Passports Office Avis 

Called about a delay in my passport application. When asked if I have a middle name, I said yes — I have a patronymic name and genuinely thought it was the same thing. The agent told me I had lied. I hadn’t. It was an honest cultural misunderstanding.
Her tone was arrogant and unhelpful. When I got upset, she threatened to end the call rather than showing any patience or understanding.
She did eventually resolve my issue, which I appreciate. But no one should be made to feel accused and talked down to when seeking help. Will be raising a formal complaint.

Sent off paperwork for my daughter who works in Dubai and needs now as Dual national a British passport to get back into her home country!!!
Up to now her German passport was good enough, especially as it’s provides her with a 3 months working visa and not like her British boyfriend’s with a one month working visa.
The passport arrived within 3 weeks in Dubai and we were very happy as we also applied for her brother’s first British passport, who wants to travel with his football team to Spain in a month time.
Despite I put a pre paid envelope with my English address on to use the same original documents for my son, everything has been sent to Dubai! 😡 I’m really worried for my son to get the original documents back from Dubai before his online application runs out.
How can office staff be so hopeless 😩? It clearly said on a letter together with the original documents and a pre paid envelope my address!!!

I can't praise the UK passport office enough. I have just renewed my passport and it was the most streamlined and effortless experience I have had with any business of late. Communication was great through text messages and Emails and the speed of processing was fantastic. This is one area that the UK government has finally got right. Whoever the problem solver was for this, needs to be given a role to make another government area as efficient.

Mon 23rd March, called around 8.30am and spoke to your colleague re the vadility of my passport for a good 15 mins.

Passport issued 10th April 2016
Passport expires 10th Aug 2026,

Your colleague was a scaremonger, very direct and patronising and really upset me telling me my passport would be invalid for my travel to Amsterdam the following day on 24th March and returning 26th March as since Brexit it is only valid for 10 years form date of issue and they do not take in to consideration the unused months that were granted i.e. April to August he told me.

And that they will take my expiry date not to be 10th Aug 2026 but infact 10th April 2026 as its only valid 10 years. Therefore since you need to have 3 months vadility left on the day you leave Amsterdam this would make my passport invalid and not to travel!!

He really talked down to me as though I was an idiot. Well he got it all wrong. My passport was absolutely fine and I was able to board and complete my mini business trip to Amsteredam with no issues.

Please retrain your colleague to know the FACTS. He clearly did not know what he was talking about but came across as though he was the expert. Even on the .gov website it states that the 3 months does not have to be within the 10 years of the date of issue I later found out from a travel agent who knew more than both yor colleagues I spoke to on Monday morning put together!

He really upset me when there was no need to have done.

In addition your second colleague who I called back at 8.55am approx said the same thing and started apologising saying "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry you wont be able to do your trip etc...when in fact there was no reason to as my passport was fine.

Had it been anyone else they would have listened and cancelled their trip for no reason at all! Useless staff you have that the public rely on getting the correct facts!

I am extremely upset that my passport photo has been rejected for allegedly not meeting the required guidelines. The photo was taken at a Post Office photo booth specifically for standard passport applications, so this is unacceptable.

When I called your agent, they were unable to explain what further information was needed to resolve the issue. You already have my previous passport and more than enough information to confirm my identity. I was born in the UK, so this situation is frankly ridiculous.

I expect a clear explanation and a prompt resolution. I look forward to your response.

Seven working days from Application to receipt. Reasonable communication but it did take three days for their systems to aknowledge they had received my old passport after is was sent as signed for delivery.

UK passport services are probably the worst in the world. Here in New Zealand passports in 3 days, no drama.
Passports in the UK? Dire. 10 weeks and nothing but fob off, obstruction and constant threats to cancel the applications... the reasons? My kids live in NZ and they are demanding UK ID referees!!! They've lived in NZ since they were 6 and 3. They are now 25 and 22 and other than relatives they do not know an eligible adult. I contact customer service, complaints and the (not so) helpline with absolutely no success while attempting to find an alternative solution. We have followed up with 4 phone calls to customer service and my 15th email went today.
It would be easier and faster to get my sons a UK passport by going to a French beach, putting them on a dinghy and get them to claim asylum...

I have held a British Passport and paid tax and National Insurance for my whole life and have had a British Passport for 45 years . I sent a renewal and due to Brexit applied for an Irish passport which omitted my middle name the British passport office now refuse to issue me a British passport because the Irish and British don’t match only my name photo national insurance and date of birth match which is not enough apparently .

I applied for my passport renewal from overseas. The text messaging update system is absolutely brilliant. You know exactly what is happening and when. The new passport came back sooner than expected. I cannot fault this service at all.

I couldn't believe how good the service was when I recently had to renew my passport. I completed my application online and sent my old passport back on a Saturday. By the Monday I had an email acknowledgment and then several more updates over the next few days. My new passport turned up on the Thursday! Fabulous service. Thank you

My wife and I applied to renew our British passports,amid the chaos of the new entry rules ,to the UK.
I must say I was very pleasantly surprised,by the website,and the time taken ,from start to finish,of just over one month from starting our applications.
there carrier DHL kept us up to date with tracking,although there were a few different numbers ,to sort out,to get the tracking correct.
Excellent service,.John from Queensland ,Australia.

I recently applied for first UK passports for my twin daughters, and I’m verry disappointed with the inconsistency in the process.
Both of my daughters were born in the UK, and their circumstances are exactly the same. I submitted identical documents for both applications, including our PSA-issued marriage certificate, their UK birth certificates, my husband’s naturalisation certificate, and my passport.
One application m was approved without any issues, and her passport has already been issued. However, my other daughter’s application is still pending because I’ve been asked to provide an “Advisory on Marriages” from the Philippines.
This doesn’t make sense. The marriage certificate I submitted is issued by the same authority that provides the Advisory on Marriages. It would not have been issued if there were any legal issues with our marriage. More importantly, if the documents were sufficient for one twin, why are they suddenly insufficient for the other?
To make matters more difficult, obtaining this additional document would require me to travel back to the Philippines in person, which is not practical at all.
I hope HM Passport Office can review this case and apply consistency in their requirements. Families should not have to go through unnecessary stress, especially when all evidence has already been provided and accepted for an identical application.
Very frustrating experience.

Sent off 6 months ago.informed required letter stating someone who knew me for certain time was not eligible phoned waited 10 mins explained enquired what to do,no contact till phoned again Then received warning to say if don't supply correct details I would forfeit money I paid Telephone Staff Really helpful BUT SYSTEM IS NOT ALL DETAILS SENT IN BUT NO RESPONSE APART FROM IF NOT DEALT WITH BY 22ND MARCH CANCELLED APPLICATION

I wouldn’t even give a one star. Rude behaviour of the person I talk to through phone call. Hang up the phone on my face.

If only the Passport Office could take over the rest of the State apparatus. Everything was brilliant all the way through - no nonsense, 1.5 weeks from start to end - online channel easy to process - totally seamless experience. Thank you.

9 days from start to finish. Excellent service updated by text message all the way. What’s not to ❤️ about the Passport office well done.

I’d give zero stars for deliberate incompetence, evident corruption, and total lack of customer awareness. A syndrome of staff working from home sans supervision being completely divorced from the reality needed to provide a customer focused service. Firstly I’m deaf so I cannot use a phone. The UKPO - discriminating against a common disability - do not offer a special phone service for deaf people. So I’m limited to emails.

In 2022 I applied for a new U.K. passport paying £175 for an expedited service. After a month of hearing nothing (it was during Covid lockdown) I kept getting requests for ‘documents.’ At the time I was going through severe mental depression. I didn’t need this harassment. I emailed asking what ‘documents.’ It was a simple renewal. They failed to respond. Eventually I received an email stating that they would terminate my application if I did not send the ‘documents’ requested. I emailed them again. No response. The next day I got an email stating that they had terminated my application with loss of all fees.

I approached my MP (Lab) who did nothing. This was at a time when questions were being asked in Parliament about the incompetence and complaints including about rudeness of staff at UKPO. He blocked my complaint.

Luckily I still had my New Zealand passport and could use that to travel to and from Europe with no problems.

Fast forward to 2023. I raised a complaint with UKPO about the termination. The response was a curt and rude email stating that this was because I had not sent them my New Zealand passport. I’m actually glad I didn’t because there are were and still are so many reports of them losing foreign passports.

I also wondered what had happened to my previous U.K. passport. It had unusual country stamps in it which I wanted to keep. I sent another email of enquiry. I was then told that it had been destroyed. I emailed to ask why and they said I had had to write in and request its return. No one told me that. No one warned me it would be destroyed, On the web site it proudly states that all documents would be returned. That’s a lie - as complaints here prove. And I had paid extra for it to be returned by express courier.

So now with the latest fiasco over the need for dual citizens to have to obtain a U.K. passport in order to be allowed to re enter the U.K. - aka to come home to one’s country of birth and residence - I actually cannot come home. My application in 2022 was terminated with loss of all fees; and they failed to return my previous passport. So I can’t even travel home on the latter - a special temporary emergency arrangement introduced by the equally incompetent U.K. Home Office due to the chaos of recent discriminations against dual citizens.

I currently am in the,line for a 48 hours call back from the support team who desl with vulnerable emergencies. Although I am stressed out I must still say thanks to Haroon who i spoke to tiday and the gent I spoke to on Thursday. They handled my concerns as if I mattered. I am stressed but Thanks goes a long way for these busy individuals. I started this journey on Wednesday. I stressed myself and staff at the office with calls. The system needs reviewing to support urgent matters. Got a call thus morning and a link to complete. However the,actionsvI am asked to do has been completed on Wednesday. Itvis saturday. I called and was advised to leave the cancelation no with them. They would put it on the system. I await progress.

I recently lost my passport, found out the strictest of attempting to replace the lost passport.

1 online, you need someone to verify your photo, must know you for 2 years.

2 offline you need someone to verify your photo, must know you 1 year.

Recently returned to UK, don't meet the above criteria, despite having a passport since 2008, renewed 2018, no issues, with HMPO use of AI, should verify quickly who I was or offer an appt to provide alternative ID which is government issue such as letters

Still had 2 years left on the lost passport, crazy if you have been verified, after all you are the only one who benefits as being the person on photo.

Come on HMPO time to update things, remember a time you went to police with photo they just stamped the photo.

Was advised to submit someone who closely met criteria, yet information for countersignatory says do not sign just to get a passport for someone, would I be breaking the law

no customer centricity.
I applied from abroad.
The embassy does not provide passport service so I had to send my original certificate of legalization to the UK.
They wanted me to send my other passport as well and they couldn't clearly explain why and they would wanted to keep it for 3-5 weeks which is crazy.
Clearly, unless you prove it, the HM passport office cannot tell from your personal details if you are British citizen or not.

All in all, it is just like any other GOV service: the process does not make sense. It's outdated, process driven not solution driven.
The people who should quality prove the process, they are not doing it.
The world and digitalization passed UK by.