Advice: urgent child passport renewal

[sandcw]

My ex is taking our 6yr old son on holiday to Iceland on Sat 12 Feb and we've just realised his passport has expired. Now desperately looking for solutions as DS is so excited and will be devastated.

The premium passport service seems only to be available for adult renewals - we are looking at the online premium service which means an appointment on Thursday and passport 1 week after that ie too late.

Does anyone know any workarounds/ other services we can use or does the trip need to be cancelled? Help!

Thanks for any insight....

You'd need to speak to the passport office to see if they can offer a faster method

If it helps, we just renewed a child passport using the online service. We held up the process a bit (once because didn't realise the 'witness' had to be on the approved occupation list, once because we sent in a duff photo and had to redo it) and even with both those things it was a pretty quick turnaround. Think we submitted the properly filled out form on 6 Jan and the new passport was sent out on 13th, arriving a couple of days later. But ringing to see if there's a one-day service option is probably the safest bet!

I will ring first thing tomorrow:) Thanks for the encouraging response nightcap. I can't find any info about the witness - is this the same as what's needed for the digital check and send service at the post office? I'm thinking that if we need a proper digital photo that might be best option.

Fastest service for child is 7 days. Have you looked to see when the next available appointment is at any of the offices?

Sorry to jump on this post, but was just about to start a similar thread. Does anybody know how long the normal process takes for child passport?

We're in London. 1st appointment is on Thursday or Durham on Tuesday! They say a week from there....

My daughter just got my granddaughters first passport back today and that took 3 weeks from the date it was sent

I did a fast track appointment for my child’s first passport. It’s meant to arrive within a week but it came already yesterday. I did however make the appointment two weeks in advance

Sorry I should have said 'countersignatory' rather than witness - there's a list of the recognised professions they have to be from here: list

We've just done two renewals. One for child passport for my 14 year old, one for an adult passport for my 16 year old. Both online with a photo I took on my phone. No faster service paid for. No signing of photos needed.

14 year old: applied on 12th, passport arrived on 20th

16 year old: applied on 10th, passport arrived on 26th. We think most of delay was them acknowledging the passport was returned.

Sorry forgot to mention that the appt was on a Thursday (and it arrived the following Thursday)

I applied for x2 child passport renewals on evening 5rh July last year. One came on 15th, one came on 17th. Unless you can have an appointment today or Friday, or poss Saturday depending on when the flight is and whether they count seven days after or including the appointment day, tou may be a little stuck. As others have said, suggest ringing today and seeing what can be done. I think this is going to happen to a lot of people whobwould usually ensure passports are up to date.... Covid kind of made it less relevant.

The train from London to Durham only takes three hours. It can take that long to get across London sometimes!

Thanks everyone for your replies. The passport office confirmed that the quickest way to renew a child passport is to make a physical appointment and it should be one week after that. So the trip is cancelled.....

I wouldn't count on it being here in time tbh.

Though last year my renewal took 6 days between me doing the online forms and the new one arriving in the post! I was gobsmacked.

Sorry you had to cancel