UK Passport processing in the US

[mehemlynn]

Hi Guys,

This recently appeared on the "applying for a British passport in the US" site. I know there are several others of you applying for a child's British passport so you can move to the UK with that child. Watch for the amount of time it is now taking - almost 2 months for a new passport (not a renewal).

M

Timing

14 May 2012 - Given the current demand for British passports, if you are renewing your passport, you should allow at least five weeks processing time from the date the fee is taken and the application contains all of the information we need. If it is a first time application, you should allow at least seven weeks.

[JollyCynic]

Yeah, we're in this boat. Keep in mind the words "processing time from the date the fee is taken" too. We were planning on traveling at the end of June, but they only took payment for our passport this week, so we won't even know if they'll approve the passport (due to taking 100 photos and only having two that were even questionable, thanks to toddlerhood) until early to mid July.

We submitted it all over two weeks ago, when they were estimating 3 weeks, instead of 7.

Here's hoping Clegg pushes back hard on the financial requirements and new regulations aren't approved for over a month. I'm not holding my breath, though.

[mehemlynn]

Originally Posted by JollyCynic

Yeah, we're in this boat. Keep in mind the words "processing time from the date the fee is taken" too. We were planning on traveling at the end of June, but they only took payment for our passport this week, so we won't even know if they'll approve the passport (due to taking 100 photos and only having two that were even questionable, thanks to toddlerhood) until early to mid July.

We submitted it all over two weeks ago, when they were estimating 3 weeks, instead of 7.

Here's hoping Clegg pushes back hard on the financial requirements and new regulations aren't approved for over a month. I'm not holding my breath, though.

We're sending ours in tomorrow. We took a while to get the co-sign (we don't know many Brits within driving distance, so we had to go with a doctor). While we are waiting we will get all of my info for a visa and also hope the requirements don't go through. We were hoping to move Aug. 31 (our US lease is up and I don't want to have to move twice), so our timeline is getting tight.

Are you applying for your visa while you wait or making sure the passport comes through first?

M

[JollyCynic]

Originally Posted by mehemlynn

Are you applying for your visa while you wait or making sure the passport comes through first?

My visa was approved last week. We were going to apply at the same time, but we had the same trouble with the counter-sign on the photo. They're fairly flexible with that, as we discovered a couple of years ago when we renewed my wife's passport.

Good luck, and you should be fine for August 31. Just watch out for which applications require originals of which documents, and which ones will allow copies. With three people in our household, we have 4 passports, and ALL of them were out in the mail being processed for various reasons last week.

Oh! One piece of advice: SEND A MONEY ORDER. The Washington Consulate for whatever reason is listed as a "high fraud" location with Visa (the credit card company, not the travel document), and they declined our money and put my wife's renewal on hold for nearly a month, EVEN THOUGH we called our bank ahead of time and told them to approve it. Save yourself a headache, and pay for it with a M.O.

[mehemlynn]

Originally Posted by JollyCynic

My visa was approved last week. We were going to apply at the same time, but we had the same trouble with the counter-sign on the photo. They're fairly flexible with that, as we discovered a couple of years ago when we renewed my wife's passport.

Good luck, and you should be fine for August 31. Just watch out for which applications require originals of which documents, and which ones will allow copies. With three people in our household, we have 4 passports, and ALL of them were out in the mail being processed for various reasons last week.

Oh! One piece of advice: SEND A MONEY ORDER. The Washington Consulate for whatever reason is listed as a "high fraud" location with Visa (the credit card company, not the travel document), and they declined our money and put my wife's renewal on hold for nearly a month, EVEN THOUGH we called our bank ahead of time and told them to approve it. Save yourself a headache, and pay for it with a M.O.

Thanks for the info on the Washington Consulate. We were going to send the authorization sheet with the credit card, but I'll change to the money order.

M

[JollyCynic]

Just wanted to update everybody on current UK Passport times from the US.

We got the new passport for our little man today. It's obviously a new one, not a replacement. The current guidelines for this say to expect 7 weeks from the time that payment is taken. (5 weeks for replacement UK passports from the US.)

We submitted the application around the first of May, and payment wasn't taken until two weeks had passed. It's been 5 and a half weeks since we submitted the application, and just 3 and a half weeks since payment was taken.

This is great news, because it means our original timeline for moving can go ahead unchanged. One thing that may have made a difference is that we included a cover letter stating that our plans were to move at the end of June.

Anyway, things look to be moving along much better than they're expecting right now. I hope the trend continues for everybody else.

(Just in case anybody wants to check the estimated application time in the future, you can check here: How to apply from USA.)

(Also, they were quite lenient on the passport photo. He's got a huge frown on his face, because he was scared of the lady taking his photo. There are no shadows on the photo, but he's not expressionless and he's not looking directly at the camera. His left ear is also partially, but not entirely obscured. Just including this in case people are nervous about their infant/toddler passport photo, even though the instructions state they're more lenient about such things.)