UK Passport renewals

[SpringHeeledJack]

Like many I've received a text from Gov UK telling me to consider renewing my passport as the EU rules have changed and less than 6months validity will be refused entry. I'm sure that should I do it now, I won't be credited the half year validity on the next 10 year passport, or is that incorrect ?

I've also read and heard anecdotal evidence suggesting that 'due to covid' :rolleyes: renewals are taking way longer than normal. Have any of the UK ppruners had experiences with regards to passport renewal in the last while ? Any info appreciated.

[PAXboy]

I have not had to renew recently but you absolutely do not get the six month credit. It starts at zero again on date of renewal.

[nomilk]

The EU rules have not changed, they are in line with pretty much the rest of the world. So would good would that half year be for you, since it won't be recognised anywhere in the world?

[Repos]

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/brexit-jet2-holiday-denied-boarding-b1878373.html

According to this GovUK are technically wrong but it's the kind of risk no one wants to take.
As for turnaround times, I renewed mine back in May (losing 6 months into the bargain) and it was back in less tha 3 weeks.
This stuff causes so much angst with travelling I think we tend to err on the side of caution and of course pay up

[pax britanica]

Mine has a while to go but end of next year will see me have to apply again. In the past I have used the Post Office Service which is worth the money I think as they check the application and take responsibility for delivery .

I will loath to lose my Mauve EU for a pathetic Blue one, it looked good on the old cardboard. Another Brexit lie of course since we could have had Blue passports at any time inside the EU as one or two countries did.

Not sure what the value of a UK passport is anymore either

[davidjohnson6]

A UK passport is still a remarkably powerful document (and I say this as a strong Remainer). Try comparing with other countries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_passport#Visa_requirements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Afghan_citizens#Visa_requirements_map

[Nightstop]

My passport renewal this year also took 3 weeks. Beware, the passport office requires your old passport to be sent to them before they will start processing your application. So, don’t plan a trip during the renewal process. The old and new passports are returned to you by courier separately.

[jolihokistix]

Just renewed online and sent off my old passport yesterday. The automated website informs you that it could take up to 11 weeks to process. They asked for about £105 including ‘courier fees’ for a 35 page passport, more for a 90 page, though it did not mention the number of years as I recall. (?)
I hope they return the old one, suitably cancelled of course, with my current visa stamps, and I hope the mail is reliable and nothing gets purloined in the process.
( Edit, oops, just registered nightstop’s last observation.)

[occasional]

Renewed at the end of July and took 3 - 4 weeks, but I am still waiting for the old passport. The most difficult aspect was taking a photograph which would be accepted by the computer - in my case it appeared that artificial lighting was essential.

[cubemaster]

My daughter renewed hers around 3 months ago. On line application with old passport sent by signed for delivery. Just over 2 weeks from application to getting both new uk and old eu passports back.
Old eu passport had 5 months left to run. New uk passport valid for 10 years from date of issue - the remaining 5 months of her old passport were not credited to her new passport. With the 6 months validity rule most people end up with a 9 1/2 year passport for regular travel habits.

[Dan Dare]

Visits to the EU now get stamped in and out so a standard 35 page passport may no longer last 9 years.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Thanks for all the replies, yes losing 6months from a 10 year passport is small-change in the grand scheme, but all the same if one pays for X, one expects X and not X-5%, especially as we are obliged to renew our passports due to entry requirements.

I'm glad to hear that the turnaround times are reasonable, but as noted it makes planning travel, or for that matter unexpected travel, difficult. Has anyone used an expedited service whilst renewing the UK passport and would share their experience ?

[davidjohnson6]

A few years ago, I used the UK's passport-in-a-hurry service - I was travelling roughly every 2 weeks, my passport was looking rather scruffy and I was regularly having difficulty convincing immigration officials outside the UK that my passport was not a forgery.
You pay extra for the speed, but if your paperwork is all in order and you are prepared to go to a passport office in person, the system delivers what it promises

[ZFT]

Visits to the EU now get stamped in and out so a standard 35 page passport may no longer last 9 years.
​​​​Living and working in Asia where visas and stamps are common place, a 90 page passport (pre covid) lasts 5 years if youre lucky!

[PAXboy]

The 6 month validty has been around for some time. In 2016 we went to Australia with SQ. We made a 12 hour gap in SIN to make a quick city tour.

At T2 check in they threatened to not let me board. Oz was happy with less than 6 months in the passport (I had checked) but SIN was not. Not even for transit, as I might have done a runner - although with the SIN Police, no sane person would try it.

SQ made me sign a form to absolve them of responsibility, and I signed to be a good boy. Then I got my boarding pass. This was clearly a SOP for them as they had a supply of the forms! So my companion did the tour and I enjoyed Changi airport.

With the current problems of countries closing boarders, probably not worth the risk. I did use the one day service in London once and it was very good.

[Dont Hang Up]

...but if your paperwork is all in order and you are prepared to go to a passport office in person, the system delivers what it promises

Currently that is a problem. I was back in the UK for 5 weeks in Jul/Aug and planned to do the renewal then, but found that it was impossible to book a passport office appointment (for Newport or Liverpool which are the only offices of practicable distance for me). The Covid excuse as usual. Something you do not discover until near the end of the online application process.

Thankfully, I still had the minimum six months remaining to get back into Europe, and have now gone down the pricey overseas online route. However, not comfortable being without passport for up to 11 weeks - and in normal times this would have put a severe constraint on my normal business travel, though not so much currently.

Why do they have to receive the old passport before they begin processing? They have got my money for doing the job, so receipt of the old passport should only be a pre-requisite for actually sending out the new one. The process is long enough without wasting a whole week.

[jolihokistix]

All too true, sadly.

As I reluctantly agreed to send off my ‘old’ but still valid passport, to entrust it to the unreliable postal system, a questionnaire popped up asking me to evaluate their online service. Was I satisfied? No, I was (am) having kittens and butterflies together, in a foreign land without a valid passport for ‘up to eleven weeks’. I enjoyed clicking the keys, maybe.

How the xxxx can you evaluate a system that might just work if you’re lucky?

[davidjohnson6]

Has anybody tried getting a colour photocopy of all the pages of a passport certified by a lawyer, and then sending that with a covering letter to HM Passport Office instead ? Especially when a person has a good reason for being unable to use the 1 week (or 1 day) fast-track services that HMPO offers in person, and can prove they are a frequent business traveller ?
I believe HMPO are reluctant to be seen as preventing British citizens from being able to work commercially if travel is part of their job

[MerchantVenturer]

Earlier this year my wife and I decided to renew our passports with about six months remaining on them.

We went to a Crown Post Office (Bristol in our case) having previously ascertained that no appointment was necessary. The counter clerk took our photographs and entered our details digitally on application forms. She then took possession of our old passports to return to the Passport Office. At the time the Press was warning that passport applications could take several months and the counter clerk told us it could take up to eleven weeks.

This was on a Wednesday. On return home the same day email acknowledgements of receipt of the digital applications awaited us (we don't have smart phones, only a desk top computer). On Thursday further emails told us the applications were being processed and on Friday I was told my new passport was on its way. It was delivered on Saturday just three days after I had applied for it. My wife's new passport arrived two days later on Monday. Our old passports were returned to us about a week later.

It cost a few quid more to go via the Post Office route but we considered it well worth the extra money.

[Asturias56]

davidjohnson6

Apply for an second passport - I've never had any problems as long as my Company gave me a covering letter

[PAXboy]

Talking of renewals - this could be fun!

Thousands of travellers are set to claim millions of pounds from airlines and holiday firms after being wrongly denied trips to Europe.

Since the UK left the European Union, The Independent has repeatedly warned the government that it is misrepresenting post-Brexit passport validity rules.

Two European Union rules for “third country nationals” apply. Travellers are told: “You will need a passport valid for at least three months after the date you intend to leave the EU country you are visiting [and] which was issued within the previous 10 years.”

The two conditions are independent of each other. That means you could happily go to Europe on 1 January 2022 with a passport issued on 2 January 2012 with an expiry date of 1 July 2022 and stay there until 31 March 2022.

But the UK government claims otherwise, and many travel firms have followed its online advice.

The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/passport-uk-eu-denied-boarding-b1920380.html)

[berkshire boy]

Earlier this year my wife and I decided to renew our passports with about six months remaining on them.

We went to a Crown Post Office (Bristol in our case) having previously ascertained that no appointment was necessary. The counter clerk took our photographs and entered our details digitally on application forms. She then took possession of our old passports to return to the Passport Office. At the time the Press was warning that passport applications could take several months and the counter clerk told us it could take up to eleven weeks.

This was on a Wednesday. On return home the same day email acknowledgements of receipt of the digital applications awaited us (we don't have smart phones, only a desk top computer). On Thursday further emails told us the applications were being processed and on Friday I was told my new passport was on its way. It was delivered on Saturday just three days after I had applied for it. My wife's new passport arrived two days later on Monday. Our old passports were returned to us about a week later.

It cost a few quid more to go via the Post Office route but we considered it well worth the extra money.

This is similar to my experience except that I made the application on line. On Wednesday last I had my photograph taken [Timpsons] and received 4 photographs and a digital photo reference to put on my application. That afternoon I submitted my application and posted off my old passport. By Friday morning I was informed that my old passport had been received, my application was successful and my new passport had been printed and despatched. I received it this Monday [TNT didn't deliver on a Saturday]. At the moment I am awaiting the return of my old passport - but this seems to take about a week. Excellent service and all done on line so no extra charges.

[Tim00]

I hold UK and Irish passports. Looking at the UK renewal process, the online system asks not only for my UK passport, but also the current Irish one. Presumably I've no choice but to send off both? I'm not happy about trusting both passports to the UK system and its postage.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Not that I doubt your words, but what does any other sovereign passport have to do with another country ? How would the details you supply, as in all those that the UK Govt already has by dint of you being a UK citizen, not suffice ?

[davidjohnson6]

To be fair to Tim00 - the UK passport form does ask for the applicant to send in all uncancelled passports, but I suspect the wording is perhaps a little too broad - maybe intended for people who already hold citizenship of another country and wishing to apply for their 1st UK passport. This allows the UK to have some sort of way to verify identity instead of just relying on potentially forged paperwork. Not foolproof, but forging passports with an embedded biometric chip is difficult, so the presence of a chip is a good way to filter out some of the fake applications

Mrs Johnson (UK citizen since birth, lived solely in the UK, never been a resident of Spain and has no Spanish Govt ID whatsoever) became a dual UK-Spanish national this year. She went to the Spanish consulate in London earlier today to apply for her 1st Spanish passport. The Spanish Govt in Madrid and the consulate in London have been VERY keen to see her UK passport multiple times to verify her identity as part of the process

[pax britanica]

UK Passports

The Uk passport remains a good one overall but its main use in the last 20 years has been ID for travel to Europe as we are too lazy to have ID cards and we are now third country nationals despite being Europeans. As the vast majority of all travel ex Uk is back and forth to Europe the passport is it is now no longer as good as it was .And all for nothing in return, No amount of pro Brexit nonsense can change the fact that the UK is in Europe and always will be and also that its only 20 miles away, no one is going to go to Sydney for the weekend and even though time difference makes a weekend trip to the US East coast possible its many many times more expensive than a trip to say Amsterdam or Paris and not an option for most of the population.. Also countries like Australia make work permits for Brits very onerous and while on paper the qualifications for a passport in UK and Aus are the same millions of Aussies have UK grandparents but very few Brits have Aussie grand parents, same with all the old colonial places and of course for many of them no one really wants to settle there anyway.. My pet peeve is that having lived in Bermuda for 10 years a UK passport has no special privileges at all even though BDA is still a colony . Work permits are extremely difficult to get and yet in recent years numerous Bermudians (relatively speaking as there are only 50,000 of then in total, ) come to the UK for medical treatment, social security or because they have a criminal record and cannot go the the US , another case where UK authorities allow completely asymmetric processes and privileges .

[paulc]

Renewed my passport in jan 2020 and was disappointed to still get a crappy red one instead of a nice blue one. Online system worked well and both new and old were back in a couple of weeks. Been gathering dust since though

[jolihokistix]

Exactly one month later and an automated message has arrived saying it’s in the post.
Another request to fill in their satisfaction survey, but I’ll hold on that until both my old and new passports are in my hands, thank you.
No real complaints so far…

[Asturias56]

"My pet peeve is that having lived in Bermuda for 10 years a UK passport has no special privileges at all even though BDA is still a colony . Work permits are extremely difficult to get and yet in recent years numerous Bermudians (relatively speaking as there are only 50,000 of then in total, )"

Perhaps because they want to keep Bermudan jobs for the Bermudans - I can't imagine there are a lot of good jobs there in the first place - FYI its much the same in the Falklands - limited time work permits only