Passport applications via the UK
 

I just wanted to give a quick rundown of my recent experience of renewing my and applying for my sons first UK passport.

We were in England last week so I picked up the application forms (the same for both application) from the post office and got pictures taken from Snappy Snaps since it would have been a little hard to do a booth with a 3 year old. Total cost for the photos, 4 of each of us, was £15 which isn't far off the booth price anyway.

Mine was easy to fill in since it was a renewal and didn't need a counter signature but my sons did so it was a little more work. I used my mums UK address for the address on each form. The bit that almost tripped me up was that the counter signer has to certify that they know you on the application but the child on the back of the photo.

I used the post office check & send option (£8.75 per application) to have the applications checked and sent special delivery. I used my sons short and long form birth certificate and my expired passport but that was all. Depending on what the birth certificate shows you might be fine with one but since the original didn't have enough info on it and the long form was a copy they suggested sending both. I paid £3 for secure document return. The cost for standard service was £46 for the child passport and £72.50 for the adult passport.

£15 for photos
£3 for secure delivery
£17.50 for check & send
£46 for child passport
£72.50 for adult passport
£15 trackable, insured shipping of everything to the US
£169 Total cost

This was all done last Wednesday afternoon, 9/26. This afternoon I got an email from mu mum saying both passports and birth certificates had arrived but my old one hadn't yet. So, for £154, roughly $275, I got 2 passports in a week. If I had done that in the US I would have paid about $430 and had to wait god knows how long. I could have saved £20.50 if I didn't use check & send or secure delivery and £15 if I just waited for my mum to deliver but I figured it would still be significantly cheaper than doing in in the US.

Recommendation, renew or apply for a passport while you're in the UK. If you are there for a couple of weeks you might even get it back before you leave.

Re: Passport applications via the UK
 

My daughter's needs renewing but we thought we would just leave it and have it renewed when we are next in the UK. It sounds like too much hassle in the US.

When we were last in the UK (2010) I got mined renewed and had it all back within a week.

Re: Passport applications via the UK
 

The challenge is for UK citizens who do not also have US passports. It could work as described, but there is no option to return to US if the UK passport is still in the works longer than expected.

Re: Passport applications via the UK
 

Aye, but if you're in London or one of the other cities that does one day renewals, you can be in, have lunch and then be done.

Me, I just FedEx'ed everything to my mother to renew it for me and send out here and got it back in just over a week, at the time, a couple years ago now almost.