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Original poster

child passport renewal... what's the current lead time? tell me good news

43 replies

EducatingSweary · 13/02/2019 10:16

actually, tell me as it is... good or bad, quick or slow

i need to renew my teens passport ashe has matured quite a bit in the last 3 years since his current one was issued.

if you've renewed RECENTLY how quick was the process, start to finish?

OP posts:
UserUser123 · 13/02/2019 10:22

A renewal usually takes about 10 days. I am a civil servant and work in the same building as the Glasgow passport office.

WhatTheNightBrings · 13/02/2019 10:25

Matured? I didn't know passports have a 'maturity' field on them? Confused

Original poster
EducatingSweary · 13/02/2019 10:26

no... my TEEN has maturedHmm

OP posts:
Original poster
EducatingSweary · 13/02/2019 10:26

.... and looks very different now

OP posts:
RockyFlintstone · 13/02/2019 10:27

I think you can turn it round in a week in an emergency can't you? Don't know if you have to pay extra.

Why does it matter if your child has 'matured'? My 4 year old looks quite different to the passport photo he got when he was a few months old!

JustHereWithMyPopcorn · 13/02/2019 10:27

Just done DS's, took a week.

alwaysdressedinyellow · 13/02/2019 10:28

I've just had the text to say my mines arriving tomorrow. I posted it last week - didn't pay extra for fast track.

Sycamoretrees · 13/02/2019 10:28

As long as the passport is in date it doesn't need renewing...

Littlechocola · 13/02/2019 10:29

If it’s still in date don’t renew.
It took 4-5 days for mine and dd’s. Mine had a name change and hers was first adult passport.

JustHereWithMyPopcorn · 13/02/2019 10:30

My older DS is almost 15 and his passport is still in date, he looks like a completely different person in it as the photo looks like a very young child whereas now he is 6' tall and his face has changed completely through puberty. He's going abroad this week and I'm praying they let him through passport control!!

dementedpixie · 13/02/2019 10:32

If it still has 2 years left I wouldn't renew. You won't get any of the extra added on and its expensive

Pythonesque · 13/02/2019 10:33

Children's passports are valid for 5 years regardless of their appearance. You don't need to renew it until within 6 months of expiry, at the earliest.

dementedpixie · 13/02/2019 10:34

I have 3 to renew this year Sad. Gonna be expensive

Fredathetortoise · 13/02/2019 10:37

Just did mine, it took 2 1/2 weeks from filling in the form online to getting the new one via courier

mateysmum · 13/02/2019 10:37

My adult renewal will arrive today. I applied online on 8th Feb. You can even do your own photos and upload them yourself - for an adult at least.
If you sign up for text updates, they let you know progress regularly.
But as others say, if it doesn't need renewing why would you? Wait till it expires. DS recently renewed his passport for his first adult. He looked a lot different at 18 than he did at 13, but it was no problem.

bumpertobumper · 13/02/2019 10:58

It doesn't matter if they look different. My 4yo looks a bit different to the 3 month old baby in her passport photo.

I don't think you actually can renew until about 6 moths left of validity.

megletthesecond · 13/02/2019 11:02

My dc's expire in August and I'm renewing them now, pre-Brexit Blush. We don't even go abroad.

WinterHeatWave · 13/02/2019 11:05

If it doesn't expire soon, and you obviously have a travel date in mind, I wouldn't renew.
Wait until you have a gap where it doesn't matter if it takes 6 days or 6 weeks (and counting Angry) for it to come back. The average processing time may be short, but there are blips in the process, which can delay things from all sides.

The border control staff are trained to look at different things to identify people from photos. If your child has just grown typically, dont worry about the photo being 3 years old.

NataliaOsipova · 13/02/2019 11:06

Did mine via the post office service last Sunday; apparently it’s coming today. So 10 days.

Quartz2208 · 13/02/2019 11:15

Your face does not mature as much as you think - passport officers are trained to recognise the points on the fact that remain unique to you.

You may think she has changed a lot but unless she has had massive amounts of plastic surgery they will still recognise her

As you clearly are off soon it will be fine

Mmmmbrekkie · 13/02/2019 11:17

@megletthesecond

If you don’t go abroad, why are you renewing “pre-brexit”??

ZanyMobster · 13/02/2019 11:21

Does it actually matter what they look like now if there is still time left? My DSs had passports as newborns and still had their passports for 5 years, one of them even had a different colour eyes in their photo.

Fluffyears · 13/02/2019 11:31

Don’t use the post office service it's a rip off and it actually states in the passport literature that they don’t get done any faster. If you don’t have the intelligence to write your name in the box marked ‘Name’ and need to pay someone to check that you did that please don’t go abroad! I posted mine by special delivery and got it back exactly a week later.

anniehm · 13/02/2019 11:45

Took 6 days a few weeks ago, standard service (not express) was very impressed

Boysnme · 13/02/2019 12:04

I’ve just done my kids via the post office check and send (did have to pay extra for it) sent it Thursday last week, got a text Friday saying it would be with me 29/2, had a text today saying they would be with me tomorrow. So assuming it comes tomorrow it’s been a really quick turnaround.

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