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 should always renew in spring it is so much quicker. Usually takes a week then. As the application has already been I don’t think you can fast track it now.

I used to travel overseas for work and simply made an appointment at the passport office, went into London and got it done on the day. It is very quick and easy provided you have booked the appointment in advance.
I also always paid extra for a fat passport (more pages). It lasts the same length of time but you are less likely to fill it up before the ten years runs out. Many countries need you to have two blank pages in your passport as well as for it to be in date.

my husband has 2, and they can be extra useful to keep stamps from countries in conflict away from one another

You can get a letter from your employer stating that you need to keep your passport and then you have to photocopy every page and send it in to the passport office instead.

I renewed my British passport recently and it was back in less than a week. I was pretty impressed with the turnaround. Also did my Irish one and it was painful, over 2 months. I don’t know how Irish people manage it if they aren’t eligible for any other passports

Yep, 2 passports (you can actually have up to 3, but the third one will be for a limited period of time), plus pay for the quickest renewal you can.

Same here for DS. Posted it on 4th. They confirmed it arrived on the 5th. New one delivered to me on the 15th.

It probably also depends on which passport office you have to send it to.

My db has 3. One has visas in that are better not in the passport when he goes to another particular country that he has to go to. Also sometimes his passport is away getting a visa added when he needs to travel. He has to be careful to travel with the one checked in.

I think you were unlucky…that’s far longer than usual for Irish passport renewal.

I would have chosen a 'quiet' time of year and paid for the overnight/expedited service, even if the 'quiet' time for the passport office meant I lost a few months of passport.

My DH had two passports. There were some countries he travelled to that would not allow him if they saw the other countries he visited! But it’s a legitimate thing to have two passports for just the reason you state.

IME, two passports tends to be for those who regularly need to send their passport off for visas. If you just travel frequently but to countries for which you don’t need a visa or can just apply online, then just do one of the expedited options

There was a big backlog when I applied due to changes introduced for dual citizens meaning lots of people were applying to get one who would ordinarily just have travelled on their other passport. Think the usual turnaround is still around 4 weeks though, if there aren’t any delays

Second passport, or pay for the fast track service - and expense it if employed by a company that requires international travel frequently or at short notice.

Or next renewal do it in Jan/feb as usually quicker then, dh’s took5 days

You get a 2nd or even a 3rd passport. My DH did for similar reasons.

Exactly this. Same for my DH.

All I know is I got mine within a week last year 🤔
I know there are same day and 4 day processing options too (for a fee), but you need to be in Dublin or Cork for those.

You can get a 4hr turnaround appointment at the passport office. I used this last time as I had didn’t want to be without my passport as DS was abroad for a period and I wanted to ensure I could get to him in an emergency at any time.

Surely you renew your passport in January not the peak season. I renewed mine in November. It was four working days from submitting application to delivery of new one. All done online.

DH paid extra for the expedited passport and expensed the fees to his employer.

You can get a 1 day renewal

Came on to say 2 passports.

Did he do the renewal online? If so, he should be able to log into his account and see where it's got to in the process, otherwise I'm sure there'll be a number he can call somewhere to find out what the delay is/expected time.

I just do same day appointment for mine. I also have a super large passport with extra pages :) (50 vs 34 so it doesn’t run out too quickly!)