So I sent off applications for my step childrens passports in June. I haven't booked travel but we were hoping to go away the last week of August - which is starting to look unlikely now. After 3 weeks I filled in the tracking form and got an email back saying they were in examination. I replied to that email asking if any further documents were needed and I was given vague answer about documents being requested within a few days of examination starting. I phoned the 0300 number about 10 days ago and I was told they'd been in examination since the 25th of June and should be sent out any day. She even told me I'd be fine to go ahead and book a holiday for the last week of August which surprised me. I'm glad I didn't listen to her. I phoned again on Wednesday and I was told that they were about to be sent to print and I should get a text within 24 hours. She told me that they would be in my hands within 6 days. The next day we got a letter saying they need the childrens mothers birth certificate now! It was dated the same day as I was told all that guff about being sent to print. 5 weeks of active examination! We can't get the birth certificate from her as she's obstructive at the best of times and barely has any contact with us since the children came to live here. So we'll have to order it from the GRO website and the fast track service for that is about £25 I think. But when I phoned up the other 0300 number (not the tracking one, the enquiries) the man I spoke to says he has no idea why we've been asked for it as we've sent in the court order giving us residence and PR. And they've only sent it for one of the children, the other two aren't mentioned. So I don't know whether to order it or try and speak to someone and see if it really is needed. I tried to call the 0845 number and got disconnected after 45 minutes! I'm currently listening to the hold message on that number on loud speaker, 29 minutes so far.
I've emailed my MP but had no response so far so last night I emailed Paul Pugh as I've seen suggested on here before. Anyone had any recent success with that or do too many people know about it now and they're just swamped in emails?
I knew I shouldn't have trusted the rubbish they spouted on that 0300 number and started to get excited. 