Jump to content

Time Lag in obtaining a New UK Passport


Recommended Posts

Mine just took 14 weeks from them taking the $$$ to me getting the "please collect" email ???? 

 

I had a similar experience with the "lack of help line", then got cut off and gave up.

 

I agree, totally unacceptable, but what can we do other than put up and shut up?

 

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Mine just took 14 weeks from them taking the $$$ to me getting the "please collect" email ???? 

 

I agree, totally unacceptable, but what can we do other than put up and shut up?

 

I wouldn't renew my passport until 9 months of it running out or before just because of

some border force persons comments.

The govt sets it a 10 years so 10 years it is IMO. 

 

 

Edited by Kwasaki
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

The UK govt directive is you have to renew every 10 years. 

Okay pedantic one,  The Border Officer said.,  'This picture does not represent you as you present yourself here today,  Change your passport or you will not be allowed to enter the UK, because the EGate does not recognise you and I can see no resemblance comparing you with the Passport you have presented'.

  • Thumbs Up 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

At this rate of decline, it will soon be faster to obtain Thai citizenship than renew a British passport. 

 

At this rate of decline, the possibility will also eventually arise of our not receiving our new passports before their expiry dates!

 

Now that the rush for new passports back in the UK in time for summer holidays for the first time in 3 years should now be behind us, it is not, I think, unreasonable to be expecting the timescales for processing renewal applications to be now falling. But if anything they are going the other way if 16 weeks, as mentioned by the OP, is now the accepted norm as far as HMPO are concerned! What on earth are those masters of bungling incompetence and ineptitude in that particular organisation up to during their working hours these days, I wonder?? In serious training for a new UK Government Inter-Departmental Thumb Twiddling Competition, maybe??

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Pompey Lad 1938 said:

It was a directive not a request.   

 

4 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

The UK govt directive is you have to renew every 10 years. 

What I personally take strong exception to is HMPO's directive requiring those of us who don't live anywhere near Chiang Mai to submit ourselves to the masochistic "delights" of a cumbersome and bureaucratic passport renewal process entailing 2 trips in person to a dilapidated tower block in Bangkok with inconvenient conveniences which has consistently won The Silliest Office Building Name Of The Year award for each year since it was built way back when; or to fork out an extra 5,000 THB for an agent to make these trips on our behalf!!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
2 hours ago, Pompey Lad 1938 said:

Because I have become far more handsome!!!!

But I do just wonder whether the member of the UK Border Force who advised you to renew your passport because your picture was not representative of your current facial look would now be of that particular opinion as a result of the stresses and strains which you subsequently had to endure in getting your new passport!????

Edited by OJAS
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I am still getting over the shock of having received 2 emails yesterday, one from VFS and the other from "HMPO Bangkok" (whoever they might be), informing me that my new passport was now ready for collection, a mere 7 weeks and 1 day after I had submitted my application in person!????

 

However the big unknown is whether this is indicative of some overall sustainable improvement in new passport waiting times, or whether current civil servant strikes could result in the clock being turned back in that regard. To the best of my knowledge, HMPO staff have not, so far, been specifically targeted by the PCS Union, but that, of course, could all change should they decide to ramp up their action in the New Year.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...