Amazing service - digital passport application

[Figmentofmyimagination]

I’m so impressed by this new service to renew my passport. Completed in a week, start to finish. I had to go and have a digital photo taken in a shop and they gave me a code to input into my online application, so no need anymore for tiny photos of me countersigned by a neighbour with a worthy job eg solicitor etc who has known me for years and says it’s really me. Instead I just filled in the online application, inserted the code and paid online, posted off my old passport, and got the new one through my front door in under a week, with text updates at every stage. Very impressed.

i suppose my aibu is, given that there is so much to moan about, isn’t it good to give a shout out to such a great improvement in gov service. And lots of us stress about how long a passport takes to renew.

Exactly my experience, too.

Although I didn't actually need a passport. I was just renewing my passport so I could renew my driving licence online.

This is great to hear given I'm about to do my children's passport renewal.

Anyone reading this just be aware the price of passports is rising slightly in Feb.

I applied online on Monday, posted my old passport off on Tuesday, got a text and email on Thursday to say that they had received it, and have had an email today to say that my new passport has been printed and will be transferred to the delivery supplier in the next few days.

Impressive.

Oh great I need a new one. Can you take a photo on your phone and use that?

i renewed mine in summer expecting a wait and it was 12 days from sending it digitally to receiving it. I used a booth for photos rather than a shop but yeah got a code. I sent the passport the next day via the post office. So yeah great.

I’ve never had to have it signed on photos for a renewal though I think that’s just for brand new passports.

I think you can but it still has to meet very strict requirements about size and light/positioning etc or they reject it. Was just as easy to use a booth or a shop tbh.

I’d love to say the same. We started the renewal process in November for my child. The passport agency has lost his old passport after we posted it to them but we didn’t realise because for a month over Christmas they stopped sending us messages asking us to send it (so we assumed they had it) and only started sending them again last weekend. Now we travel in three weeks, we have to report it lost by post - because when we first applied for it no one scanned the details in - and our holiday is in doubt. It’s very stressful.

I posted off DS's birth certificate for his first passport on Tuesday and it was printed yesterday. Very impressed!

There are still some passport applications that need a counter signature - you add the persobs email address, and they get an email to do the declaration.
So, sometimes you will still need a person of good standing that has known you over 2 years. That hasn't changed. It's usually for first passports and kids passports. Most adults are recognizable from a picture that is 10 years old, and that is what is used as the "his is a true likeness" bit.

I renewed one of my kid’s passports recently and it took less than a week to get the new one.

I didn’t need to get it countersigned either which was unexpected.

Agree, amazing service. The only delay was by the Royal Mail, paid for tracked 1st class but took well over a week for the passport office to receive my old passport.
Great text and email updates as well.
Impressed! Not so much with the Royal Mail though.

I sent off for my renewal a week ago, months before it was actually due because I thought it would be quicker this time of year.

Too many horror stories last summer about them getting stuck, so I’d rather “lose” a few months and have it back.

Pretty sad to see the back of my 2013 photo though, where I had just got back from Thailand and looked 👌

lividity yes I was very sad to see the change in 10 years from 49 to 59. You don’t often see it staring back at you so clearly. It’s like getting a passport for my old mum (now deceased!) rather than me. Yikes.

Hopefully a few people will read this and get their passports renewed now rather than waiting until after Easter. It's happened so many times, shock horror, it's busier in summer!

As part of the many hours I’ve spent on the phone with both the Passport Agency and Royal Mail this week I have learned that the passports are delivered to a PO Box initially and then the Passport Agency needs to request them to be sent to the actual office, at which point they are formally scanned. So it may not be Royal Mail that caused the delay. Ours made it to the PO Box three days after being posted but has now disappeared.

I’ve put off renewing DD’s for months now as I was dreading the photos/counter signing, general messing about. But I feel quite inspired now to get it sorted this weekend - especially if the prices are going up, so thanks OP!

I'm delighted to hear all these positive experiences, by a strange coincidence I sent my application and old passport in yesterday.

It’s really not difficult at all. We just did applications and used mobiles to take pictures, it was very easy.

I renewed my child's passport recently. Took a photo of him on my phone, uploaded it.
New passport, with text updates along the way, delivered in 12 days!

I was just about to start a thread on this, so this is great to hear! 😊😊

I renewed mine online on Tuesday last week and received my new passport less than 72 hours later on the Friday! Started application on my iphone, took a selfie (noting the requirements, then easily added it to my application and it tells you if the photo is poor, good etc, so you can try another if necessary. Next day said old passport received, next day application approved, being printed.

I am not smartphone-minded by any means, only have one to contact family on WhatsApp, but it couldn't have been simpler! Texts and email updates throughout and surprisingly efficient service in my experience!

@Longcoldwinter (love the user name), that is impressive! I filled in the online form to renew last Thursday night, posted the old one Friday and the new one was delivered yesterday- one week for the whole process. A reason to be cheerful! My photo less so. 😁

Applied for mine on Sunday evening, sent old passport back on Monday lunchtime. Passport received by the passport office on Wednesday. Approved and printed on Thursday. Delivered on Friday.

Couldn’t believe how fast I got it back - 5 days from application to dropping on my doormat.

I did recently, no counter signatory needed and it was back within a week. I countersigned one for someone via the online form and that one came back within a week o me doing the form

I know there are problems but I've hd excellent service