Has anyone used this link recently… looks as if our passports might need to be sorted within the next few months…
They expire in October 2023.
My thought is to get them done during months when I will definitely not be needing to use 'em… rather than wait until nearer the date
Does this make sense???
That all makes sense but remember that as far as the EU is concerned, your passport will be valid for 10 years from the date of issue.
As an example, if your passport is issued now, it will show an expiry date of October 2033, and an issue date of August 2022. As far as the EU is concerned, your passport would cease to be valid 10 years from the issue date - ie it will not be not valid after August 2032.
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I’m just about to start the application process online as my passport expires next April. So far it looks quite simple - you can now upload a digital photograph which it seems they will crop to the correct size.
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I’ll let you work you way through the process… and report to me/us how you get on (please)
Will do, fingers crossed!
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That was just what I was afraid of, @_Brian - I thought it was something like that but wasn’t sure I’d remembered correctly! Mine shows an expiry of Apr 23 but on that basis will not be seen as valid after the beginning of January. I’d best get a move on.
However, at the risk of raising a topic I promised myself I’d never mention on here again, what can I use instead of my passport when I need to show proof of identity in the meantime? I know from experience that a temporary carte de sejour is not acceptable and all my efforts so far to change it for a permanent one are unavailing. Will people accept a driving licence as they certainly used to in the UK at one point?
When I last changed mine (during CdS application) I had a couple of copies of the photo page authenticated by our maire, just in case.
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At what point in the Application does one have to send off the current passport ???
It can be sent as soon as the application is approved- they send an email IIRC🤔
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I was assured by my insurer that my driving licence which has an expired date on it but is valid for the car would be acceptable as ID if I changed it for one with an unexpired date. Haven’t bothered yet as I have at least 4 years to go on the passport and I never leave the house without it, on public roads anyway.
The UK stopped adding ‘unused’ months on old passports, to new passports,some time ago. Whichever date the new passport is issued, it will have 10 years exactly from that date. Sadly, even if a substantial time unused was still left on the old passport.
I renewed mine early so as to keep the red European passport in the full awareness that I would lose quite a lot of time unused on my old passport and I did indeed lose that time. But at least I have a red passport that doesn’t immediately flag me as non-European when I’m standing holding it in a queue somewhere.
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That’s interesting, @David_Spardo - I hope the insurer was right!
I shall have a chat with the Mairie @Mark - getting a photocopy authenticated is a very good idea.
This is not a joke…
You need passportwaitingtime.co.uk
Also it always helps if you use the same office to issue the new one.
I’d do it around 10th-19th November if it’s expiring end Jan.
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This was my experience earlier this year in renewing my passport.
I used my own camera and sent a photo using the information on the web site. You need to include an image including shoulders as they crop the image themselves. There is no need to submit a signature.
You need to send your old passport separately for checking/cancellation - plenty of SMS/e-mail reminders once you have submitted the online form. The official LaPoste leaflet indicates you should put a contents declaration on the envelope. However my local passport office didn’t know anything about that and I didn’t bother. I sent it accusé de réception rather than recommandée .
It arrived at the Durham Passport office, which deals with overseas passports, within a week (4 below). There was then a long pause with no communication. The passport office didn’t acknowledge it as received for another two weeks (5 below). Then a week for approval and a a few days for printing/despatch. Once it was officially in the system (5) there were e-mails/text messages on the progress as well as the web site.
Passport Application history
1 Application submitted online 12:22pm on 11 May 2022
2 Application received 12:23pm on 11 May 2022
3 Package containing old passport posted on 12 May
4 Package containing old passport signed for as received by passport office on 18 May however. But no follow-up communications except for reminders to send old passport.
5 Official notification the old passport had been received was not until 6 June 2022 !!!
6 Application approved on 13 June 2022 - and that is the date of issue in the passport
7 Passport printed on 15 June 2022 followed by message it had been despatched
8 New passport delivered 17 June (DHL)
9 Old passport delivered 28 June (DHL)
Don’t forget to sign the new passport - I didn’t think the explanatory leaflet was very clear.
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Thank you very much for the info @KarenLot and @anon37731102 . I think I’ll get going straight away (just checked and the issue date was 7th Jan so the sooner the better, probably.)
When i renewed last year from France there were the official quotes of ten weeks - mine took four weeks. I suspect that overseas renewals get dealt with differently / with more priority because we are of course ‘overseas’ and possibly more in need of it than people just thinking about renewing for their annual holiday. The process was slick and the new passport / old one returned were via courier and with signature.
OH renewed his last year. It was simple, efficient and took about 6 weeks start to finish. Recently they have been reporting long delays for UK based renewals, but seems that overseas ones are still relatively speedy.
He too did the photo at home.
There are passport offices in London, Liverpool, Peterborough, Durham, Newport, Glasgow and Belfast so the figures are presumably some sort of averaging. Durham deals with all overseas applications. I think Peterborough is the main English office, so possibly the largest and busiest ?
I was directed to Peterborough the last time we renewed, possibly because it was our local one, when I elected to renew in person. We both had to be in the country but only I needed to physically go to the office to collect them.
We parked the caravan at Stibbington Diner, a transport cafe on the A1 and used that as a centre for the passport also visits to friends and family in Nottingham.
The reason we did it this way was because at the time I was liable to be called on at any moment to do an international journey and simply could not afford to risk a delay in the changeover.