UK Passport renewal - email received 'send us your passport' 2 weeks after applying?

[rwilem]

13 hours ago, Batty said:

I remember the .gov website saying (I am paraphrasing) "you will keep your passport while the applications going through, although you will not be able to travel on it"

Man, seems like you and some others have really been put through the wringer with these passport renewals. With extra layers of outsourcing and bureaucracy the chances for a cluster arising goes up.

 

What you quoted above, I don't get. So does your HMPO put out notice to all governments that they've made a new passport for a UK national (which is not yet in the person's possession) and they are 'cancelling' the valid status of the one that person is currently in possession of? Thus the 'you won't be able to travel' using the one the person possesses. And throw in the lengthy times for many of these renewals--someone's posted waiting ten weeks--that is a tough restriction.

 

Seems it'd just be better to cancel the validity of he current one, cancel the passport, when one is able to take personal possession of the new one. OR, is that how it happens anyway, and they just giving you a line of BS about not traveling? 

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, sandyf said:

On 4/2/2025 at 9:16 PM, Liverpool Lou said:

"EU countries (except Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Switzerland)..."

 

I know my facts; Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Switzerland are not EU countries!  I'm surprised that you did not know that.

I am surprised you don't know the 10 year ruling is in respect of the Schengen area, not EU countries, but laid down by the EU.

My comment did not relate to EU/Schengen legislation.    The only thing that I was commenting about was that a poster who tried to justify his post by stating that he "knows his facts" included non-EU countries in his list of "EU countries", demonstrating his lack of knowledge of that "fact".   I am surprised that you couldn't see that!

[Upnotover]

55 minutes ago, rwilem said:

Man, seems like you and some others have really been put through the wringer with these passport renewals. With extra layers of outsourcing and bureaucracy the chances for a cluster arising goes up.

 

What you quoted above, I don't get. So does your HMPO put out notice to all governments that they've made a new passport for a UK national (which is not yet in the person's possession) and they are 'cancelling' the valid status of the one that person is currently in possession of? Thus the 'you won't be able to travel' using the one the person possesses. And throw in the lengthy times for many of these renewals--someone's posted waiting ten weeks--that is a tough restriction.

 

Seems it'd just be better to cancel the validity of he current one, cancel the passport, when one is able to take personal possession of the new one. OR, is that how it happens anyway, and they just giving you a line of BS about not traveling? 

 

 

 

The old passport is cancelled in the UK database as soon as the application is received.  No they do not communicate this to all governments, there is not way of doing that.  So whilst it is no longer actually valid for travel  the only place where the passport would show as cancelled would be entering the UK on it.  The old passport is physically cancelled when collecting the replacement.

[rwilem]

1 hour ago, Upnotover said:

So whilst it is no longer actually valid for travel  the only place where the passport would show as cancelled would be entering the UK on it.

Thanks. So there's really nothing to stop a person, say here in Thailand, from travel to one of the countries in the region. Or actually to anywhere except back to the UK. Maybe an EU country might not be a good idea. But overseas travel really couldn't be restricted while one is waiting for the new passport. 

[NanLaew]

6 hours ago, sandyf said:

In reality it ended before then.

When I renewed in 2014 I was 6 years early as passport was full up and only got the 10 years on the new one.

 

I renewed both my full but not close to expiration UK passports at VFS Trendy in Jan and Feb 2015, and both renewals came back in less than two weeks with Oct and Nov 2025 expiration dates respectively, so credit was still available.

 

YMMV(FS)

TiT(rendy)

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

 

I renewed both my full but not close to expiration UK passports at VFS Trendy in Jan and Feb 2015, and both renewals came back in less than two weeks with Oct and Nov 2025 expiration dates respectively, so credit was still available.

 

YMMV(FS)

TiT(rendy)

 

The UK stopped extending passport expiration dates by carrying over unspent time from old passports to new ones in September 2018. 

 

Giyf

[Upnotover]

7 hours ago, rwilem said:

Thanks. So there's really nothing to stop a person, say here in Thailand, from travel to one of the countries in the region. Or actually to anywhere except back to the UK. Maybe an EU country might not be a good idea. But overseas travel really couldn't be restricted while one is waiting for the new passport. 

Correct.  The cancellation of passports by the issuing country is not automatically shared.  However, in the case of passports reported lost or stolen there is an international database maintained by Interpol,  but of course in that case you wouldn't (shouldn't) have the original passport to try to travel with.

[kidneyw]

14 hours ago, Upnotover said:

Did your card get charged?  That's a sign that it at least reached the UK.

Yes, after a few days. They were quick off the mark in that respect.

[OJAS]

16 hours ago, Thai Visa Express said:

Just a quick update — the passport office has recently transferred processing from Liverpool to Corby, and we're encountering some issues as a result. It appears the new team is unfamiliar with certain Thai documents. For example, a TM30, which we submitted to confirm the applicant’s address, was not recognised or accepted as valid evidence. We're currently facing several challenges regarding proof of address in Thailand. I’ve submitted a formal complaint to HM Passport Office to address this issue.

 

Beats me as to why HMPO insist on proof of our Thai address in any event, given that they don't send our replacement passports to us direct. Typical pointless bureaucracy for purely typical pointless bureaucracy's sake, I think!

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

17 hours ago, sandyf said:

In reality it ended before then.

When I renewed in 2014 I was 6 years early as passport was full up and only got the 10 years on the new one.

Nope in reality it didn’t.

 

I renewed in 2015 and got 10 years and 9 months ( not ten months as i stated earlier, miscalculated )

 

Issued : 1st April 2015

Expiry : 1st Jan 2026

[OJAS]

16 hours ago, Thai Visa Express said:

I’ve submitted a formal complaint to HM Passport Office to address this issue.

 

Fingers firmly crossed that you receive a reply from someone who actually knows what they (and, more importantly, you) are talking about - as opposed to HMPO's resident clueless idiot who has always seemed to reply to my complaints over the years about various aspects of the whole antiquated bureacratic nonsense we Brits are subject to when renewing our passports from Thailand.

 

[OJAS]

10 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

The UK stopped extending passport expiration dates by carrying over unspent time from old passports to new ones in September 2018. 

 

Giyf

 

In any event I believe that we Brits were always alone in being able to have the validity period of our new passports extended by a max of 9 months to cover unexpired periods on our old passports. I was informed by an American on here some years ago who renewed his passport way ahead of time that his new one wasn't extended beyond 10 years from the date of issue. @DrJack54 - also true of Aussie passports?

[sandyf]

21 hours ago, Batty said:

Do you think it is safe to assume, given that I received an email a few days ago saying my application is now successful and my passport is being printed, that I should be good? 

Yes. Think about 10 days from that point.

[sandyf]

18 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

My comment did not relate to EU/Schengen legislation.    The only thing that I was commenting about was that a poster who tried to justify his post by stating that he "knows his facts" included non-EU countries in his list of "EU countries", demonstrating his lack of knowledge of that "fact".   I am surprised that you couldn't see that!

I could see the thread was about the 10 year ruling, in other words the Schengen legislation.

Rightly or wrongly it appeared the poster in question was "quoting" from another source, but you felt you had to make an issue out of it.

[sandyf]

17 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

I renewed both my full but not close to expiration UK passports at VFS Trendy in Jan and Feb 2015, and both renewals came back in less than two weeks with Oct and Nov 2025 expiration dates respectively, so credit was still available.

 

YMMV(FS)

TiT(rendy)

Maybe a postcode lottery.