Hola,
Has anyone recently renewed their UK Passport on line? I received an email on the 18th July saying they had received my documents, but the UK Passport website gives no indication of turn around times for applications from abroad. There doesnt seem to be any way of getting in touch with the office either.

Any help would be appreciated.

You can check progress here : https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/track/reference
My wife applied (from the USA) 10 days ago and her new passport is now shown as shipped.

Hola,

The tracker has not been updated since the 18th when they said they are checking the documents I have submitted. If they can process an application in 10 days, hopefully mine will take about the same. Fingers crossed!

Many thanks.

Was the 18th when they recieved your old passport back?
As thats when they start to process the application not before.

The usual tunround is anything from two to five weeks. Best time to do it is in the winter and loose the couple of months that might be left on the existing passport, thats what we did and from memory it took about two and a half weeks from reciept of the old passport to when the new one was dispatched.

My wife and I both applied online at the same time last year and it took about 3 weeks each to come back renewed, then a week later we got our old passports sent back to us.

Steve

Hi,

Yep, they said they´d received it on the 18th. Two and a half weeks is a lot better than I would have expected, so I hope that's the kind of timescale I'm looking at.

Thanks for your post.

Hola Steve from Benidorm,

I didn´t know they sent you your old passport back, I presumed they would keep it. Judging by the replies to my posts, it appears I´m not going to have to wait months for it like I feared. There's enough paperwork to deal with here as it is without having to deal with the UK as well!

Cheers.

In 2023 14 Calendar days from passport arriving in UK to back in our hands in Spain.

I renewed mine last year I think overall it took around two weeks. It may have been quicker. They send the old and new passport back separately.

It is a good idea to keep all old passports - sometimes, if you are (for example) selling a property and the escritura has an old passport against your name, it is useful to be able to produce it if the notary asks - even though it has expired - the Spanish don't always understand our passport numbers change! (unlike DNI/NIE)

Spanish passport numbers also change so it's understandable... but I guess a notario would want to see the right numbers.

I used my passport at the time to open a certain bank account, 16 years ago.
About 2 years ago I had a problem with the account and had to visit the bank to get it sorted. There was some discussion about wanting to see the passport I'd used as ID because my new(er) one didn't have that original number. Took a moment or two but they did understand the old one wouldn't be valid anymore and had expired.

Yes, Spanish passport numbers do change, but I think the point is this - The only legal (and required at a notary) form of ID for a Brit is a passport (yes, TIE is also important to have for residents), and the numbers change.

A Spaniard's ID is a DNI, which never changes (they would not use a passport at the notary)

So the point I was trying to make is - our 'numbers' change, a Spaniard's does not - hence potential confusion.

Just to update, they received my wife's documents on July 11 and she received her new passport back (in the USA) today, July 25, so exactly two weeks. In my view that is excellent service!

They've really streamlined the process and the turnaround times are much better than expected.

If you have multiple passports you can even do the renewal during a short stop-over in the UK, getting a picture taken at the nearest photo place (you just get a code that the passport office can then use to pull your photo online) and posting your old passport (including photocopies of all pages of your other passport/s) from the local post office.

Then depart on your other passport and wait for your new UK passport to arrive at your current place of residence.