Renewing a UK Child Passport - how long?

[Nockney]

DS1's passport ran out a bit ago (within the last year). We need to renew it. How long should this take? What is the fastest way?

(We need it for around April 10th. I think. I want to know how much I should be panicking.)

It took only about 2-3 weeks when we did ours.

10th April is my DDs birthday

We renewed DS1's passport a few weeks ago. It was really quick - about a week. But there's a note in the bumpf about what to do if it's near your departure date.
I'd brace yourself for the cost though - it's the best part of 50 quid!!!

It took less than a week for DS and DD

We did ours about this time last year - they arrived within a week using the standard service. I didn't even use the Post Office checking service as I like to think that I have enough of a brain to fill in a form

have just done this and it was really quick. about a week /10 days. the hard bit was complying with the mind boggling photo requirements and filling in the form. i did use p o service and it was good.

This has reminded me - DD needs a new passport before our summer holiday. She is only 2 days old on the current one Must take her for her photos this weekend and get it sorted.

get the form first so you know whatyou have to do.....

nly problem I encountered was that if you use a photo booth a child's face is too small to be large enough when sitting on the seat in the normal position. ds2 had to adopt a funny squatting position and move a bit closer to the screen, The other thing to remember is that you must have a plain white background so if there's a coloured curtain don't pull it across behind the child.

can you help me aswell??

Do I have to get ds's photo countersigned again??

if you GET THE FORM, all the info re photos / counter signatures etc is in the notes..... but i think the shortanswer is you only need to countersign a firstpassport application

Got one for ds2 a couple of weeks ago using the PO check and send. Took it to PO on Fri, got supporting docs back following Weds and passport on the Thurs. Pretty good, I'd say.

For the photos, places like Jessops take passport photos, they're not much more expensive than the booth ones but they check them against the passport criteria and redo them if they're not right. They did ds2 (who was 4 weeks old) lying on a special white cushion. They also cut them to the proper size.

tiredemma - you have to get them signed again if the appearance has changed noticably so if it's for a child then yes you will.

simplycontrolfreaky - a friend's 48 year old dh had to get his signed again as he'd gone grey & put on 2 stone

omg! the shame. poor man. enough to give anyone a mid life crisis

He's well past that stage

related question - I know you are supposed to have at least 6 months validity on your passport for some destinations (like the US) - does anyone know if this applies to children's 5 year passports as well?

sorry. have used up all my passport knowledge

I would expect it applies to child passports too. Some annoying countries (e.g. Canada) only issue 5-year passports to everyone, and I'm sure the passport-expiry thing matters for us, too. (Oddly, though, I was allowed into Canada with a nearly-expired Canadian passport. Dunno whether that's because I'm Canadian or because, bizarrely, this is the one passporty thing Canada's mellow about. I suspect it's the latter - they just want your passport to last as long as your trip.)

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