busybee2

it was about a week "before" the "backlog" so who knows.... its buried somewhere in orange boxes.

you can get a new visa put in the new one with a bit of persuasive intervention

busybee2

but then they should refund you all your monies paid and you apply again in 12 months! but fly back to the uk to do it i would.

busybee2

all this about business trips and cancelled holidays, but they are forgetting people who live overseas needs it for visas etc... so thats not going to help with residence visas in an expired passport here now i dont think. unless they get some sort of documentation from the uk embassy here to tell immigration its ok.

hungryhorace

But a visa doesn't expire just by virtue of the passport expiring does it? So, not sure I think it's quite as bad as you state.

Some people in newspaper comments are saying they risk deportation now; I happen to think that is total rubbish. Your 'status' doesn't change. Just your ability to leave and come back again until you have your new passport.

busybee2

i didnt mean that.... i meant that people are moaning they dont have passport for travel etc.... but its not just used for that like it is here, its used for visas etc and people have sent away their passports but there visas have now run out so they now are incurring a daily fine for not renewing them as they cant so can cause bigger issues was the point i was making.

no the visa runs out when it runs out either 2 or 3 years now.... it stays in the old passport so not an issue.

quite right you wont be deported because your passport has run out, its the visa thats important of course, and worse come to worse immigration will put your old in the new one for you at a cost.

OriginalSunshine

it's not that simple when you work full time.

and re-applying in 12 months time is utterly pointless when the whole reason I applied was (even with 4 years validity still left) I have no empty pages in my big passport, and I need to relocate to SEAsia where I need a minimum of 6 empty pages to get my new location residency permit.

I have friends in Brunei that needed emergency medical care (which Brunei doesn't have) and needed embassy intervention to fly to Singapore and back again - even with Medivac you need passports.

my visa here is ok, but it runs out in August. and right now my visa and passport are MIA....

shiraz1

"The Coalition’s decision to shut down seven overseas passport offices has been identified as a key reason in passport delays affecting thousands of families.
The decision has meant that since January this year British passport offices to deal with an extra 350,000 applications for travel documents."

Passport chaos: Foreign Office warned of delays six months ago - Telegraph


"Mr Brokenshire told MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday night that “significant surge” was “an indication that as the economy is improving more people are understandably planning to travel”.
Normally HM Passport Office receives 5.7million applications for new or renewed passports every year. Yet so far between 1 January and 31 May the agency processed 3.3million applications – 350,000 more than usual. The applications for March and May were the highest recorded for 12 years."

Minister blames surge in passport applications on economic recovery - Telegraph

Given that the chaos seems to be centred on passport applications from people abroad it seems highly unlikely that George Osbornes economic miracle is responsible for the 350,000 rise which was predicted in January as a result of changes the govt had made.

OleJanx

This is the kind of bewildered crap politicians come out with when things go pear shaped. Hey! Good news! We can't cope so something positive must be happening! And Osborne always looks as if he's in need of a slap on a good day...

hong_konger

lol what ever happened to him. He was destined to be a star on the stand-up comedy circuit. Little Bush LOL

hong_konger

if you only have a visa to say 6 weeks and you send off your passport for renewal and it doesn't come back in time for you to leave before the 6 weeks are up then you are an overstayer.

OriginalSunshine

or if you have a child who needs to renew their passport every 5 years, and a visa only lasts every 2 years, and one day the 2yr limit and 5yr limit coincide - then again you are an overstayer

or the parents of newborns who find it takes a month to get the local birth certificate, send off once that is received for a UK passport but need to get a visa within 3 months, but need a passport for a visa - then the child is illegal

MOSO

This is on the gov.uk website today:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/a...assport-demand

Overseas applications

Overseas customers renewing an existing passport will be able to apply for it to be extended for 12 months. This will be done by consular staff in the country where they apply and appointments can be made from Monday 16 June. No additional fees will be charged and the security of the passport will not be affected

Emergency travel documents for children

Parents or guardians of children living overseas who wish to travel to the UK will be able to apply for an emergency travel document in place of a new or renewed passport for their children. This will be available from the week beginning 16 June in all British diplomatic posts that have access to the passport database, subject to checks to confirm nationality and identity.

OriginalSunshine

most adults renew their passports due to lack of space, not lack of time

most countries do not allow visa/residency stamps in emergency passports - so those that want to stay where they are with e.g. newborn baby will have to travel back to UK to queue up and get a real passport, and then return with baby on a visitor visa and hope they can get a residency visa for the child

OriginalSunshine

and none of those measures help those of us that applied in march/april/may/june

busybee2

no i get it ...... my hubs had to renew his passport once because it was full (before they did the 48 pages) and it still had like 8 years left on it.

my point is that they really dont get that expats use the passports more than people in uk going on their annual holiday each year etc and not necessarily getting visas in them etc. here you need a visa that takes up a page each time you change jobs, or 2 or 3 years etc etc.

and yes also the fact that you may have to leave in an emeregency to go back home for whatever reason, which uk residents would not necessarily need to do etc.

so yes the need is more for expats and you have to pay a lot more for the service in the first place too!