The Home Office warns that Brits should still give themselves ten weeks for a new passport to come, which could be a problem for summer trips abroad.
Brits may have to wait two and a half months for a new passport. This could make it hard to go on vacations or trips abroad.
The 10-week turnaround time for travel papers that was put in place during the pandemic will stay in place, the Home Office said last week.
The wait time at the Passport Office has gone from three weeks four years ago to ten weeks now. This is partly because of a backlog caused by a lockdown.
Even though the official waiting time is ten weeks, it’s very likely to be much faster than that.
Passport Waiting Times, which keeps track of online reports from people who have applied, says that most people have to wait 17 days for their travel papers to arrive.
There are things you can do to speed up the process if this is still too long or you don’t want it to be longer.
On the government’s website, it says that you can pay extra to get your passport faster if you haven’t already applied and you think it will take too long with the normal service.
For fast-track, you need to make an appointment at the passport office and pay online. You can make an appointment up to three weeks in advance.
Call the Passport Advice line instead if you need to travel quickly for medical care or because a friend or family member is very sick or has died and you need a passport.
If you are outside the UK, you can’t apply for a fast-track passport. Instead, you should apply for an emergency travel document.
The government suggests using the standard service if you are an adult applying for your first passport.
But if you’ve already applied for a passport and haven’t gotten it yet, don’t pay for an urgent passport. You won’t get your passport any sooner.
You might be able to update the app you already have.
There are two ways to get a passport quickly:
You can get your new passport at an appointment at a passport office if you have Online Premium. These appointments can last up to 30 minutes.
This service is the fastest way to get a new passport and can be used to update an adult’s passport.
The earliest date you can make is two days after you make it.
It costs £193.50, or £204.50 for a 50-page passport for regular travelers. Appointments fill up fast during busy times, so you’ll need some luck.
You can only renew an adult passport that was granted after December 31, 2001, with Online Premium.
One week Fast Track means that after your meeting at a passport office, your new passport will be sent to your home within one week.
A passport for an adult costs £155 or £166 for a 50-page passport for people who travel a lot. A passport for a child costs £126 or £137 for a 50-page passport for people who travel a lot.
You can use this service to renew a passport for an adult or a child, change your name on your passport (with a marriage certificate or deed poll, for example), change your personal information on your passport (like your gender), replace a lost, stolen, or damaged passport, or apply for a first passport for a child.
The price of renewing a passport changed at the beginning of this month.
The fee for a normal online application made from within the UK will go up from £75.50 to £82.50 for adults and from £49 to £53.50 for children starting February 2.
Postal applications for adults have gone up from £85 to £93 and for children from £58.50 to £64.
The government says on its website, “The new fees will help the Home Office move toward a system that covers its costs through those who use it, reducing its reliance on funding from general taxes.”
“The government doesn’t make any money from how much it costs to get a visa.
“The fees will also help pay for processing passport applications, consular help abroad (like replacing lost or stolen passports), and processing British citizens at UK borders.
“The increase will also help the government improve its services in the future.”
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