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Child's first passport waiting time

On 21 Jun 2015 at 10:24am Tipex wrote:

We've left it a bit late to get our youngest daughter's first passport and are due to go away 30th July. The passport office's website quotes both 3 weeks and 6 weeks as a turnaround time. Does anyone know which is correct (we'll use Check and Send obviously). Thanks

On 21 Jun 2015 at 10:50am Earl of Lewes wrote:

If you pay extra, there's an expedited service. I wouldn't chance losing your holiday with the normal service at this time of year.

On 21 Jun 2015 at 12:46pm Belladonna wrote:

I don't know if you can still do this but you used to be able to go and get one done on the day at Petty France - I had to do this for my son. You have to basically just wait in a long queue all day. This was 15 years ago though so probably all been privatised now

On 21 Jun 2015 at 12:46pm Belladonna wrote:

On 21 Jun 2015 at 2:52pm A Person wrote:

You can't go to Petty France any more. You can however go to a building near Victoria (conveniently) where you can get a passport issued quickly for a fee. I had to use them because my passport had been stolen in a mugging and I needed one for work, so there may be restrictions on the reasons. (this was ten years ago so I suppose this government might have decided to "streamline" this service)

The last time I got a passport I did it online and had the new one in my hands within ten days. However that was a renewal; it's probably different if you're applying for the first time. I'd investigate through the website and see what expedited options they offer.

On 21 Jun 2015 at 3:00pm info wrote:

If it helps - we have just applied for a first passport for our Son - sent off about 2 weeks ago on a Tuesday and received back the following Wednesday - so 8 days in total.
Took us by surprise

We didn't do 'check and send' and didn't do the fast service.
We got his photo taken at Bakers up School Hill - worth doing, as they know if the photo will be accepted (our son is also only a few weeks old and not an easy task).
For future reference, we would recommend the Bakers passport photo service - �6.50 for 4 pics, only �1.50 more than one of those passport booths and they keep taking them until you are happy! Much less hassle.
Happy holidays to you

Hope that's of some help.....

On 21 Jun 2015 at 4:04pm mother wrote:

Got my son's first one a few months back. Came back 1 week after I posted it. No check and send either. Was rather surprised

On 21 Jun 2015 at 6:03pm Jo wrote:

just got my son's renewal passport back. Sent it last Friday by special delivery, around �6.25 so that it was secure and they texted me Wednesday to say they had received it and it would be three weeks. On Thursday they texted to say it was being printed and it arrived on Friday. The old passport arrived separately yesterday, Saturday. This is quite normal service but when they asked me in PO if I wanted to do check and send for �9.75. I said no thank you as I have checked it myself and I know someone who did that and it still came back as unsatisfactory!

On 21 Jun 2015 at 10:21pm Tipex wrote:

Thanks all for the advice and reassurance! Much appreciated. I'll post tomorrow.

On 22 Jun 2015 at 9:51pm Annabel wrote:

You can only get a passport on the day in an emergency. Just leaving it a bit late for a booked holiday does not count.
They can (& will) refuse to issue one if they want!