Hi

I posted on a thread which is now closed about this, but wanted to update on the process.

I have just received my renewed passport, applied for online.

I am delighted with the system, especially as there is industrial action ongoing, the site says to plan for nearly 3 months to receive the Passport...

The website was clear and easy to complete... With step-by-step instructions and help. Including taking a photo with eg a phone. The photo was auto-analysed with a message to say if it was 'dodgy' or not.

I sent all my documents internationally on 19 July, at the PO by registered post. So there were delivery delays for sending and receiving. Mine arrived at the passport office just after the weekend after posting to them.

I received emails and texts from their office at each step. The new passport arrived yesterday! Wow!!

Sorry, I think the UK Government are (and have been) useless at IT. But this is a well appreciated exception to that.

Well done the passport section!

I was slso delighted to receive a 'blue passport' from 'His Majesty and the Secretary of State!:

Jon.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport

PS I applied about 3 months before the expiry of the old one, but the new one is dated in July... So I have 'lost' +/- 3 months.. but I fully understand/accept this.

PPS the earlier thread was helpful to me for all this, before it was closed... Thanks!







https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport

​​​​​

It has been like that for years. The only way for us (in Spain) is to apply online or to go to the UK passport office physically.

Brilliant service.

Many will offer services to do it for you - but why? All they do is to complete the online form - for a fee (stupid IMHO)

Good to know as I will have renew mine next year

I think online renewals are dealt with by a different department which is not involved in strike action.

Renewed mine in UK last year but personally would most definitely not have used "delighted' to describe my feelings on receiving the nasty and devalued blue iteration.

Pre Brexsh1te it was ranked #1 in the world but now has slumped to 7th. out of the top 10

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/what...orlds-25958572

Compared to Italian government websites which rarely have enough information and never get updated, I thought the UK passport system was bloody brilliant. The take your own photo thing is fantastic too. My pale and blond-haired son, against a white door, wearing a black and white Addidas T-shirt didn't get accepted but the UK system told me why .......... it looks like this photo is in black and white and we want colour photos. I told my son to change into a yellow or red t-shirt and the photo thingy moved from red to green.

That ranking is absolutely nothing to do with Brexit it’s a score of visa free countries that you can access …. UK gets 186 and Japan at #1 gets 193 hardly a big deal …. We were #1 in 2014. Is it really a big deal ? Just more Brexit click bait from a site full of click bait headlines.


Back to the topic ….. we have recently used both the expat postal service and the premium appointments in the UK and I have to say both were superb.

OP yours came back amazingly quick !!

i did mine pre-brexit, and had the same service, i thought it was a very good service, just like you described.

Great feedback everybody thanks . I got concerned earlier this year when strike action was announced, passport offices closed etc. It was all over the news, with e.g ministers being interviewed, Simon Calder reporting etc. So I thought Id OP my actual experience.

The website warns that it could take 10 weeks. So I planned on renewing in July as I couldn't travel for that amount of time after an op. Old passport expiry October. Thus, I would be immediately ready to travel to Spain asap after recovery.

​​​​​Its great that the feedback is virtually all super positive, especially for a government department using IT! Yet running an excellent technical/administration system.

Some good news for a change!

Jon OP

If couple/family are renewing at the same time it is possible to send all old passports back in same envelope if you happen to see the link on the submission page.

Several months ago we didn’t see this information and our two passports were sent separately at additional cost to different UK Passport Offices which meant that they were processed on two different days. The new passports would have probably been returned on the same day too but we’re a day apart.

Looks like it's currently a 2-week turnaround for passport renewals so nowhere near as bad as they make it seem.

The process is also very streamlined nowadays. Literally just a form to fill in, pay the fee and then post them your old passport (and colour photocopies of all the pages of any other passports in that person's name) and that's it.

They do a very good job at informing you of all the steps/progress along the way:
- application received (incl. address where to send the old passport)
- confirmation of receipt of document(s)
- passport application approved
- passport being printed
- passport sent

Very pleased with the speed at which they are handling these applications.

Dutch friends of ours in Malaga HAVE to go in person to their embassy in Madrid for each family member's passport renewal (including children) with a lot of forms and documents. The UK international renewal system is so much quicker and more convenient thank goodness.

You're right in that the ranking has little to do with brexit. That is because it only looks at visa-free, short-term travel, plus if the UK passport is at 186 and the Japanese one is at 193, I'm fairly certain those 7 places on Earth where you cannot enter freely are probably places you would never, ever want to step foot in anyway.

BUT... brexit has seen the British passport take a MASSIVE hit that no ranking could ever take into account as there would be no point in even making one since only one country in the world has nose-dived like this. Before brexit we were able to live and settle freely in 27 other countries.... now that number stands at a measly 1 (Ireland being our single option).

The UK passport system has been incredibly streamlined. Previous passport renewals required people signing photographs and vouching for a person's identity (they would then be contacted by the passport office to confirm this), and you had to send in paper forms along with whatever documentation was required.

Nowadays, even when renewing a teenager's passport, they literally are just happy with receiving the old passport, and the photo can be provided electronically from any photo booth (or done at home in digital format using a phone).

I actually don't think there is any room for improvement here apart from providing realistic turnaround times ahead of the application procedure (though I can see why they prefer to say 6 weeks so that people don't leave things until the last minute).

I'm curious how things stand with other countries' passports, will have to ask some friends about how their renewals have been of late.

Thanks
My son has a Uruguayan passport. So I need to post his old UK passport and only copies of his Uruguayan passport?
He's 14 and I need to renew his UK one.

It's always best to look at the up-to-date info during the online application process in case anything has changed, but in our case it was simply a case of sending in the old passport as well as colour photocopies of every page of any other passport(s) in that person's name.

If you have the passport photo taken locally then you get a code that allows the passport office to use that photo electronically.

My current passport, which is coming up for renewal early next year so ~10 years old, was obtained online in the same manner as the OP posted. Ditto 'er indoors as we renewed at the same time last time.

Shitty blue atrocity excepted, really nothing new here!