hedleycat

I second that! He was a huge help, much more so than careline and the embassy are unreachable. Good luck!

ibuk2010

I am new to this forum.

Does anyone have any idea on how long it takes for New Child Passports?

I fedex'd my kids applications on April 8th, the British Embassy signed for the package on April 9th, they charged my credit card on April 28th and I have still not recieved thier passports.

I hope they are not lost somewhere.

polar_bear

I'm still waiting for my daughter's passport which we applied for in January

Have phoned the Careline 5-6 times and every time the story is the same, "we'll tell someone from the passport office to get in touch with you". Not once has that actually happened. According to the file it was received on Jan 31 and is currently marked as "being processed" or something. But it's been like that since Feb.

Fortunately my daughter can travel on her US passport but I am shocked at the poor level of service here. Actually scrap that, I did live in the UK for 25 years, I'm not surprised at all

My last call was a few days ago, if they fail to do anything yet again I'm going to have to escalate it somehow...although the embassy itself seems to be unreachable! Perhaps I will have to pester our friend above

ibuk2010

Thanks for the reply.

I'm glad I'm not the only one....

ibuk2010

Well I guess I did not need to question the processing time after all for my kids passports, they arrived today. Only took 3 months.

JayBowyer

I on the other hand am getting progressively more worried. The money was taken out of my account almost two weeks ago after some dialog with the Embassy. The lady in question told me she'd ensure the passport was processed as quickly as she could when she got back to work after the July 4th holiday.

Well, it's been over a week now with no word - emailed her; no response. We're flying next Friday. Not sure what's going on now. I just don't understand why it's not here if it's been ready to process for two weeks... Before they took the money, it was ready to process: my bank initially denied the charge because it was going to London and fraud detection kicked in - but we got that sorted.

I am desperately hoping I don't have to sit on that plane going to the UK, filling out a visa form for my infant daughter because Washington didn't get the passport finished in over two and a half months from date of posting... Thankfully if the worst come to the worst, she has a US passport already - but she won't be traveling under the same protection as I will without a British passport. It seems ludicrous that she has to be in Britain on a visa when she is my citizen daughter, and to be honest, it puts me on edge.

Really, next time, I will be sending the forms internationally and getting the passport sent to my mother who will send it to me. It seems to take a very short amount of time doing it that was as opposed to going through Washington - this is the second year in a row that it's been down to the wire like this. One would think that sending in an application months in advance would give certain people more than enough time to process the application without giving the British citizens under their care proverbial (or even literal) heart attacks!

*sigh* Here's hoping against hope that the UPS man comes soon bearing a package. Please please please...

lansbury

What protection do you think a British passport bestows? If she is a UK citizen she has the same rights etc as you while in the UK, the passport means noting at all. In fact if you tell the immigration officer she is a British citizen they have to show she isn't before being able to refuse entry. All the British passport does is possibly save you a bit of time at passport control.

JayBowyer

Well the thing is, the passport proves that she is a UK citizen - her birth wasn't registered with the consulate so the whole point of obtaining the passport was to prove citizenship... With immigration both ways being as tough as it is, and her having a different last name as me, the extra time in Heathrow Airport passport control is going to be a pain in the bum all by itself - she's 6 months old, and will have come off a twelve hour journey (since we have to make a stop in Iceland). With that under her belt, she'll likely be rather cranky to start off with - plus there's the added bonus of my traveling alone.

I hope that no matter what happens, they don't make a fuss to a massive extent of the fact that she has a totally different last name - her father's. I have my ID, my passport and her birth certificate with me as well as a paper from her Dad giving me permission to take her outside the country. However according to the Washington Embassy, her birth certificate with my name on it is not enough to prove she is my biological daughter! I had to send in extra evidence to prove that, even with the long form BC.

So really, I just want her British passport to arrive before we have to leave. It's going to be a long enough journey as it is, and as lovely and good as she is, I think once we land, she's going to want to be in a nice, quiet calm place as soon as possible. Know what I mean?

lansbury

Having worked in the immigration hall in T2 Heathrow for 5 years her having a British passport isn't going to make a lot of difference. If there were to be a problem, more likely leaving the UK than entering, that problem would arise with a British passport as well. However you have all the other documents to overcome that.

JayBowyer

Would I not have to fill out a visa form for her though, without the UK passport? Thank you for your insight, by the way - it is useful to know in advance, you know? It's probably going to be quite a difficult journey by ourselves, especially if the plane is full and she's in less than a good mood!

lansbury

You'll need to fill out a landing card, should be available on the flight going into Heathrow. Might even find the queue for the non-EU passports is shorter than EU one. If the EU one is short go in it and ask the immigration officer if they will do both of you. Provided they have their landing stamp with them 99.9% will do so. If both queues are long there should be someone at the head of the non-EU queue supervising the queue. Just ask them as you have a young child if you can go straight to the head of the line, again was done all the time when I was there and wasn't a problem.

JayBowyer

Well, if it comes to it, that's what we'll do then! I dunno - I just have had some really long winded times in immigration and it's the very last thing I want after the journey over. Also I'll be a bit bummed out if it doesn't arrive in time, because if it doesn't, it will have been a real headache and a waste of money for this trip at least... Could have gone toward a first class ticket!

Oh well I suppose I'll quit moaning now, if it's not so bad!

UK_Toronto

Hi, I'm new to this forum but here is my timeline.

FIRST TIME PASSPORT. Father & Mother born in UK.

Sent by UPS early to mid May
2010 May 28 Money taken from Credit Card

I am waiting and could really use Dean's help as I am recently married and my wife has been waiting for me in Europe since May. I originally thought it would take 4 weeks but now realize it takes much longer.

I do have a Canadian passport and I am tempted to leave next week on a flight but I do not know if I can have someone else sign for my passport or how to make sure it comes next week.

Thanks,
Martin

UK_Toronto

Oh I should add that the reason I was waiting for the UK passport in the first place was because her citizenship is non-EU and I know I can travel is easier with her if she travels as the spouse of an EU national.

ian-mstm

Yes - 4 weeks is usually for renewals. First time passports always take longer... ususally 10-12 weeks.

Ian