British Consul

We've heard of others having problems. Our technical guys have been looking into it, but it appears it could be a number of things including which web-browser you're using, or the settings on your computer. I'd love to be able to give you a quick fix for it, but it's all a bit too technical for me Try using a different computer.

Dean

British Consul

Have they arrived yet?

Dean

Emmad63

Thank you all so much for your kind replies. I was using Safari, and will definitely try various engines on different computers if need be. But we got a call from UPS an hour ago saying a package is on its way, so I'm crossing fingers that it is my son's passport. And good luck to everyone out there: this has been so helpful to me over the last weeks.

suesann

YES!!! They arrived on Wednesday just after the lady from your office called with the tracking number... It was such a relief. Thanks again for your help. I think I may have been insane by now without it!

Emmad63

My son's passport also arrived 10 minutes ago: a great relief after some really stressful weeks.
Thanks so much for your support, and hope things go well for everyone else.

Jdatlas

Doesn't it feel like you've won the lottery or something once the passport finally arrives? I was so relieved to finally receive mine. Now if I don't lose it I won't have to go through this hassle again until 2019!

Emmad63

That's absolutely right, and is certainly a nicely upbeat way of thinking about it!

dharrisonrand

I really need some help. My passport was stolen when my apartment was burgled at the beginning of June.

It has been 8 weeks since my Passport application was received in Washington DC and the passport still hasn't arrived.

We have a trip coming-up on Saturday August 1st and I am really worried that the passport won't be here in time.

If anyone has the contact details of someone who can help please let me know.


Thanks,


David

Bob

Have a read a few posts up....

dharrisonrand

Thanks Bob. Dean has already been in touch.

As a new user of the forum I wanted to post my story to see if anyone else had suggestions.

I also needed to get a few posts in to enable the PM feature which allowed me to send more detailed information to Dean than I would like to post on a public forum.

tonrob

Has anyone tried renewing while on a trip to the UK?

My passport expires April 2010, but I don't fancy going through the waiting game and being stuck in the US while renewing. I am also due to take a work trip to London for a week at the end of September and could spare one day for taking care of the renewal.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...ions/DG_174149

This webshite says:

Does anyone have any experience of whether you can phone up exactly two weeks prior to the day you want an appointment and actually get an appointment for that specific day? (I'll need to plan my work trip around this so will be limited to one specific day by the time I end up phoning to ask for an appointment).

Cheers m'dears.

dharrisonrand

Thanks to Dean and his staff I got my new passport just in time for my trip.

I've also bought a safe so that it doesn't get stolen again.

Bob

Bit impractical lugging a safe around on your travels

amonument74

Hi all, new member here...glad to have found this great site and expat community.
Alas, here I am floundering slightly in the middle of a passport renewal quagmire. Last wednesday I overnight fedex'd my application package to a company in Washington DC called Travel Document Systems, whom I am using to (hopfeully) expedite the process. I'm flying out of the US (again, hopefully ) on September 3rd to a film festival in France that I had the honour of being invited to for a documentary that I recently completed. The festival organizers are paying for my flight and accomodations etc. so I'm trying to tie up my passport renewal as quickly as possible.

I got my confirmation email from Fedex Thursday morning saying that TDS had signed for my package, so I sent a quick email to them that morning to double-check that eveything was A-ok. TDS replied Friday morning, asking me If i had a confirmation number!!! Aaarggghhh. I duly sent it to them, but have still heard nothing back from them as of today, Monday. I'm going to get on the phone to them this afternoon if I have still heard nothing back from their reps. Not a good start for my expedited passport process (To which, I might add, they are charging me an additional $150!!

So... a couple of questions for the forum...has anyone had any experience with TDS in DC? They seemed to be highly recommended from what I had read on various sites. I am, however, beginning to get slightly worried...

Secondly, with passport renewals, do you actually get a new passport number also, or does this stay the same as your previous number?

Thirdly, since the festival organizers are trying to confirm scheduled flight details on the 3rd and need my pasport number....is it possible for the embassy to first issue a new passport number (If, indeed the number does change) for flight booking pruposes, and then deliver the passport later? I am assuming that I can't book a flight with my old passport number, and then show up for the flight with a new one, lol.

I have read through this entire thread, and it seems that Dean is the man to ask in these situations...although I am going to wait a few days to contact him personally until I hear back from the TDS folk that they have actually submitted my application!!!

Any advice from member would be greatly appreciated. Fingers crossed

mplsbrit

sorry to hear this. my understanding (and it is by no means from exhaustive research) is that these expedited service providers can't actually expedite anything. but like i say, i could be wrong. a lot of the sites i checked out looking for a similar service had a small disclaimer buried in the site that noted it may not be possible to expedite. I hope I am wrong in the case of TDS.

On a related note. I just spoke with the careline people in the uk and despite getting a standard auto email a few weeks ago saying processing times had returned to normal now, they said they had heard no such thing