DernierVirage

Good afternoon!

The moment that I have been dreading has arrived - my passport is nearly full and there is only one blank page left and so I have to go through the hassle of getting a new one. I have just looked through the UK Government site and it seems that the application procedure from overseas is even slower and more horrible than it used to be, so I have decided to use a fast track 3rd party agent.

Does anyone have any experience of doing it this way and, hopefully, a recommendation for a good, professional passport agent?

Thanks in advance.

catandmouse

I live in Switzerland and renewed my passport about 18 months ago. You can no longer renew your passport at British consulates in Europe. I had to send my paperwork, including my old passport to an office in Paris (I believe it is an outsourced private company) which checks the paperwork. The passport is actually issued by the passport office in the UK and sent back to you from there. My renewal (time from sending in the passport to reception of the new passport) took about 10 days.
You can renew your passport before it expires (I think up to 6 months in advance) and the time is added on to the new passport.

John42

I renewed my very old and very expired UK passport last year by sending it, (with all the required forms and photos) from California to the UK.

I got a new passport back within a month. The old passport was also returned to me, about a week after the new passport.

I was pleasantly surprised!

John42 in San Diego

:D!

Why leave it until there is one blank page?

A "fast-track 3rd party agent", if such a service even exists, is not going to be any faster than doing it yourself

I have decided that if I am not living in the UK 12 months before I expect my passport to become full / expire, the only way I am going to renew it is in person using the same day service in London

The backlog was quite horrible this time last year but I think the passport office has managed to become quite efficient now. Of course unless you have 2 passports / other travel docs you'd still be stuck in one country for 3 weeks or so.

DernierVirage

The fast track system is only available if you are in the UK. I have seen various agencies claiming that they can handle a fast track application on your behalf, thereby avoiding the necessity for you to go back to the UK, but I have no idea how trustworthy or reliable any of them are.

:D!

AFAIK, the fast track services require you to present yourself at a passport office in the UK. You can then get the new passport posted to you (usually takes 3 working days) or collect it the same afternoon.

DernierVirage

This is what I also understood from the official government website, but I have so far found two agencies who offer to handle the premium service (same day issue) or fast track service even if you are out of the UK at the time....they tell me that as long as you give a UK address and a UK number, there will be no problem. I just would feel more comfortable if someone here had already successfully tried this solution!

hauteboy

I just renewed my UK passport from the USA. You must apply online then send the old passport (and full color copy of any other passport!) to the UK.

Mailed application: Aug 12th (USPS Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelope)
Arrived UK: Aug 19th 8:21 AM
New passport mailed: Aug 24th 10:45AM
New Passport arrived US: Aug 25th 12:25PM (DHL overnight from UK!)

Super fast, esp considering my UK passport had Syria, Iran, Algeria, etc visas...

DernierVirage

You are lucky being able to do the online application - in my case it is impossible, I have to make an appointment at the UK embassy, who then physically tranfer all the papers to the UK, which makes things slower and more unpredictable. I have in fact finally decided to get the new passport by returning to the UK, using the one day service.

It seems crazy to me that there is no fast track service for people living outside the UK, who logically need this service most under the new system.

SeriouslyLost

It seems crazy to me that people can't plan ahead for things like passports.

DernierVirage

That's easy to say. I travel more or less non-stop and the time frame needed for an application from overseas is impossible for me - it isn't a question of planning, it is just the way things are.

paulwuk

Use your second passport while the first one is being renewed. Try to keep one of the passports for "important" ones (long term visas etc), and try to keep the second for the daily churn.

DernierVirage

I have never bothered getting a second passport, since previously I have always been able to get it renewed very quickly from overseas. The problem is that all the changes in the administrative set up took place not long after the last time I renewed my passport, so I wasn't really aware of the problem sooner. I agree that I now need to get a second passport, to take some of the pressure off !!

paulwuk

They're really handy. As a rule of thumb if you're filling a 48 page passport in the 10 years you shouldn't have any issue.

The cost is trivial compared with the cost of visas, let alone airfares. You can get that 2nd one immediately, keeping your old one for now.

Last time I renewed, I did both passports (one had 1 page free, the other had 2 half-pages) on the 4 hour service in London.

Another option would be to send your passport back to a family member in the UK via fast/secure delivery, then they could do the fast-track service and post back, should be about 10 days in all. They may be able to do the same-day counter application (not just London, but Liverpool, Belfast, etc), in which case I suspect you could have it back in 96 hours (Ship Monday moring, in London Tue Evening, first thing at Victoria Wednesday, new passport at 1300, ship out on the evening flights, in HK by Thursday evening)

DernierVirage

Thanks for the advice. I don't have any other option than to go in person, but I will try to get a second passport at the same time. My current passport is five years old, but I usually finish a 48 page passport in four years or less, so having two will definitely help.