I am taking up some cases for constituents whose passport renewals have been delayed. I was sorry to learn that some constituents have experienced unreasonable delays in this service. As a result of enquiries and pressure from MPs, Mrs May the Home Secretary, has issued new helpful guidance.
She says that she will speed up delayed passport applications where someone has an urgent need to travel, without charging for the faster service. She says ” Where people have a genuinely urgent need to travel HMPO will upgrade their applications – that is expedite its printing, processing and delivery – free of charge, once the required checks have been completed. Customers will be eligible for an upgrade if they are booked to travel within the next seven days and their application is over HMPO’s normal three week processing time through no fault of the applicant.”
People needing the urgent renewal of their passport who are in this situation need to notify the Passport Office, giving evidence of their pre booked travel ticket. This offer does not apply to people seeking a passport for the first time.
June 16, 2014
The passport application system struck me (last time I replaced mine) as a very poor data capture implementation. The “online” route entailed completing the form online … which was then printed and mailed to you for completion and signature on paper!
This seems to confirm the process just isn’t efficient or well-designed. Let’s hope once the immediate crisis is over, they will re-think their processes to be much more streamlined in future!