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In Praise Of Hm Passport Office

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I needed to renew my passport and even though I'd got 8 months left on my current passport, I decided to renew it early, because I'd read so many horror stories about huge delays and huge backlogs in HM Passport Office. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised to get a much quicker and better response than I was expecting. I submitted my application on 12th April, using the Post Office "Digital Check& Send" service.  HMPO texted/emailed me at every stage of the process and my new passport was successfully delivered to me on 3rd May. The whole process took only 3 weeks. I'm sure HMPO deserve some of the criticism they've had, but they did well on this occasion, so I thought it only fair to give them a bit of praise,

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Was it a ten year one,  I bought one of those in 2000 and only used it twice,  so next time it will be a yearly one if that's still possible.

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41 minutes ago, cressida said:

Was it a ten year one,  I bought one of those in 2000 and only used it twice,  so next time it will be a yearly one if that's still possible.

They did away with them years ago.

You can only get a ten year one I’m afraid.

Edited by nikki-red

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🙂Thanks for that info.  Nikki

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Yes - it was ten year one. I don't think they do the one year passports any longer. I too had only used my previous passport twice to travel abroad in the last ten years, but so many transactions require proof of identity these days and most will only accept either a passport or a full driving licence as proof. I'm a non-driver, so a passport is a must for me - even though I have no intention of going abroad in the foreseeable future. For example, I recently closed a small savings account with Santander and they demanded my passport or driving licence as proof of ID.  I had my old bank passbooks, copies of the previous bank statements - but they'd only accept passport/driving licence.

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Yes mine was super quick too, I renewed in the new year, there was a bit of a delay acknowledging receipt of my old passport which was probably just caught up in the Christmas backlog but after that I had my new passport in a couple of days.  I think a lot of the horror stories are from people needing passports urgently. Can’t be avoided sometimes I guess but if you can renew early that’s probably wise!

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I have a similar experience. In 2020, when my daughter was born, I applied for her passport. Now, I read horror stories about rejections and problems when it comes to kids of EU nationals due to the Brexit etc.

 

However, it was surprisingly straight forward. We sent her birth certificate, our settled status confirmations, and, in 2 weeks time, there it was, her British passport with her 2 months old picture, :D

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