Passport Delays
Jul 25th 2011, 7:48 pm
#2011
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2011
Location: Buenos Aires (at the moment)
Posts: 4
Re: Passport Delays
I have been travelling in South America for a while and all my pages got filled with stamps so I needed a passport renewal. British Embassy in Buenos Aires advised me to send existing passport to Washington. Tourist visa lasts 90 days in Argentina so I hope it arrives soon! Visa up on 6 AUG (but not a huge problem as can pay small fine to stay longer). Already cancelled four pre-arranged trips. Locked into Colombia trip in late August. May end up having to get ETD and additional visas. Is there anybody applying with any luck from South America?
09 May: Sent passport to DC from Buenos Aires by DHL
12 May: Passport received at Consular Service Washington
14 June: Passport application processed
16 June: CC Payment processed
19 July: Called Careline, spoke to Scottish Jane, 6 digit ref number (with no 'R'?) ..... told it could be another 10 weeks! Totally unacceptable.
Thinking about contacting local MP in UK to speed up the process.
Any advice appreciated.
Cheers,
Boulty
09 May: Sent passport to DC from Buenos Aires by DHL
12 May: Passport received at Consular Service Washington
14 June: Passport application processed
16 June: CC Payment processed
19 July: Called Careline, spoke to Scottish Jane, 6 digit ref number (with no 'R'?) ..... told it could be another 10 weeks! Totally unacceptable.
Thinking about contacting local MP in UK to speed up the process.
Any advice appreciated.
Cheers,
Boulty
All the best to those still waiting. I think the system must be starting to churn passports out a little quicker now. Fingers crossed for everyone
My Timeline: whole process took two and a half months
09 May: Sent passport to DC from Buenos Aires by DHL
12 May: Passport received at Consular Service Washington
14 June: Passport application processed
16 June: CC Payment processed
19 July: Called Careline, spoke to Scottish Jane, 6 digit ref number (with no 'R'?) and told it could be another 10 weeks
20 July: Called Careline again, spoke to Scot, who said it would probably be another 3-5 weeks.
21 July: Contacted local MP (through assistant) in north east England who was horrified with situation and they contacted Foreign & Commonwealth Office
25 July: Passport received in Buenos Aires
Jul 25th 2011, 11:53 pm
#2012
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2011
Location: Croydon
Posts: 103
Re: Passport Delays
Glad to see people getting their passports finally!!
Jul 26th 2011, 6:39 am
#2013
Just Joined
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 19
Re: Passport Delays
If anyone's interested, I did get a full refund of Careline charges by contesting them through the credit card company. Less than $30, but it was the principle of the thing. Evidently the passport people have conceded the principle, since Careline is now free. I imagine that anyone else who does the same will get a refund too.
Jul 26th 2011, 1:39 pm
#2014
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: Oakville, Ontario
Posts: 180
Re: Passport Delays
Hi, can anyone tell me how much a emergency travel document costs.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Jul 26th 2011, 2:26 pm
#2015
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2011
Location: NC USA
Posts: 7
Re: Passport Delays
Jul 26th 2011, 3:26 pm
#2016
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: Oakville, Ontario
Posts: 180
Re: Passport Delays
Thanks OIG, not a cheap option but maybe the only one. We travel the end of next week so still hoping to get our passport back before then.
Jul 26th 2011, 4:26 pm
#2017
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2011
Location: NC USA
Posts: 7
Re: Passport Delays
I misread it - it's $211 for every hour or part hour and for each member of staff up to $1502 for any 24 hour period - yikes! Have phoned my local consular office and they said they would rather that I didn't use the ETD until they had tried to expedite my passport since I travel (hopefully) on 6th August and should still have enough time. Try to phone them, you might have some luck.
Jul 26th 2011, 4:42 pm
#2018
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Manhattan
Posts: 2,913
Re: Passport Delays
If anyone's interested, I did get a full refund of Careline charges by contesting them through the credit card company. Less than $30, but it was the principle of the thing. Evidently the passport people have conceded the principle, since Careline is now free. I imagine that anyone else who does the same will get a refund too.
Jul 27th 2011, 4:53 am
#2020
Just Joined
Joined: May 2011
Location: Irvine, CA
Posts: 6
Re: Passport Delays
I've been following this thread closely for a few weeks, since I discovered that my passport was going to expire Aug 9, and I had booked travel to UK on Aug 23. My time line so far is: Passport App sent overnight and received Jul 7. C/C charged July 26. It looks like they are speeding up the taking of payments. I would recommend that everyone do a C/C charge if possible. Fingers crossed. Just about 4 weeks to go 'til takeoff :-)
Jul 27th 2011, 9:42 am
#2021
Sueffun
Joined: Mar 2011
Location: KwaZulu Natal South Africa
Posts: 85
Re: Passport Delays
It seems Careline is only free to everyone in the US. I tried to call them again today from South Africa and they still want credit card details.
I phoned last week and someone phoned me two days later to say the passport had been sent to Fedex last week. I still have not received it and they said they would phone me back on Monday. Today is Wednesday and I still have not received another call.
I am now trying to get Fedex to find out where the passport has gone. I have also written to an MP in Worcester UK just to say how disgusting the service is, I thought that was an excellent idea by the other people on this site. Maybe if everyone contacted their MP's the whole system may be revised.
There is a Facebook page for various high commissions around the world and I joined the UK in South AFrica page, they do not respond to messages on that page either, I even wrote that I was going to take over their fb page in the hope it might just wake somebody up. But no it was just ignored. YOu could have fun with their page if nobody is monitoring it !!!
I phoned last week and someone phoned me two days later to say the passport had been sent to Fedex last week. I still have not received it and they said they would phone me back on Monday. Today is Wednesday and I still have not received another call.
I am now trying to get Fedex to find out where the passport has gone. I have also written to an MP in Worcester UK just to say how disgusting the service is, I thought that was an excellent idea by the other people on this site. Maybe if everyone contacted their MP's the whole system may be revised.
There is a Facebook page for various high commissions around the world and I joined the UK in South AFrica page, they do not respond to messages on that page either, I even wrote that I was going to take over their fb page in the hope it might just wake somebody up. But no it was just ignored. YOu could have fun with their page if nobody is monitoring it !!!
Jul 27th 2011, 2:41 pm
#2022
Just Joined
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 5
Re: Passport Delays
UPDATE: We got the passports!! They arrived yesterday morning via UPS. My husband was in the shower and had to answer the door wrapped in a towel
Like the many people here who've had problems, we've run into some unique issues.
We're moving over to the UK in August, and I finally got my Settlement Visa for going over there (I'm a US citizen). My husband needed his UK passport renewed and our son needed a new UK passport.
Timeline:
Both times we called Careline, we got through to someone who just didn't seem to care, and was unconcerned that we were running up against immigration deadlines, etc... However she DID promise to put in an email for us, expressing our delay issues.
She also asked if we'd booked tickets. We had, but had made sure they were WELL beyond what we'd need for a timing cushion, WE THOUGHT (back in early May, who knew late August would be an issue!). She issued us a case # followed by an 'R'.
However, yesterday we got a phone call from Iain, a Careline Team Lead. He said my husband's passport had been processed and they just had a question about our son's documentation.
A HEADS UP for anyone who might run into the same problem. Iain said that because I'd been overly helpful and included a photocopy of our marriage certificate (it didn't actually ASK for one, I was trying to cover everything), we NOW had to prove that we were married when our son was born.
I expressed incredulity at that, because if I was a single parent applying for my son's UK passport (he's a dual citizen), they wouldn't have needed to see anything. Iain shrugged and said that was the procedure.
So we had to overnight Iain 1) our original marriage license, 2) my original divorce paperwork from my first marriage, plus we had to fill out and sign two forms (which are nowhere on the website, as far as I can tell): 3) a Marriage Declaration Form (where we both had to swear that we were married when our son was born), and 4) a separate Mother's Declaration Form (where I had to swear that I was either married or not married, as appropriate).
The (hopefully) good news is that Iain promised us it would take no longer than 2 days to process once he got the documents, and that we'd have everything back in a week. So YAY!
I'll let you know whether it does or does not happen.
We're moving over to the UK in August, and I finally got my Settlement Visa for going over there (I'm a US citizen). My husband needed his UK passport renewed and our son needed a new UK passport.
Timeline:
- passports and applications mailed 6th May (back when the website claimed 4-6 weeks processing time)
- Received by Washington 9th May
- credit card charged June 20th
- Careline called July 11th and 18th
Both times we called Careline, we got through to someone who just didn't seem to care, and was unconcerned that we were running up against immigration deadlines, etc... However she DID promise to put in an email for us, expressing our delay issues.
She also asked if we'd booked tickets. We had, but had made sure they were WELL beyond what we'd need for a timing cushion, WE THOUGHT (back in early May, who knew late August would be an issue!). She issued us a case # followed by an 'R'.
However, yesterday we got a phone call from Iain, a Careline Team Lead. He said my husband's passport had been processed and they just had a question about our son's documentation.
A HEADS UP for anyone who might run into the same problem. Iain said that because I'd been overly helpful and included a photocopy of our marriage certificate (it didn't actually ASK for one, I was trying to cover everything), we NOW had to prove that we were married when our son was born.
I expressed incredulity at that, because if I was a single parent applying for my son's UK passport (he's a dual citizen), they wouldn't have needed to see anything. Iain shrugged and said that was the procedure.
So we had to overnight Iain 1) our original marriage license, 2) my original divorce paperwork from my first marriage, plus we had to fill out and sign two forms (which are nowhere on the website, as far as I can tell): 3) a Marriage Declaration Form (where we both had to swear that we were married when our son was born), and 4) a separate Mother's Declaration Form (where I had to swear that I was either married or not married, as appropriate).
The (hopefully) good news is that Iain promised us it would take no longer than 2 days to process once he got the documents, and that we'd have everything back in a week. So YAY!
I'll let you know whether it does or does not happen.
Jul 27th 2011, 5:39 pm
#2023
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 15
Re: Passport Delays
PASSPORT SERVICE Disgusting
I live in Canada and have applied for a UK passport.
Why does it take so long? Sent applications on April 6 2011 have
called the British Commission in Toronto, Ontario Canada NO HELP WHAT
SO EVER!!!!
Are you growing the trees for the paper? To make passports.
I am not going on holiday. I need a passport for identification to get
my Driver’s Licence.
The Ontario Government has changed the type of identification
documents needed to get a Driver’s Licence.
I need this to get back and forth to work
The web site states 4 week processing time I have been waiting 16 weeks now.
You have taken my money and I have not received any response from the
passport service.
I live in Canada and have applied for a UK passport.
Why does it take so long? Sent applications on April 6 2011 have
called the British Commission in Toronto, Ontario Canada NO HELP WHAT
SO EVER!!!!
Are you growing the trees for the paper? To make passports.
I am not going on holiday. I need a passport for identification to get
my Driver’s Licence.
The Ontario Government has changed the type of identification
documents needed to get a Driver’s Licence.
I need this to get back and forth to work
The web site states 4 week processing time I have been waiting 16 weeks now.
You have taken my money and I have not received any response from the
passport service.
Jul 28th 2011, 12:05 am
#2024
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 182
Re: Passport Delays
If I submitted two of my kids' passport applications in the same envelope to Washington DC, will the renewed passports be returned in the same package or sent out separately?
Jul 28th 2011, 12:32 am
#2025
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2011
Location: steinbach,manitoba
Posts: 16
Re: Passport Delays
you will get them back together.
i did the same and got them back in same envelope.
i did the same and got them back in same envelope.