Originally Posted by lansbury (Post 9403406)

Contact your local British Consulate and make an appointment to attend and have it issued.

Originally Posted by magsworld (Post 9403823)

I got my son's passport today. My timeline was

Received at Washington April 11th

Card charged May 19th

Began to get worried as we are flying on June 12th. Last week passport was listed as "processing" but careline could not give me an indication of when it would be ready. They said it would be at least 4 weeks from date of charge.

I asked Dean if he could help and also sent a polite letter to Washington with a copy of my flight details.

Result - received passport today. Just over 7 weeks from start to finish but clearly it would not have happened without the right intervention.

Very thankful that I came across this forum and all the helpful people here.

Originally Posted by akatomw (Post 9403165)

WOW,
... if they are receiving that volume of applications (300 PER DAY or 1500 per week! :ohmy: ) then I would say
getting any kind of result or action in less than 12 weeks is ALMOST a miracle.

Originally Posted by lansbury (Post 9403406)

Contact your local British Consulate and make an appointment to attend and have it issued.

Originally Posted by magsworld (Post 9403823)

I got my son's passport today. My timeline was

Received at Washington April 11th

Card charged May 19th

Began to get worried as we are flying on June 12th. Last week passport was listed as "processing" but careline could not give me an indication of when it would be ready. They said it would be at least 4 weeks from date of charge.

I asked Dean if he could help and also sent a polite letter to Washington with a copy of my flight details.

Result - received passport today. Just over 7 weeks from start to finish but clearly it would not have happened without the right intervention.

Very thankful that I came across this forum and all the helpful people here.

Originally Posted by rford1068 (Post 9404331)

New to forum...trying to figure out way to get passport (in renewal) or ETD to travel to UK.
What are the "requirements" for ETD?
If the passport is in renewal; the credit charge has been charged; still waiting for its return and a pending travel date/flights.......does this get qualified as Emergency Travel??? How is this handled at the Consular level?

Originally Posted by British Consul (Post 9405181)

Yes. Call your local British Consulate and listen to the recorded message, if you think it's something you want to apply for then select the option to make an appointment.

Generally speaking, you decide whether it's an emergency and we'll check into your passport records to determine if we can issue one to you. When our offices are closed (4.30pm to 9.00am weekdays and all weekend) our Global Response Centre will make a determination on the urgency of your request and if they need to call staff out to issue a document during these times. You'll pay a call out fee of $215 per hour for this service on top of the ETD fee.

Hope this helps.

Dean

Originally Posted by British Consul (Post 9405181)

Yes. Call your local British Consulate and listen to the recorded message, if you think it's something you want to apply for then select the option to make an appointment.

Generally speaking, you decide whether it's an emergency and we'll check into your passport records to determine if we can issue one to you. When our offices are closed (4.30pm to 9.00am weekdays and all weekend) our Global Response Centre will make a determination on the urgency of your request and if they need to call staff out to issue a document during these times. You'll pay a call out fee of $215 per hour for this service on top of the ETD fee.

Hope this helps.

Dean

Originally Posted by magsworld (Post 9403823)

I got my son's passport today. My timeline was

Received at Washington April 11th

Card charged May 19th

Began to get worried as we are flying on June 12th. Last week passport was listed as "processing" but careline could not give me an indication of when it would be ready. They said it would be at least 4 weeks from date of charge.

I asked Dean if he could help and also sent a polite letter to Washington with a copy of my flight details.

Result - received passport today. Just over 7 weeks from start to finish but clearly it would not have happened without the right intervention.

Very thankful that I came across this forum and all the helpful people here.

Originally Posted by nabejb0709 (Post 9407638)

Just of interest, is your new passport a biometric bird design passport or a new style passport produced since October 2010 in UK (this is a ultra thin laminate data page compared to the thick hard data page of the bird design one)?

Originally Posted by akatomw (Post 9403123)

In my case my British Passport arrived today.

I will spell out my exact time line.


I can see my time line is like many others here, OF course I did not think it would take this long, My application was received in Washington DC on Mar 9

Received Mar 9 2011

Money taken off Visa Card on April 6 2011

So now,

On May 24th I came on the forum to see what others had to say and post about how long I had been waiting since Mar 9 when I sent in the application. (I had a record via courier of it being received by the Passport office on Mar 9th).

I was encouraged here to send a PM to Dean Churm.

I think it is true they don't "kick into action" or escalate your case until 5 days before your travel date.

When I sent in my application I filled in June 1st as my travel date.

I contacted Dean Churm in PM May 25 with a polite enquiry and noted the timeline so far (as noted above) and reminded him of my June 1st travel date.
On the next day May 26th he calmly replied, he would look into it. (I believe he did and I am pretty sure he was
instrumental in getting my passport to me on June 1st. Thanks Dean! :) )

Several days later, they called my work number to tell me it was on the way, and it finally arrived today via UPS.

My sense was that they did escalate the case even though they took the cash off the credit card on April 9th.
When the "crunch" came (and I contacted Dean Churm), it was within 5 days of my stated travel date.

Thanks for all the help and encouragement from AmerLisa :) and everyone else.

If you are waiting for your passport (AND they have already taken the money off your credit card ;) )
AND you are within 6 days of your travel date, I would NOT hesitate to contact Dean Churm via PM on this board.

For me the wait time in total was Mar 9th to June 1st or just about 11 weeks
(Credit card charged April 6th or 7 weeks from time of card charged)

I understand from others on here that about 12 weeks total wait time is becoming the new "normal".
(and yes, I understand some of you reading this are expecting to travel on your NEW passport
much sooner then 12 weeks after you sent in your application.)

Good Luck :)

Originally Posted by Linden.g (Post 9410030)

Akatomw, thank you so much for the very helpfull advice. I'm in a similar situation, our family have booked flights for the 21st of June to the UK. The application was mailed 4th April, credit card payment went out April 19th and still no sign of the renewed passport.
All the best
Linden