g1ant

You aren't a betting aficionado I see. 1/10 is very short odds. Not a one in ten chance.
You have a 90% chance or better of getting it in time. Does that sound better ??

thirtytoes

Excellent tip. Our whole exchange has been very amusing. I have never placed a bet in my life and now shall know how to see the good odds. In fact, I'm tempted to make a family trip to the dogs this weekend so I can put into practice the lesson you just provided.

g1ant

If you think the UK passport service is bad, how about this little gem that my wife received from the US passport people.
----------------------------------------
Subject: Passport Application Status

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2014 19:15:32 -0400

We have finished processing your passport, and it has been mailed to you.

Your passport application locator number is XXXXXXXXX.

You paid for overnight delivery. This means you should receive your passport on or about 06/06/2014.
---------------------------------------

What part of overnight delivery do they not understand ?????

UsedtobePat

My passport arrived pretty much exactly two calendar months after sending off the documents (same day as my internet application). While I was still waiting I wrote to James Brokenshire MP and received a reply on Tuesday (after having written again wondering why I hadn't received a reply to my first message).

Unfortunately the reply almost completely avoids the issues I raised and tries to fob me off with the news that my passport has already been issued and printed. Most of the rest of the reply repeats the statement quoted by the Daily Mail when they reported on passport delays in general. The gist of it is:

"We have managed to reach 98% of the low standards of service we set ourselves."

The reply absolutely avoids the issue of people whose passports are vital lifelines for their lives and livelihoods and for whom even four weeks without one can cause serious difficulties. It also does not make any mention of the suggestion that there should be a fast track system for UK citizens overseas who are prepared to pay more.

If anyone is interested, here is a copy and paste of their reply and my original message below it, names replaced for privacy. My apologies for taking up such a huge piece of real estate on this thread.


Dear Mr UsedtobePat

Thank you for your email, "We have been experiencing an early summer peak in demand for passports, which seems to be in part due to the improving economy and a rise in holiday bookings. We have brought in extra staff to respond to the extra demand, we are operating seven days a week and our couriers are delivering passports within 24 hours of being produced.

There is no backlog, we have issued over three million passports so far this year and more than 98 per cent of straightforward passport renewals continue to be processed within three weeks.
We would remind people of our existing advice to customers: allow plenty of time when applying for a new or renewed passport as a passport will not be issued until the necessary security checks have been done, and do not book travel until you have received your passport.” I can confirm your passport was issued and printed on 15/5/14. I hope this clarifies the position of Her Majesty's Passport Office.

Regards
Ms X
PO3 Customer Contact Centre
Operations
Her Majesty's Passport Office
Nexus House l Mission Court l Newport l NP20 2DW
Swyddfa Basbort Ei Mawrhydi
Tŷ Nexus l Mission Court l Casnewydd l NP20 2DW




From:
Sent: 20 May 2014 09:28
To: MinisterforImmigration
Subject: Passport renewal from overseas: system broken.

Dear Mr. Brokenshire,

As a UK citizen resident in Japan, and currently trapped in the nightmare process of applying for a replacement passport, I was very interested to see your announcement of reduced application fees on the GOV.UK website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/world-...-reduced-by-35

To quote:

“The 35% decrease in passport fees is the result of efficiency savings made over the last three years by bringing back the processing and issuing of overseas passports to the UK.

Will Middleton from the Foreign Office’s Consular Department said:

“This is good news for British citizens applying for a UK Passport from abroad. The repatriation of overseas passport centres means overseas applications can now be handled more efficiently and at significantly lower cost.”

“The new fees will benefit some four million Britons living overseas.”


The expressions “good news”, “more efficiently” and “benefit some four million Britons living overseas” are a bad joke. More cheaply, perhaps, but the old system of getting your passport from the local embassy was much more efficient and much less time-consuming for the applicant, at least in Japan.

It is now seven weeks since my application arrived at the Liverpool passport office (confirmed by them via e-mail) and its status on the tracking page of the website is still: “Declaration form received, being processed”, with no sign of a change. A search on Google has confirmed that I am not the only person in this situation, as you can see from the posts on these forums:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...ir_Travel.html

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...786998&page=31

Like the last poster on the second link, my job depends on being able to travel freely. I average more than one business trip per month so more than two months without a passport, and no sign of one being sent soon, is causing me a lot of stress at work.

I have contacted the passport office by email and got this reply:

“Your passport application is currently going through the examination process.

Correctly completed applications are generally being processed within the timescales of at least 4 weeks, however, is not a guaranteed service and turnaround times may exceed this during periods of peak demand.”

Again, from the posts on the forums linked above it is obvious they are either being “economical with the truth” or not investigating the actual situation before replying. I considered phoning them but from posts on the TripAdvisor forum it is clear that doing so only results in being serially handed off to people who have no intention of taking any action or, Heaven forbid, responsibility.

The whole system needs to be reconfigured from top to bottom, including the badly designed and apparently untested website. Maybe 10 weeks to receive a new passport for a reduced fee is acceptable for some people but most would prefer to pay more for a quick, reliable system run by people who care about their customers. There are various application options for people living in the UK but for UK citizens resident overseas there is only one choice: the nightmarish one I have been forced to use. I would be happy to pay four times the old fee to be put on a fast track system and I am sure I am not alone.

This is a completely unacceptable situation that Mr. Middleton admits is affecting four million British people.

Please, as the minister responsible for the Passport Office, do something about it.

Yours, very sincerely,
UsedtobePat

rjt

I received my daughter's renewed passport back today (data point: tomorrow is exactly 2 months since they received the paperwork in Durham). I'm pleased it showed up 2 weeks before we're due to travel, but annoyed that DHL just left it on the doorstep rather than making sure they got a signature like they're supposed to! More worrying than the security aspect is the thought that a storm could easily have come through and soaked everything right through if the wind had been in the wrong direction. The online tracking claims that it was signed for by a "D Eaton" - my assumption is that this is the driver either thinking they're helping or trying to avoid a return trip.

thirtytoes

Rang this morning. I could not get to the progress department. Poor guy who answered the phone was following a script. All I know is my application has not yet reached the exam room floor. We are at 10 days since they have received docs. So, still early days. He could not confirm he if my photos or declaration form had been approved. He confirmed the process time was still approximately six weeks which I'll be just inside of for my date of travel.

I have an appointment for an emergency travel document and have reviewed the pdf file from the link below. Does anyone know if I need to show proof of an "urgent" reason for travel? I have not seen it written anywhere but I want to get all my ducks in row to make sure there's no reason to get denied an emergency travel document.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...ETD_web_13.pdf

BritInParis

You'll need to provide a travel itinerary but they won't require you to prove that your travel is particularly urgent. That used to be the case but now the policy is to issue to anyone who is eligible and wants one. I would hold off getting an ETD if you're not travelling until July as Sod's Law states that as soon as you pay for an ETD your full validity passport will be issued in the UK.

IRJ

This morning the London Times carried a front page article about the "row" over the delays at the UK Passport office. It says a second processing office will be opened shortly in Liverpool to help reduce the backlog.

bongoffa

The S#*t has hit the fan:

Passport Office orders staff to relax application checks to help clear backlog | Politics | The Guardian

Leaked photographs of stacked passport application files fuels row over delays - Telegraph

Got my passport back after 6 weeks. Good old MP Kenneth Clarke!

hungryhorace

..well that's a whole bunch of personal information that's gonna be stolen then :/

petitefrancaise

more on the passport renewal chaos, this is an article from the french connection online paper but applies to all of us.

How passport problems in Britain will affect expats living in France - The Connexion

My son's passport runs out in October but we will be travelling during the summer anybody any idea how we get the automatic 1 year extension? I'm thinking about travelling at thanksgiving, original plan was to send off for renewal during September but I don't want to be in a panic about booking flights in November...

British Consul

The Home Secretary announced new measures this morning. We expect the new services to be introduced early next week, and further announcements will be made soon on practical arrangements. Please monitor GOV.UK/world/USA for the latest updates.

thirtytoes

UPDATE:

Rang the office today and got told my passport application has now reached the examination department as of June 12th, or something to that affect.

Initially, I was told based on receipt of my application docs, the wait was at least 6-8 weeks. When the agent looked up my application she sounded genuinely surprised at how fast it got the the examination department and said, "it was unusually quick".

When I inquired about my photo being accepted she said to call back in a week to verify and that, most likely, the passport office would contact me via email if they needed a new photo.

She still said the application could take six weeks and once it's been approved, it will take an additional 7-10 to print and be sent out.

Feeling a little more hopeful. Will update when I can. Travel date July 6th. Emergency Travel Document appointment date July 2nd.

windsong

Seventeen days??????? That's wonderful!.That's better than even the original expected time frame of six weeks!

g1ant

I don't know if it was a fluke or not. Maybe they realised how important I really am. DYKWIA ??

My wife's is a Durham now and has been showing as processing for 14 days now.
Time will tell if she gets hers as quick, but we don't leave for Athens until July 21st and she has just renewed her US passport just in case.