Is your passport due for renewal? If that’s the case and you’re planning to get travel abroad this summer or another point during the year, you might want to get the application in as soon as possible.
That’s because there’s a bit of a passport crisis happening right now, as there’s a huge demand in applications for renewal, after five million people delayed getting theirs during the pandemic.
Now as Covid restrictions have lifted, millions are rushing to get their documents renewed, but facing lengthy waiting times.
Where it would previously take three weeks for a new passport to arrive, the wait time has increased to 10 weeks. However, not everyone is receiving theirs within this time frame either, as some report waiting months for theirs to arrive.
Post-Brexit travel rules which say Brits need to have at least three months remaining on their passport expiry also complicate the process. But MPs aren’t happy about the situation and accused the Passport Office of presiding over an ‘absolute shambles’.
They told the commons their constituents were missing holidays, funerals, and important plans.
Stuart McDonald, the SNP’s home affairs spokesman, told The Times: “All our constituents are having to cancel holidays, miss funerals, rearrange visits, with even a new 10-week target routinely being failed. What will be done to avoid this predictable mess getting worse? And can we be assured that the 10-week target will not be lengthened further as we approach the summer?”
Ministers are now urging people to start the process as soon as possible.
Kevin Foster, the immigration minister, said: “We would advise people this is a very — virtually unprecedented — surge in demand, and if people are planning to travel this summer we would advise them to get their application in as soon as possible.”
But the minister added that applications for special circumstances can be expedited.
Foster said: “We dealt with a million passport applications last month alone. To put that into context, we usually deal with seven million in a whole year.
“I would point out that where people have compelling and compassionate circumstances such as a funeral, applications can be expedited and it has now been for some time we have been advising to allow for up to 10 weeks for an application to be processed, and last year sent 4.7 million texts reminding people whose passports have expired to renew them.”
Brits are being urged to check the validity of their passports and its expiry date. Under post Brexit rules, passports also need to not be older than 10 years. Previously, Brits who renewed early would get a rebate on their documents. So if they did it six months early, they would have this time added on to the expiry date of the new passport.
Now, with EU regulations calling for at least three months remaining on passports, it might be time to check your expiry date.