Re: Passport Delays
 

It happens to everyone! Be sure to post anticipated travel dates on your application as they will not fast track your application if you leave it blank. Another poster wrote on here that since they were not travelling soon, that they were pushed to the back of the line.

Wooglin

Re: Passport Delays
 

My passport renewal arrived today, the 70th day after despatch.

This is the time frame:
19 November 2009: British Embassy in Washington received the application.
30 November 2009: They cashed payment (bankers' draft)
19 January 2010: They issued passport
Today: UPS delivered it.

No covering letter, no apology for delay. The new passport is heavier than the expiring document. This is due to the penultimate page which is wholly plasticated and contains the bearer's details. On the reverse of the page is a rectangle (3 inches long x 1.5 inches broad) made up of five strands of fine coppery wire, two single wires lead from the rectangular form into a small black chip. This chip no doubt contains all their worst suspicions about the holder.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Does anyone know in what circumstance emergency passports will be issued? Mine and my childrens passports expired in August and our circumstances are such that we need to return to the uk for good.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Follow this link http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=640935&page=5

Post #64 has your options as detailed by a British Consul. Your return timescale will dictate your choice of option.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Hey everyone thought I would give you an update on my British passport journey.
Oct 14th,2009- passport fees taken
Dec 19th,2009 - Called the Careline for the first time. Cant do anything because I am not travelling in 5 days. Told to call back in the New Year.
Jan 6th,2010- Called the Careline AGAIN told they still cant do anything. They will talk to their Supervisor to see if they can do anything. Told to call back in a week.
At this point its been 4 months and nothing!!!!!!
Jan 20th called - nothing same old crap
Feb 1st,2010- Person on the phone finally excluded my application!!!! FINALLY. But then he said he cant guarantee anything ....Not happy about that at all!!!!
So here I am no passport 4 months later. I cant make any travel plans until I get it!!!
My point is be forewarned when you apply for your passport be prepared for the delay
Good luck everyone!!!!

Re: Passport Delays
 

Sorry meant excalated my passport application

Re: Passport Delays
 

Jewels391234

You should realize by now that Careline is not there to help you. "Escalating a renewal" is meaningless crap. It is a waste of your time and money contacting them.

It took ten weeks for my own passport renewal to be processed and issued. This delay was undoubtedly due to the fact that I am a published writer with technical military knowledge which it is considered undesirable to have in the current terrorist climate. The fact that my knowledge relates only to the end of the Nazi period ought not to worry them, but perhaps old Hitler had something up his sleeve at the end after all.

All the suspicions and doubts they have about me are recorded in the chip which you will see on the reverse of the personal details page. With the greatest respect, four months is a period which suggests that they, and particularly the United States, have serious security worries about you. One should consider past actions not only of oneself but also relatives in this regard.

I sympathize with you in your frustration.

Re: Passport Delays
 

First of all the United States have nothing to do with the issuing of the British Passport and I have absolutely no one in my immediate or past family that have any political or criminal past so that is definitley NOTHING to do with it. My other family recieved their passport quickly. I totally disagree with your view of my 4 month delay. It all has to do with them putting me on to a bottom of a pile because I have no travel plans thats it.
I just wanted to warn other British citizens of the length of time that they MIGHT encounter. It isnt a streamline system what so ever.
Please put a travel date on your application its will cause less problems and delays for you
Good Luck

Re: Passport Delays
 

My suggestion for you would be take some of the tin foil left over from making your hat and wrap that around your passport, then they won't be able to read the chip.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Zargoff

I understand that a brief visit of your passport to the interior of a micro-wave oven will destroy the information on the chip but will also cause unwarranted delays at immigration when travelling.

The UK Embassy brochure states that the primary reason for the new arrangement with Washington is to "better protect UK borders" which indicates clearly the true purpose behind the delays.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Just got my kids passport photos (and application) returned from Washington.
The kids were deemed to be too smiley....just gone back to Walgreens for 2 more (very serious looking) photos :thumbdown:

Re: Passport Delays
 

Nightmare. My daughter looks like Myra Hindley in her last picture its so serious.

Still waiting on my daughtes passport to be returned. She has to leave the country by the 20th:ohmy:

Re: Passport Delays
 

:confused:
My daughter's previous passport had a lovely "smiley" picture of her in it...things must have changed in the past 5 years!

Hope your Daughter gets hers back in time :fingerscrossed:

Re: Passport Delays
 

Hubbys' passport is up for renewal - fingers crossed no one gets sick whilst it is off being renewed........ its the thing I hate the most being here without a passport!

Oh yeah, and giving them $224.00 :sneaky:

Hey hooooo the joys of ex-pat living!

Re: Passport Delays
 

Received the little slip from UPS today saying they have tried to deliver daughters passport, so we will collect it tomorrow.

Interesting thing is, when I went on UPS's website to change the delivery, Washington had sent the order for it to be collected and shipped overnight delivery on January 25th. UPS only picked it up yesterday:confused:

I won't really care once I have it safely in my hands. Just need to do a quick run across the border to Mexico now, and she's all set.... Well, until the visa renewal drama's start in 3 months time.

Re: Passport Delays
 

I think it's for the biometrics since if you smile it creases up your face and messes up the measurements

Re: Passport Delays
 

I am applying for my and my childrens passports to be renewed all at the same time. I rememeber when I renewed them in the uk, the applications came with an business reply envelope and I mailed each one seperately. Does any one know if I can mail all 3 applications together and just pay one lot of postage fee at $12?

Re: Passport Delays
 

I mailed both of my kids passports and renewal applications together to Washington :)

Re: Passport Delays
 

ahhh....thanks for the explanation :)

...but both kids are smiling on their US visas and AP documents....different govs. different rules I guess!

Re: Passport Delays
 

Did you just pay the $12 postage once? On the website it state that $12 is for up to 4 passports. I remember in UK all our passports came back separately, did your kids passports come back together?

Re: Passport Delays
 

kids pps came back together and because they had my credit card details they charged my card $12 (0nce) to return them to me.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Jewels391234

Sorry to have been away for a short while.

Extreme delay has nothing to do with the date of travel. On my application I put my date for travel as July 2010. As I have mentioned the passport was finally delivered after ten weeks.

They are not interested in "criminal activity", their work is the security of UK borders. If you think about it, it stands to reason that the US intelligence services are involved. Bearing in mind the courier service we are forced to use, why otherwise would it be is more convenient to have the issuing office for the Americas in Washington DC than London?

Something in the past was done or said which they recorded.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Can anyone help?

UK Passport sent to DC for renewing - they received my FedEx package Jan 27th but Im still not in their system today, Feb 15th. Careline told me the office had been closed extra days due to the snow, they apologised for the delay and was told to call back 5 days before travel with flight details to see if they can expidite process but I may go insane with worry before next week....travel date is March 4th x 3 tickets to London.

Can I just go to DC and pick up the passport and re-send it in when I get back - its still valid a month after my return date, I only sent in because I thought I had plenty of time and wanted to do it before the summer rush..so much for being organised!!

WHY would they change the webpage message from 10 days to 4 weeks...

Re: Passport Delays
 

Hi Everyone,
Was just getting a little worried that my daughter's passport renewal had not come back so I did a little research and stumbled upon this forum. I see I'm not alone!

We are leaving on March 23 on a Caribbean cruise....what are my chances that it's going to get here before then??? I'm REALLY DEPRESSED after reading about the huge delays.

Here's our timeline:
Posted Jan 10
charged Jan 26

Is it worth calling CARELINE? Can they do anything other than tell you it's being processed? I keep seeing posts about contacting Dean. Is this through calling the consulate or through this forum?
Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Re: Passport Delays
 

Forgot to say we are in the US if that makes any difference. Off to search for that form on the passport webs:frown:ite to enquire about status????

Re: Passport Delays
 

Apologies for all of these itty bitty posts,,,can anyone direct me to the enquiry page on the passport website, apparently you fill it in to enquire about the status of you passport processing...hope I haven't got the wrong end of the stick!
Thanks again

Re: Passport Delays
 

This is the user Dean that you've seen mentioned. http://britishexpats.com/forum/member.php?u=93085

Re: Passport Delays
 

The enquiry form was on the website when the Passport Centre had a normal than usual backlog. We decided to take it down because it was being abused with bogus enquiries that were diverting our staff from their jobs.

You can call our passport information helpline and they will tell you whether your passport is in the system. Things to note: the recent snow in Washington DC has meant that mail deliveries were delayed and, as a result, there is a backlog of passport applications that haven't been enetered into the system. They will be entered soon, and you should receive your passport within 4 weeks of it being received at the Passport Centre.

Dean

Re: Passport Delays
 

Customers were getting confused by the 10 day processing time. Nothing has changed but we're attempting to manage expectations. The Passport Centre has 10 days to process a routine application from the time payment is taken (this doesn't include first time applications) but some customers thought that they would receive a passport within 10 days of sending in their application. If you send a properly completed application, with the correct fee, you should expect to receive it back within 4 weeks (i.e. allowing for the time it takes to get to the Passport Centre by mail, 10 days processing, and the time it takes to get back to you by mail).

Hope this helps.

Dean

Re: Passport Delays
 

Thank you to everyone that responded in such a speedy manner. I thought I was going crazy looking for that enquiry form on the embassy website. My application went in second week of Jan so we are at the 5 WEEK mark now. Fingers crossed we'll get it soon!:fingerscrossed:

Re: Passport Delays
 

Hi, I was searching around the web and found this thread and I thought I would post to see if I can get some insight.

My mother in law sent her passport application from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico on December 15 2009 together with authorization to take payment from a credit card, the application was returned with a letter on January 11 2010 which stated that the passport office was unable to take payment. The application was resubmitted with a money order to the value of 278 dollars and sent by UPS (again from Guadalajara) on January 18 2010 using overnight delivery.

Well, we just found out that the credit card was in fact charged the full amount the first time (the credit card statement appears as January 26), basically my mother in law has been charged twice already for her passport, that wouldn’t be so bad if she had the passport by now. She was supposed to travel more than 2 weeks ago to visit her daughter (my wife) and our new born twin daughters, she already missed their birthday and I’ve had to reschedule her trip twice.

The worst thing is, we’ve already called the helpline several times and they always say the same thing, that my mother in law’s application is not yet in the system and that I should call later, I already escalated the issue last Monday but haven’t had any news, called back on Friday and they said the same thing that they don’t have any info yet.

This is really frustrating, we have no passport, we’ve spent more than $1000 dollars between flight changes, passport fees and calls and we don’t even know if the passport is in the queue. It has been more than two months since the first application was sent and one month since the second one, I'm not sure what else we can do.

Re: Passport Delays
 

What citizenship is your MIL? What is her status in Mexico? Which country's passport is she trying to get? Where did she send it?


She can dispute the charge with the credit card company - especially if she has proof that payment was initially refused.



It would have been prudent to not make travel plans prior to her actually having her passport in her hands. But... it's water under the bridge now.

Ian

Re: Passport Delays
 

She has both Mexican and British citizenships; she is trying to get her British passport and she sent the application to the British embassy in Washington DC.

Yes, that is what we’ll probably do but I thought it may be prudent to wait until we get her passport.

I agree, I guess I was too optimistic but as you said it is water under the bridge now.

Alan

Re: Passport Delays
 

Where is she looking to travel to? Can she use her Mexican passport?

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Seattle, USA. She can't use her Mexican passport, she never applied for a visa since it’s easier to travel using her British passport.

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Why would she need a visa if she has both UK and Mexican citizenships?

Re: Passport Delays
 

Correct, she doesn't need one since she can travel using her British passport (through the visa waiver program) but she doesn't have a British passport because she is still waiting for the embassy to issue her a new one (please see my original post) that is the whole problem.

Re: Passport Delays
 

I was unaware that Mexican citizens needed a visa to enter the US. Wow... I've learned something new today.

Ian

Re: Passport Delays
 

Mexican passport holders need a visa for the USA, Canada, Australia and Brazil. But other than that, the Mexican passport offers fairly good visa free travel, including the UK, Ireland, the Schengen zone of Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and most of South America.

(unofficial)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_re...xican_citizens

Re: Passport Delays
 

Hello All,

New to the site here and have a passport question for the experts (Dean). I have read all about the delays and am just curious as to what my expectations should be. The turnaround time is stated to be 4 weeks. My dilema is that my passport will have been received by the embassy 3 weeks ago tomorrow and my credit card has still not been charged. I keep reading that the 4 weeks begins when the card is charged, but going on 3 weeks now with no charge. This seems a bit ridiculous to me. Let me know and thank you for your help.

Tim