What do people who need to travel for work etc do when their passport needs renewing?.

[Beamsss]

DP has one of those passports that needs renewing before expirly because of the 10 year thing.

So, as soon as we got back from our last trip, and without any overseas work lined up, he sent it off for renewal. That was 3 weeks ago.

He's SE and since then he's had to turn down two lucrative jobs in Germany because he doesn't know when his passport will be back.

Obviously it's too late for him now, but what should he have done? What do people who can't be without a passport do?

You get a second passport. My dad had 2. If he constantly travels for work then why hasn’t he looked into this and got an additional passport? It’s one of the allowed reasons.

Yep.
DDad and DBro had 2 passports.

next time could he do a quick turnaround appt? is it something like 24 hours? it is much more expensive but probably not as much as turning down a lucrative contract!

Everyone I know who travels frequently with work has two passports - it also helps when having to wait for visas. Here is the guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/additional-passports/additional-passports-accessible#processing-applications

Same day renewal appointment?

As PP have posted depending on the industry your husband works in you can apply for a second passport but not everyone is eligible. Alternatively, which is what we do as we live abroad now you can do a fast track passport which takes a week.

Same day renewal, or expedited service depending on my travel plans.

2nd passport.

Ah. Ok I didn't even know a 2nd passport was a thing. Something to investigate for next time.

He doesn't travel regualrly exactly but every now and again, a couple of days work in Europe comes up, which he'll take if it pays well enough.

I renewed and paid a fee for express service, it was super quick.

I just got an express appointment. Only a few extra pounds and went to the passport office in Newport and got it done there and then

My DH had to leg it to Liverpool to the passport office there for a quick turnaround when he was told he was going to Mumbai the following week.

DP has two passports. His work paid for the second one.

I pay the extra £ & go to passport place on Newport & get it done same day.

Bit of a pain, but being without my passport when I'm out weekly & loosing £thousands was more of a pain!

People who want to avoid being without their passport book an appointment - its usually 48 hrs from booking and attend the office and then 4 hrs after the appointment they go back and collect the new passport

You go for 2 passports or you go for an express replacement.

You can get same day and 1 week services.

My husband has a second passport because of this. Sometimes a passport can be held for a few weeks at an Embassy while the visa is issued, but he still needs to be able to leave the UK. He had to send a supporting letter to the passport office from a couple of his clients. It didn’t seem to be much of a fuss and bother.

Is his passport a UK passport? Because over the last few years, I have not had one that has taken more than 2 weeks once I sent my old one in so I think he has been a bit unlucky here. I just renewed DS' passport. The longest part of the process was from when I sent it to when I got the notification that they'd received it - I think that was about a week. From then to when it dropped through the door was no more than another week.

He posted it 8th June and had an email on Friday to say it was received. No indication of when he might get the new one.

A second passport especially if you have to visit say, Israel, and Jordan for example. You can keep the stamps discrete.

You get a same day appointment to renew it.

Mmm, that is slow - you've definitely been unlucky. I posted DS' around the same time, maybe a day or two earlier, and I got it back last Friday. I got the "we have received it" notification on the 16th, the approval and printed notifications on 24th and it arrived on 26th. So, if it's a SIMILAR timeline once it's logged into the system, you'd receive it by Monday at the latest?

I do think it's the logging it into the system that seems to take the most time. I assume they all just sit in a huge basket somewhere and it's someone's job to open them all and start the processing. Maybe the heatwave caused a further slowdown on that?

V irritating for you.

It takes a week to renew unless there’s an issue.

My DH and I both travel for work. We pay for same day appointments to renew passports.

If he doesn't qualify for 2 passports then same day appointment, that's what DH does.