Page 5 | Baby's first passport delays

Sunshinexx95 · 2022-04-14T09:10:16+00:00

Hi everyone, Give me some hope please 😭🙏 I applied on the 17th of feb Had delays in confirming identity 11th of March Sent documents on the 15th of March System updated received on the 29th of March It was all sent to Peterborough I'm booked for holiday on the 29th of April which I am pretty sure it will be cancelled now. I'm so sad ... I just want an update on the application and have been calling them mornings afternoons and evenings but it gets cut off after 10 min.

Dontstoprunning · 25/05/2022 21:35

@Happymamaoftwo have you managed to get yours yet?
My child renewal has just gone into processing

Findingthisdifficult1234 · 25/05/2022 21:55

just reading everyone’s replies! And panicking that I sent my applications through the post office and not online! I didn’t realise online is actually quicker.
Sounds like a complete nightmare.
Hope you managed to get it sorted OP

Happymamaoftwo · 30/05/2022 21:12

Absolute! Total! Nightmare! We are due to fly on Saturday (4th) and still no passport! The last 2 weeks have been hell! I was told via the call centre team (you always seem to get through to but have no actual answers) too wait until exactly 2 weeks before I fly and I qualify for an upgrade which I thought was amazing and continued to pack for the holiday! I was driving and missed the call back 3 days later but I still had time and arranged another call back which now almost 10 days later hasnt happend! Everytime I call back for an update, they tell me that the call back is logged I just need to wait for the upgrade team to call me back! Tomorrow is the last day of waiting before we will have to pay a large fee to keep the holiday and move it to a later date so we don't loose the entire holiday. The problem I'm having is I'm none the wiser if I will actually get the upgrade call ever! I've also sent flight info to the Peterborough office to prove the holiday is booked and NO response for also almost 8 days! So if I re-arrange it, will I actuallty make the second booked trip! we simply do not want to and cannot afford to travel in the school holidays, the prices sky rocket and with 2 under 3 we want to take advantage of the out of season travel prices! I think we have been terribly unlucky with our 2 week upgrade time falling during half term in the UK and now the jubliee Bank Holiday which we was supposed to be in the sunshine for! The whole experience has totally killed getting my 3 year old excited about our holiday, I'm to embarrassed to mention it to friends because it's such a mess and me and my partner are now arguing about it! I just wish they would call people back when they say they will and stop people from paying £1000s for there mess and having aniexity for one phone call to save a holiday its ridiculous! Sorry for the rant! So upset! So down about it all!

Did anyone get a call back and pick there babies passport up literally the day b4 the holiday? I still need some hope!

Dontstoprunning · 30/05/2022 22:23

Happymamaoftwo · 30/05/2022 21:12

Absolute! Total! Nightmare! We are due to fly on Saturday (4th) and still no passport! The last 2 weeks have been hell! I was told via the call centre team (you always seem to get through to but have no actual answers) too wait until exactly 2 weeks before I fly and I qualify for an upgrade which I thought was amazing and continued to pack for the holiday! I was driving and missed the call back 3 days later but I still had time and arranged another call back which now almost 10 days later hasnt happend! Everytime I call back for an update, they tell me that the call back is logged I just need to wait for the upgrade team to call me back! Tomorrow is the last day of waiting before we will have to pay a large fee to keep the holiday and move it to a later date so we don't loose the entire holiday. The problem I'm having is I'm none the wiser if I will actually get the upgrade call ever! I've also sent flight info to the Peterborough office to prove the holiday is booked and NO response for also almost 8 days! So if I re-arrange it, will I actuallty make the second booked trip! we simply do not want to and cannot afford to travel in the school holidays, the prices sky rocket and with 2 under 3 we want to take advantage of the out of season travel prices! I think we have been terribly unlucky with our 2 week upgrade time falling during half term in the UK and now the jubliee Bank Holiday which we was supposed to be in the sunshine for! The whole experience has totally killed getting my 3 year old excited about our holiday, I'm to embarrassed to mention it to friends because it's such a mess and me and my partner are now arguing about it! I just wish they would call people back when they say they will and stop people from paying £1000s for there mess and having aniexity for one phone call to save a holiday its ridiculous! Sorry for the rant! So upset! So down about it all!

Did anyone get a call back and pick there babies passport up literally the day b4 the holiday? I still need some hope!

Can you get to Peterborough Pasport office on Wednesday? You'd have to go early. As long as you applied more than 6 weeks ago and are travelling in the next 48 hours they are printing them on the day.
There's a group on Facebook called "passport chaos 2022" and there's so much useful info on there, lots of people are queuing up at passport offices early hours and leaving with passports.

Happymamaoftwo · 30/05/2022 23:03

@Dontstoprunning great thank you so much for the info! I actually said as a joke we should just drive to Peterborough and try our luck! But if there is a slim chance I can get the passport and get out of this hell situation I will travel anywhere! Thanks again and I'll keep you posted!

Happymamaoftwo · 04/06/2022 20:32

OMG Nightmare finally over we have a passport! Just want to share my Peterborough experience today in the hope it may help some one else. I was in two minds if to go or not because its quite a few miles away and we would have been so deverstated if I didn't get the passport after such a terrible 2 weeks with the call centre, but it was worth a try with a beautiful holiday in the background we really need right now. I got to the office today at 7.45am, a massive queue was outside and I mean big. By 8.30am customer service advisors was speaking to each person in the queue (without appointments) and only people travelling within 48 hours was being offered the opportunity to go into the office so alot of people turned away. By 10am I was seen, one to one, by an agent and charged £95 extra and told to return at 1pm for my babies passport. The office is in the middle of the town centre so time can easily be killed. I returned at 1pm to a long queue and it wasn't until 2.55pm, 5 mins before closing I had my babies passport in my hands so it's been a long day but we will make our flights late tonight/tomorrow! The staff are very helpful, polite and do genuinely want to help people so it makes the chaos of the last few weeks feel worth it in the end in a strange way. I took the hit of the long day in the cold and left the children with my husband and I would definitely advise you spliting up to get it sorted with out the stress of feeding and entertaining little ones because it's not a quick process. If I knew I may have had the chance to collect my babies passport a few days before my flight weeks again it would have saved alot of stress, calling etc... so hope this might give some hope to someone else (that is my story today and I know things seem to change all the time so please don't take what I have said as set rules I may have just been lucky today but what I will say is it's defo worth a try!) X

Dontstoprunning · 04/06/2022 21:27

Happymamaoftwo · 04/06/2022 20:32

OMG Nightmare finally over we have a passport! Just want to share my Peterborough experience today in the hope it may help some one else. I was in two minds if to go or not because its quite a few miles away and we would have been so deverstated if I didn't get the passport after such a terrible 2 weeks with the call centre, but it was worth a try with a beautiful holiday in the background we really need right now. I got to the office today at 7.45am, a massive queue was outside and I mean big. By 8.30am customer service advisors was speaking to each person in the queue (without appointments) and only people travelling within 48 hours was being offered the opportunity to go into the office so alot of people turned away. By 10am I was seen, one to one, by an agent and charged £95 extra and told to return at 1pm for my babies passport. The office is in the middle of the town centre so time can easily be killed. I returned at 1pm to a long queue and it wasn't until 2.55pm, 5 mins before closing I had my babies passport in my hands so it's been a long day but we will make our flights late tonight/tomorrow! The staff are very helpful, polite and do genuinely want to help people so it makes the chaos of the last few weeks feel worth it in the end in a strange way. I took the hit of the long day in the cold and left the children with my husband and I would definitely advise you spliting up to get it sorted with out the stress of feeding and entertaining little ones because it's not a quick process. If I knew I may have had the chance to collect my babies passport a few days before my flight weeks again it would have saved alot of stress, calling etc... so hope this might give some hope to someone else (that is my story today and I know things seem to change all the time so please don't take what I have said as set rules I may have just been lucky today but what I will say is it's defo worth a try!) X

Oh well done I'm glad you went, I knew you'd get it by showing up, so many people are.
This will be me in a few weeks no doubt.

Happymamaoftwo · 04/06/2022 22:08

@Dontstoprunning never again will I put the family in this situation! If we have a third child I'll be doing the passport the same time as the birth certificate!

Well if you do go, take a flask of coffee a plan of bits to shop for in a city centre, warm clothes an umbrella and patience then hopefully you'll get a result! I just hope they don't change it again because it's so helpful knowing it can happen even if its hours before you need to leave for the airport like us! Let's hope I'm not caught up in the queues at the airport now and finally get my cocktail by the pool whilst the babies r playing and the husband is sleeping.lol. Good Luck and thanks for the geniually helpful info This chat been so helpful! (Again sorry for the typos guys I'm not the best fast typer/speller)

Dontstoprunning · 04/06/2022 22:13

Happymamaoftwo · 04/06/2022 22:08

@Dontstoprunning never again will I put the family in this situation! If we have a third child I'll be doing the passport the same time as the birth certificate!

Well if you do go, take a flask of coffee a plan of bits to shop for in a city centre, warm clothes an umbrella and patience then hopefully you'll get a result! I just hope they don't change it again because it's so helpful knowing it can happen even if its hours before you need to leave for the airport like us! Let's hope I'm not caught up in the queues at the airport now and finally get my cocktail by the pool whilst the babies r playing and the husband is sleeping.lol. Good Luck and thanks for the geniually helpful info This chat been so helpful! (Again sorry for the typos guys I'm not the best fast typer/speller)

I hope you all have an amazing holiday, you deserve it! 🍸 🍹

Restingpotato · 07/06/2022 10:56

I've a question about the supporting documents for those who've sent them and got their passports back, when did the documents get returned? I had to send my passport as a supporting document and worrying that even if I get the child's one back I won't get mine back in time. Holiday in 3.5 weeks!

Happymamaoftwo · 13/06/2022 13:13

@Restingpotato I hope youve got your passport back! If not, when I was at Peterborough to get my babies passport they was calling people in first that had come to collect documents. So If you haven't had it back and your starting to get in that two week window I'd scrap calling and plan to head down to the passport office soon! I'm sure you will get it back quickly if you go first thing, especially if you say its your PASSPORT! So bad they haven't returned it! Good Luck

Restingpotato · 13/06/2022 17:38

Happymamaoftwo · 13/06/2022 13:13

@Restingpotato I hope youve got your passport back! If not, when I was at Peterborough to get my babies passport they was calling people in first that had come to collect documents. So If you haven't had it back and your starting to get in that two week window I'd scrap calling and plan to head down to the passport office soon! I'm sure you will get it back quickly if you go first thing, especially if you say its your PASSPORT! So bad they haven't returned it! Good Luck

Thanks, I finally have! For anyone that comes to the thread it took 12.5 weeks to get 1st passport but after it was approved on a Friday it arrived on Tuesday, supporting documents arrived following Friday so we will be able to go abroad.