3 Month Wait (84 days & counting..) for Passport to be Renewed?!

I'm gutted.  I'm about to start DCF for my husband & need my passport in order to do this.  I have emailed the Embassy twice & all I get is the standard blurb that "I should contact them if I have urgent travel & they can issue me with an emergency passport."  Grrr!  No update on the whereabouts or even when I can roughly expect it.  My mom is really ill & I need to be there for her..this is becoming a nightmare!  Has anyone else got caught up in this biometric - hardware breakdown in the US like I have?  Have you received your passport yet?  I sent everything off on May 14, 2015...received my old passport back & payment was taken out on the when I check the status on here : https://passportstatus.state.gov/opss/OPSS_Status_ip.asp it shows it cannot be found!  I'm fuming!  I know the last time I had to renew my passport 10 years ago the old courier company lost my passport..I'm so frustrated!!

I'm gutted.  I'm about to start DCF for my husband & need my passport in order to do this.  I have emailed the Embassy twice & all I get is the standard blurb that "I should contact them if I have urgent travel & they can issue me with an emergency passport."  Grrr!  No update on the whereabouts or even when I can roughly expect it.  My mom is really ill & I need to be there for her..this is becoming a nightmare!  Has anyone else got caught up in this biometric - hardware breakdown in the US like I have?  Have you received your passport yet?  I sent everything off on May 14, 2015...received my old passport back & payment was taken out on the when I check the status on here : https://passportstatus.state.gov/opss/OPSS_Status_ip.asp it shows it cannot be found!  I'm fuming!  I know the last time I had to renew my passport 10 years ago the old courier company lost my passport..I'm so frustrated!!

Call.  You can speak with an actual human.  I know there were some issues with passports end of May, early June but I think those are resolved.  Hopefully they can dig further for you.

I'm gutted.  I'm about to start DCF for my husband & need my passport in order to do this.  I have emailed the Embassy twice & all I get is the standard blurb that "I should contact them if I have urgent travel & they can issue me with an emergency passport."  Grrr!  No update on the whereabouts or even when I can roughly expect it.  My mom is really ill & I need to be there for her..this is becoming a nightmare!  Has anyone else got caught up in this biometric - hardware breakdown in the US like I have?  Have you received your passport yet?  I sent everything off on May 14, 2015...received my old passport back & payment was taken out on the when I check the status on here : https://passportstatus.state.gov/opss/OPSS_Status_ip.asp it shows it cannot be found!  I'm fuming!  I know the last time I had to renew my passport 10 years ago the old courier company lost my passport..I'm so frustrated!!

Hi Sparklyfairy,

I'm in the same position as you - the courier picked up my application and old passport on 18th May, my credit card was charged on 22nd May and that was it - I didn't even get my old passport back. I also tried the link in your post, and got the same message ("your passport was not found in our system").

Emailing the embassy seems fairly pointless. According to the website, it seems they will only help you if you plan to travel within the next 24 hours.

I have an elderly father in Texas, and I'm not happy that I have to wait for an emergency to happen before I can get any help.

This is the only number I can find for the embassy: 020-7499-9000 - I'm not sure whether I'll have any luck at all but I'm going to try getting in touch with someone on Monday.

Thanks guys!

Just having a bit of support really helps!

Charmaine, so glad you wrote of your dilemma...I honestly thought I was the only one!  I just tried the above number as it's now Monday am & the switchboard lady, although really nice, wouldn't put me through to the passport department.  She did say that she's had a lot of calls regarding the status of passports, so we're not alone!  But this situation officially sucks.

As I live in the Midlands, it's not exactly easy to travel to the Embassy so even getting a temporary passport is a pain. 

Charmaine, please keep me updated on when you get any info on your passport..I'll update this thread with the status of mine so we can feel better knowing ours will (hopefully) be sent out soon as I think our applications are probably on the same pile on a desk somewhere

SF xx

Hi All,

I am sorry to hear about the passport issues, I will need to apply next year and not looking forward to it. What is the best way to renew?

There's only one way to renew.  Through the embassy through the post.  Normal turn around is about 4 weeks.  There was an issue with passports everywhere at the start of holiday season.  I would guess there is a backlog to clear.  Will probably be long done by the time you come to renew.

Hoping all this gets cleared up by October. I was planning on renewing to change my name post wedding and pre-FLR, so this thread is making me a bit antsy.  In hopping to avoid the whole change your name on your BRP process. Keep us updated!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Sparklyfairy,

I'm intrigued as to how you managed to speak to a switchboard lady at the London embassy. When I called this morning, it went straight through to an automated system which kept directing me to their website no matter which menu option I chose. I simply couldn't find a way to speak to a person.

My next call was to DX (the courier service) who confirmed that they had no record of receiving my passport from the embassy. (Apparently someone from the embassy comes to their office daily to pick up new applications and drop off passports.)

I then called the State Dept in the US (1-877-487-2778). After being on hold for over 40 minutes, I was finally able to speak to a real person. After taking my details, she informed me that they had no record of my application, and since I had applied through London, they couldn't help me at all. That didn't stop me from asking some questions: Can I have some indication of when I might receive my passport? Should I report it as lost at some point? Is there anyone else I could call who might be able to help?

Every question was answered with: "We can't advise you, contact the embassy."

Pointing out (several times) that I couldn't actually contact the embassy made no difference whatsoever.

It's a real shame that the State Dept's staggering level of disinterest in their overseas citizens isn't shared by the IRS.

I hung up, defeated, but I also felt an incredible sense of gratitude that I do have a second nationality and another passport…a British one.

(By the way, I've also called my bank to dispute the £70 that was charged to my credit card in May for "non-delivery of goods or services" - who knows, maybe that will help me get the embassy's attention.)

- Charmaine

Hi Char,

I called the Embassy at 9 am & just waited until there was a prompt to press some number to speak to the switchboard.  It's such a let down!

I'm super impressed with your "digging." So, I'm gathering that the Embassy are blaming the passport office in the US (from my end) & you are being told that it's the Embassy's fault. I'm unsure why I'm shocked, but I really wanted to believe that this couldn't happen.

You were smart to get your British citizenship...I haven't & really regret not having it now!

I'm tempted to resubmit my application & see where this gets me.  I do find it really strange that there aren't THAT many people complaining about it online..I found one other person on some other forum based in India who posted in early July, but that's it. 

It's pathetic how we're being treated..how can we complain? Is there an ombudsman? I doubt it!  How long can they realistically keep us with out our passport?  Plus the fact they haven't updated us on the progress really annoys me.  It just makes me think our paperwork has been lost = data breach = bad media coverage, so they'll just ignore us & hope we go away.  I wonder if I tweet them, what they'll say?

I'm tempted to resubmit my application & see where this gets me. 

Since you have your old passport, it's worth trying (you could attach proof of your previous payment).
That's not an option for me though - I never got my old passport back.

It's pathetic how we're being treated..how can we complain? Is there an ombudsman? I doubt it!

I googled a bit and found this:
https://openstate.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Ombudsman-for-Consular-Affairs/27941-7038

Have a look at the response from the Bureau of Consular Affairs - the phone number that's listed for issues with passports is...you guessed it...the one I called yesterday where they helpfully told me they couldn't help me!

I can't imagine there is any way to complain but I'm happy to be corrected.

How long can they realistically keep us with out our passport? 

For as long as it suits them I guess. Ironically, for people who are considering renouncing US citizenship, the State Dept expresses deep concern that they may become stateless. I suppose they are less bothered about people not having their primary form of ID.

It just makes me think our paperwork has been lost = data breach = bad media coverage, so they'll just ignore us & hope we go away. 

That's a very good point.

I wonder if I tweet them, what they'll say?

You really should! I'd love to see their response.

Hi Charmaine,

I have LOST my expired passport!! My house is filled with stuff to get rid of or ship & in the chaos, I lost it.  I've looked everywhere but I can't find it.  I asked the switchboard lady at the Embassy if I could use my mega old passport (with my Home Office ILR visa) & she said "No." I said that although I'd get a new passport number, surely that old number must still link up with me? She couldn't answer. 

 Will post when I get a tweet back from them.

My husband found this great article from The Financial Times :

Documents are normally returned within four to five working days. But after the system went down applicants who needed their passports for other foreign travel have struggled to retrieve their documents.

A spokeswoman for the US embassy in London confirmed that they were being “overwhelmed” with requests from applicants for their passports to be returned.

“It is most definitely an issue and regrettable,” she said, adding that the consular section was dealing with “over 500 email requests a day” from applicants requesting that their documents be returned.

She urged anyone affected, who needed their passports for other travel, to fill out the visa contact form on their respective embassy’s website.

She said that if people ticked the box entitled “my inquiry concerns non-immigrant visas and is not covered by your website” and also stated the type of visa they had applied for “we will do our best to reply”. But she warned that “we are trying to manage expectations and get back to people when we can, but in some cases it just isn’t possible”.

She also cautioned that anyone who had their passport returned would “likely have to start any visa application process over again”.

I followed the instructions above & will *hopefully* get a response soon.  But EVERY article I find is either from early June or early July (the above article is from early June)- absolutely nothing since then.  They ALL state that "everything is back up & running as normal now" - umm clearly NOT!  Pathetic!

I have LOST my expired passport!! My house is filled with stuff to get rid of or ship & in the chaos, I lost it.  I've looked everywhere but I can't find it. 

Oh no, that's awful! Is there a chance you may have a photocopy of it somewhere?

But EVERY article I find is either from early June or early July (the above article is from early June)- absolutely nothing since then.  They ALL state that "everything is back up & running as normal now" - umm clearly NOT!  Pathetic!

This is what is so infuriating - why can't they admit they have problems, and have the courtesy of providing an estimated date of when things might really be resolved? They could always revise the estimated date if they needed to - it would be so much better than this pretence that normal service has resumed.

I had emailed the State Dept 2 days ago, and this was their reply received today:

Thank you for contacting the National Passport Information Center.

Due to ongoing website issues and upgrades, we are unable to reference your application. This does not affect the issuance of your passport. For immediate needs please contact us at the number below. You can also check the status of your application, via our online service https://passportstatus.state.gov/opss/OPSS_Status_ip.asp, using the "check application status" link.

For further information, please refer to our website www.travel.state.gov or call (877) 487-2778, for TDD/TTY users 1-888-874-7793 (Mon-Fri 8:00AM to 10:00PM ET; excluding federal holidays). If you need to contact us again by email, please include all prior messages/correspondence in your reply so we can review what has previously taken place.
Thank you.
National Passport Information Center
Agent #2097

As mentioned in my previous posts, neither the link nor the phone number is of any use.

Ok, I've had no help via Twitter, just the same story..the Financial Times Link was also useless, it just links to the same staff that man the emails within the Embassy.

Yes I agree it's shocking they cannot give us somewhat of an estimation.  I think they're processing the ones on the top of the pile & leave our applications at the bottom, rotting away.  Clearly they don't feel it's necessary to lay on any additional staff to rectify this!

In other news, I have been able to start the immigration process for my husband by using my birth certificate...I'm waiting for them to ask WHY haven't I used my passport!!  It's ok to use birth certificates instead of passports & I still have my passport with my ILR, so that's ok.

I shall update when I hear any more...

94 days and still no passport.

I had contacted my bank to dispute the passport renewal fee that was charged to my credit card. They had asked me to send a written description of what happened along with proof of delivery by the courier etc. I was told that if the bank thought I had a valid claim, all charges would be refunded to me - which they did on the same day as they received my letter!

The embassy has 60 days to contest the claim by proving that I received my passport. Let's see what they come up with.

That's excellent, Charmaine! Well done for that. What will you do if they stop processing your passport?

I sent in a request for my passport to please be processed immediately in my immigration paperwork..we'll see if it helps!

My friend in Surrey just renewed hers & entire process lasted 2 weeks MAX. So it seems they are working from the TOP of their piles down..I'd be fired if I worked like that!!