Fast track passport in the UK.

[davidge]

37 minutes ago, noshow said:

Because I went into the PO to get the form which I was going to fill in myself, and then make an appointment at the Passport office, they said they provided a service and told me it was guaranteed to arrive within 2 to 3 weeks, so I did it as it was in plenty of time.

I hope it arrives in time but that is literally the last way I would it.

1. If you are near a passport office then book an appointment online, turn up and get it done. Either same day service or 1 week Fasttrack.

2. If not, complete the form online and print it off. Post Special Delivery. If in a hurry, pay for Fasttrack and back in a week, otherwise back a bit slower.

I just wouldn’t use the Post Office Service, particularly as it’s a complete mess since they got rid of most of the proper ones. No real Postmasters left now just glorified shop assistants. It’s only there for if you don’t have a computer, are not near a Passport Office & you’re not in a rush.

[Klongwater]

I needed a new passport after discovering last week(on PA) that mine would expire in February and that to enter Thailand, UK passports need at least six months of validity remaining. I had a trip booked a few days hence,if I couldn't get a new passport in the next few days that trip would be a non starter.

So,I got my daughter to take some digital photos and then completed an online renewal application,which included a short questionnaire and involved full payment. All done in a few minutes.

Once the photo was approved by the automated software,I was offered a selection of appointments available in the days ahead to collect my passport in person.

So,I went to the main London office by Victoria station and two minutes after arriving was called to the service counter. Within five minutes I was handed my new passport in a bright red envelope,my old one having the corners chopped off to become redundant.

Amazing efficiency. Everything from taking the photos,making the application to waiting at the collection point took minutes. A sign of the times how the Digital Age is making life easier.

Plenty of security features in the new passport too,most impressive....

[noshow]

2 hours ago, davidge said:

I hope it arrives in time but that is literally the last way I would it.

1. If you are near a passport office then book an appointment online, turn up and get it done. Either same day service or 1 week Fasttrack.

2. If not, complete the form online and print it off. Post Special Delivery. If in a hurry, pay for Fasttrack and back in a week, otherwise back a bit slower.

I just wouldn’t use the Post Office Service, particularly as it’s a complete mess since they got rid of most of the proper ones. No real Postmasters left now just glorified shop assistants. It’s only there for if you don’t have a computer, are not near a Passport Office & you’re not in a rush.

I wish I knew that before I let the post office do this.

[noshow]

Have now received my passport, thanks to all who replied.

[davidge]

Glad it arrived in time.

[Richie]

If you've got a couple of weeks then get the Post Office to fast-track it.

If you only have a week then you need to get Premium at London or a few select other places (book appointment online).

If you are abroad - go to the local British embassy and get a new one. I'm amazed people fly home to get a passport!

If I had to pick one out of choice, it would be the 3rd.

[davidge]

7 minutes ago, Richie said:

If you've got a couple of weeks then get the Post Office to fast-track it.

If you only have a week then you need to get Premium at London or a few select other places (book appointment online).

If you are abroad - go to the local British embassy and get a new one. I'm amazed people fly home to get a passport!

If I had to pick one out of choice, it would be the 3rd.

Most, if not all, Embassies no longer issue new passports. It’s all been farmed out to agencies and can take 12 weeks depending on where you are. Everything is sent back to the UK and then the new passport sent back to the country you’re in.

[rog555]

On 15/10/2017 at 03:38, Klongwater said:

A sign of the times how the Digital Age is making life easier.

Can I disagree a little here ?

I had to get a new passport because I had run out of pages.  And you have to renew them every 10 years. All nonsense.

All of this paper based stuff seems quaintly antiquated now.  The idea of a paper based passport has not progressed.  OK they can print them quicker now and with new security features.  But its not taking advantage of digital technology.

We no longer use paper cheques. We no longer have paper airline tickets. No longer have paper boarding passes. We can get money out of any ATM worldwide.

And yet passports remain stubbornly a paper based idea that has to be renewed and gets full.

Digital technology can do so much more.  They should aim higher.

[mbamber]

39 minutes ago, noshow said:

Have now received my passport, thanks to all who replied.

Glad to hear it  everyone who I have heard about recently have got their passport within a couple of weeks they had problems a few years ago but that was spring everyone last minute before holidays and other crap.

[Richie]

7 minutes ago, davidge said:

Most, if not all, Embassies no longer issue new passports. It’s all been farmed out to agencies and can take 12 weeks depending on where you are. Everything is sent back to the UK and then the new passport sent back to the country you’re in.

Ah ha, they've changed it since I last did it (about 3 years ago). That's rubbish now.

[Richie]

6 minutes ago, rog555 said:

Can I disagree a little here ?

I had to get a new passport because I had run out of pages.  And you have to renew them every 10 years. All nonsense.

All of this paper based stuff seems quaintly antiquated now.  The idea of a paper based passport has not progressed.  OK they can print them quicker now and with new security features.  But its not taking advantage of digital technology.

We no longer use paper cheques. We no longer have paper airline tickets. No longer have paper boarding passes.

And yet passports remain stubbornly a paper based idea that has to be renewed and gets full.

Digital technology can do so much more.  They should aim higher.

Can you imagine somewhere like Thailand embracing the fully digital passport?

The passport is digital, just because the medium you can see is paper doesn't make it not. You still need the paper part for countries that do everything manually. Try going to Morocco which is very close to the EU and you'll see how a paper passport is essential.

If you travel a lot get a JUMBO passport with the extra pages.

[rog555]

18 minutes ago, Richie said:

Can you imagine somewhere like Thailand embracing the fully digital passport?

The passport is digital, just because the medium you can see is paper doesn't make it not. You still need the paper part for countries that do everything manually. Try going to Morocco which is very close to the EU and you'll see how a paper passport is essential.

If you travel a lot get a JUMBO passport with the extra pages.

Thailands borders seem to have computer networks already.  At Suvanabhumi they look up something on a screen.

It would be a gradual transitional type new scheme where more technologically advanced countries would use non-paper passports.  Some backward compatability would be needed ofcourse.

Basically I could imagine a scheme where your photos (recent and older) and other data such as finger prints, a pin number etc are held on the authorities computer system. Not on paper which can be forged, lost etc.  They get displayed to the border agent who can then check its you.  

The computer system would record your entry to the country on the computer not paper.  All the effort that goes into trying to stop passport forgery and stamp forgery would be unnecessary.

At minimal you could enter your email address as an identifier and the computer bring up your photo and travel record etc.

Surely this will happen one day. If slowly. 

I googled this and found this in an article:

"Australia is already testing a kind of virtual passport, where information about passengers will be stored remotely in a cloud server. If implemented, it would allow Australians to travel to partnering countries (the only one right now is New Zealand) without the risk of their physical passports being stolen."

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nz7zpk/why-are-paper-passports-still-a-thing

Article generally pessimistic about the short term.

 

 

[Richie]

Not all countries share information so they don't know where you've been etc if everything is digital.

So at Swampy guess what - they know how many times you've been into Thailand but probably not Malaysia and definitely not in and out of the UK/EU as that's not stored on the passport. Try going to the USA with some ARABIC stamps in your passport like I have done and see the reaction. Hint - they checked the stamps on the passport to know I went to the UAE even though both countries have digital systems.

It's all to do with information and who they want to share it with etc. Not to do with the actual technology.

Next time you land in the USA then you should suggest that you can just give them an e-mail - good one hahahaha.

Anyway, this has gone off-topic. So congrats OP with sorting it and have a good time back in LoS.