British Consul

From 5 March 2012, ‘in person’ British Passport services will no longer be available from the Regional Passport Processing Centre in Washington DC.

More information here: http://ukinusa.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?v...s&id=725664582

Note from the Regional Passport Processing Centre on using a facilitation agent or company
There are companies that offer to make the application on your behalf and charge an additional fee for doing so - we do not recommend using these companies. From 5 March 2012 we will not accept couriered applications from them but they may continue to offer services and submit applications on your behalf by mail. Please note that none of these companies have access to any form of fast track service.

All applications are processed in strict date order from the date they were accepted by us.

Additionally, there have been instances where applying through such an agent or company has caused lengthy delays due to slowness in applying or in collection. There are also some agencies that have been known not to physically make the application for some weeks after it has been lodged with them. We will not speed up any application that has been delayed due to agency error or incompetence.

Bob

As this has been in place for a year now, I think it's time to unstick this thread