sirwatson1

Hello, I live in the United States and I am an American citizen, but my father is a British citizen. I am eligible for a British passport and so I turned in all of the necessary paperwork to apply for a British passport on the 12th of May. The process is supposed to take 6 weeks because of a backlog and technical difficulties, which I understand. I intended to travel with this passport on the 3rd of July. Unfortunately, I have heard nothing from the British consulate.

I have called the Careline service which costs $3 a minute and they never have an answer. They do know that payment was received on the 30th of May for my passport. However, that is all the information they ever provide. They told me they would have the consulate contact me because it was 5 days before my intended date of departure when I complained about the slow service. However, to this day no one has contacted me.

I cannot afford to spend $3 a minute anymore and it is useless because they have no answers. I have written a complaint letter to both the Embassy and the production center in Washington D.C.

At this point, I have already been charged for the passport (30th of May) but I have NO idea what is going on with the process and I have no other recourse. I have not been told about scheduling an interview, I do not know if there are any mistakes in the application, and I just want to know how much longer it is going to take.

Do any of you have similar experiences or ideas as to what I can do? I am bleeding money and time because of this and I am so fed up because it is virtually impossible to talk with any of these people.

May 12: turned in application
May 30: they charged my credit card
July 3: date of departure
Today is the 11th of July: I have no idea what is going on, no one will contact me and I cannot get through to anybody.

Best,
andrew

meauxna

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=607794

Rete

I'm always amazed that people wait until the last minute to do things and then wonder why it isn't done in time. You were applying for a first time British passport. You needed to prove your UK Citizenship and intended to travel with the UK passport on July 3 (assume you went with your US PP instead) but only mailed it in 6 weeks before your flight?

Did you just become aware of the fact that you were entitled to a UK PP? If not, why did you wait until an intended trip to apply for it? As I said, I'm amazed and curious.

Bob

Got a US passport? Going just for a holiday? Then it doesn't matter.

And yeah, really, why wait till the last minute? 6 weeks is how long a renewal should take, but a first time passport usually takes much longer, especially if it's for an adult.

dbj1000

Why does it matter how long it takes? You're a US Citizen, and don't need a UK passport to travel. You may or may not be entitled to a UK passport. Funnily enough, countries like to do a whole shit load of checks on people before giving them a passport. That's what's happening to you, I imagine.

And if you think the UK Careline is useless, try phoning your own country's crappy disinformation line!

I imagine your letter of complaint will receive the level of attention it deserves. Don't expect a response.

made of kent

don't be horrid, we all know that the USA is wrapped in blue tape, much worse than the UK but she asked a simple question answer honestly.
In the UK they say 6 weeks renewing takes less time, give it 3 weeks, but the UK has to check.
I lost our passport 3 days before travelling to Canada in 2005, we where moving 2 days after returning (haha hubby made a mistake and we moved the day after returning whole other story) never found them, but the London office where awful, when we phoned...well you will miss you holiday! phoned Glasgow passport office, couldn't have been more helpful, gave hubby loads of advice, he drove through the night and arrived at about 7am with his dad, passports done and dusted by 1 pm they even covertly told him if there was a mistake in our twins passports not to mention it, as this would involve a whole lot of extra paper work and the production of our twins at the place (they where 6 months old, so couldn't verbalize and in Kent!) so to the Glasgow office.
to London
oh by the way the twins passport where actually correct, and they are only 4 and on their third one..I am almost 40 and only on my 3rd! no fair!

made of kent

kaffy, not only dyslexic but colour blind as well! we say red tape???? why did I say blue????? I am a numpty

dbj1000

It's as easy for me to stop being "horrid" as it is for you to spell!

made of kent

F off! is that enought for you?, (shit spell checker still not working!
and the horrid thing, I use it a lot and my family take the piss as well, "did you got to St Claires?" don't now where I got it from? maybe a posh bird in a pykie body?

lapin_windstar

This is kind of a stupid comment to make. Although I agree the OP was probably excessively optimistic to expect an overseas first application for a passport to be turned around in six weeks, saying "yeah? yeah? well - the American service sucks too!!!" is pointless. It's not like s/he has any control over it him/herself.

dbj1000

You don't seriously read my replies and expect a point, do you?

The guy was massively over-optimistic. He doesn't "need" a UK passport quickly. In fact he doesn't "need" a UK passport at all. Whether or not he's entitled to one is what UK immigration will be deciding during this terrible, terrible delay in processing.

He can write and complain to the Queen for all anyone cares. The fact is that his passport will take just as long as it takes, and given that it's a first passport for an adult US citizen it's likely to take a very long time.

Rete

In the US it is red tape. No one is being horrid to him not her. He didn't ask a simple question but posted a rant.

Giantaxe

Maybe he doesn't have a US passport either?!

But, yes, strange behaviour by the OP, given that he would have to prove to the British passport office his right to British citizenship in the first place. This is hardly like a "normal" passport application.

Toontje

Perhaps the passport was intended for a trip to Cuba?

creamern

I agree that this was very silly to think you could just apply for a passport first. The first step should have been to apply to become a British Citizen then after that...many weeks apply for the British Passport say all of this last year?? Or the beginning of this year? I don't really see how they can give you a passport first until you have your citizenship! You can't get a US passport unless your a citizen right? And if you are traveling over and your an American why not just use your US passport? I am just waiting until they finish the law hopefully this year so I can apply to become a British citizen by descent and once that is granted then I will apply for my passport but if I want to go over to see all the relatives before this happens then I will just pull out my US passport! How old are you anyway? Doing a little research can save you time and money hence $3 per minute phone calls!