UK passport online-premium-service

[anothernotherone]

Has anyone used the online premium service to renew a passport during a visit to London while living overseas? Is it a practical option during a short trip - say a 3 day midweek stay?

You would need to book an appointment at one of the passport offices. They can do 1 day adult renewals

Ah they have changed the name of the different services they offer. So you apply online, make the appointment and then get the new passport at the appointment

Oh I didn't realise there was more than one!

Just googled and saw them in Peterborough etc.

Do you know whether you need to prove you need the passport urgently? I have a German ID card so can travel on that in the EU and could apply for a German passport, not sure whether that would make me non urgent... Brexit though... My British passport expires in August.

www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently/online-premium-service just says you can use it to renew a passport that has expired or is about to expire

No if you pay for fast track that’s all that matters.

There are Passport Customer Service Centres in:

Belfast
Durham
Glasgow
Liverpool
London
Newport
Peterborough

Thanks. I did read the gov.uk information, before posting, just wasn't sure how to interpret the direction only to use it if you need a passport urgently. There's an interview if you want it straight away, would be very frustrating to be told at the appointment to go away and use the non urgent procedure!

Am very tempted to doa quick solo or +1 teen trip to London to renew my passport next month to have it before Brexit.

If it was non urgent you would need to be in the uk for up to 3 weeks. As long as you pay the fast track fee I doubt they will turn you down

From another page:

Adult passport renewals

To renew your passport, use the:

urgent renewal serviceif you’re in the UK for 3 weeks or less

standard renewal serviceif you’re in the UK for more than 3 weeks

If you apply while you’re in the UK, your passport can only be delivered to a UK address - don’t book any travel until you’ve got it.

www.gov.uk/passport-application-while-visiting-uk from here

dementedpixie yep, I'd much rather pick up my passport in person rather than have it sent to my parents address, which is in a part of the UK considerably more time consuming to get to from abroad than London.

I can travel without it on my German ID card, but I also don't want to send my German ID to them (it says you have to send them other passports, but hopefully they wouldn't expect ID cards sent as you legally have a lot be able to present it at any time! Still whether they expect it could be a grey area...)

I'd really rather use the one day service and just go to London for a couple of days, sounds as though it is a feasible option!

*not sure where "a lot" came from. Random unintended extra phrase in my last post!

I think you can just send a full colour copy of all other passports if applying from abroad. An ID card wont be too much of a pain to meet that requirement.

We've renewed from abroad successfully 3 times.

Just renewed my husbands on line. Posted the old one back last Saturday and new one arrived yesterday on standard service.

MollysMummy2010 I haven't even looked into doing it from here because renewed from here and changed to my married name at the same time ten years ago and as far as I remember it was such a hassle. Isn't there loads of paperwork? Maybe that was only because I was changing my name...

I don't have anyone British to countersign here, I literally never see any other British people unless I go to the UK, it's been years since I last bothered with the ex pat circuit and we live rurally, only know Germans and a few eastern Europeans here!

RainOrSun it says on the website that they require original documents.

As far as I can see if you do it in person all you need is your old passport, nothing else at all. Seems so much simpler!

Hey there OP
Just to let you know we renewed passports recently from Germany - iirc we paid slightly extra for quickest service they did - got 4 passports back within 9 days. This was last month and with renewal done online and old passports posted back. I was amazed.

Someone in the UK very kindly did the countersigning for dc online. As the 4 passports were all renewals no original papers needed. Not even sure our photos needed countersigning. The only downside was you need to be slightly good tech wise to download your photo which obv must correspond to uk passport requirements.

Full colour copy.
Also, iirc, EU passport holder will do for counter signatory for people who live abroad (if you needed it counter signing in the uk could you achieve that?)

OP doesn't need a countersignature for a renewal

RageAgainstTheVendingMachine did you have to get photos signed by a British citizen?

dementedpixie ah ok, maybe I'd better look into that, would be more sensible if its straightforward. but I fancied having to go to London

Only for our children as theirs had been 5 year ones. Ours were renewals so no. Hang on a sec, will check all deets with DP: back in 5.

Do you have an address you can use in uk? As a renewal if you have already changed your name you should not have to send any documents apart from the old passport and they didn’t ask for a signature on photo - we uploaded on line

Yay. Just checked with DP. He confirms that because the two adult ones were straight forward renewals, no name changes and no difference in appearance that we did not need our photos countersigning at all.
He only needed to send the old passports back and did this using DHL express. The photo I had was done by photo woman locally but he literally downloaded a selfie...oh and not 9 days - only took a week.