverpool office to date... Which is quite unbelievable in my opinion.

Good luck to the rest of you, this has been the most frustrating and diabolical experience ever and I feel the way that we have all been treated as expats has been a disgrace.

Razakhtar- I really feel for you and wish you the very best of luck in sorting this terrible situation out! The way you have been treated is unbelievable!

Dashie

I feel very lucky that my baby can travel to the UK on her Canadian passport. Which took about 2 weeks

smithc

They have been trying to eliminate fraud happening with passports being applied and the they themselves have people stealing passports. Great!
BBC can do a 1 full day documentary on this passport saga

BritInParis

I wouldn't rely too much on what the Adviceline say. They're based in Belfast and your application is in Liverpool. All they can see is what's on their screen. If payment has been taken then you know they have it. It's most likely sat in a plastic crate waiting to be examined.

Pursing legal action is unlikely to do much good beyond costing you more money. Parliamentary complaints is the only thing that worry civil servants. Complain to your MP if you haven't already done so.

Razakhtar

What it's been sitting in a plastic crate for 11 weeks and magically came out so that my payment form could be used and put back?

The email I received was from the passport office in Liverpool.
They are playing with people's lives and enough is enough.

You think it's acceptable to email someone who's been anxiously waiting for 11 weeks for a very important life changing passport, that will decide if I take a job abroad or have to leave my family ...tell them they can't find it. And then don't even bother to respond to my follow up email asking what I need to do or call me to clarify

BritInParis

Delete the word magically and you have it in a nutshell. Payment is taken before anything else is done. If payment has only recently been taken then it'll be either waiting to be entered on the system or waiting to be examined. If the Adviceline cannot see it yet perhaps the former.

As I said write to your MP if you want to get things moving. Anything else is a further waste of your time and money and is likely to only add stress.