Passport Renewal / Application - Time Taken?

[flyingsal]

Almost exactly 6 weeks to the day for a child passport. Lodged in a Hobart post office, delivered registered mail.

 

[blackcat20]

Well US passports are nice and quick; presented on June 30 for interview in Melbourne and passport arrived today, two weeks on the dot.

 

[AisleSeat]

Lodged my son's renewal on 22 April. 10 weeks so far.

Now at 12 weeks, so I called, and its been escalated. Was it just sitting there being ignored?

 

[Tiki]

Well US passports are nice and quick; presented on June 30 for interview in Melbourne and passport arrived today, two weeks on the dot.

Mine arrived in Sydney by express post on 28 June. The only thing I have to check is the tracking for the return prepaid express mail and it hasn't been lodged yet.

 

[Tiki]

Mine arrived in Sydney by express post on 28 June. The only thing I have to check is the tracking for the return prepaid express mail and it hasn't been lodged yet.

New US passport just delivered. I sent the renewal to Sydney on 27 June, tracked as arrived on 28 June. They forward it to the US for the passport to be made. The passport was mailed back to Sydney on 8 July. Just received the new one today in my self-addressed express post. So there's a data point for US passports. Thankfully I won't have to renew the Aussie passport until late 2023.

 

[Virgin Bart]

Passport for a 14 day old, submitted with priority fee (and a healthy dose of paranoia about the photo) on 14/7, approved and sent on 19/7.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Passport for a 14 day old, submitted with priority fee (and a healthy dose of paranoia about the photo) on 14/7, approved and sent on 19/7.

If I’m not mistaken, you should be able to request for a refund of the priority fee if the passport was not made available within 2 business days.

 

[Virgin Bart]

If I’m not mistaken, you should be able to request for a refund of the priority fee if the passport was not made available within 2 business days.

You're not mistaken. But .. that's 2 business days that the Passport Office actually has the application. Doesn't include the time the Post Office has the application. Of course as a consumer it's almost impossible for me to know, but this was close enough to be ok.

 

[Melburnian1]

Now at 12 weeks, so I called, and its been escalated. Was it just sitting there being ignored?

I know someone who made her initial application for a passport (having become a citizen) in early April but still hasn't received it. She's apparently rung the Passport Office twice: calls seem to be handled in Adelaide: it's twice been 'escalated'. So now 16 weeks and counting...

But another I know in an identical situation in late March received his passport in 13.5 weeks.

It seems luck of the draw.

 

[AisleSeat]

Now at 12 weeks, so I called, and its been escalated. Was it just sitting there being ignored?

I phoned again today (now at 14 weeks) and was told its halfway done and two more steps before being printed.

So much for escalation. Passport office is simply doing triage. Because our travel date is in a month, other more time sensitive applications have been prioritised over it. I was assured it'll be here before the date of travel (and it will no doubt, but its just annoying)

 

[kamchatsky]

My daughter's passport arrived on Tuesday. So that was 2.5 weeks from the application date. My son's passport application is still ongoing.

What a saga for my son's passport. Finally delivered via registered mail today (27 July).

After 8 weeks of silence (application submitted on 24 March), I lodged a complaint to the Passport office in late May. Then they finally looked at my son's passport application and advised via email (they had a Passport Case Officer on the application) that there were issues with the photo that they couldn't fix, and I had to resubmit the original photo. So I submitted the photos via Post Office on 1 June. Then radio silence after repeated emails to the Passport Case Officer. Trying to call the call centre in June was a waste of time, as they repeatedly dropped my call after 2 hours On Hold. It was very frustrating.

It was only on 12 July, when I called again, I actually reached a CSR after being On Hold for 5 minutes, and they escalated the case as "the application was more than 6 weeks". Duh! It was more like 15 weeks!

So from submission (24 March) to receiving my son's passport took 18 weeks (126 days) !!!!!

It is good that we did not plan to travel overseas until the end of this year, as originally we were planning to travel during the winter school holidays but decided to do house renovation instead.

I really don't understand why there is such a variation between my daughter's and my son's passport, given they were both submitted at the same time. But the time required to get my son's passport was ridiculous.

 

[Hamtaru]

Anyone has tried to use urgent application ($225) for child passport? The website said child passport may not be eligible, wondering what are the conditions required and how long will that take for urgent passport. Thanks

 

[Virgin Bart]

Anyone has tried to use urgent application ($225) for child passport? The website said child passport may not be eligible, wondering what are the conditions required and how long will that take for urgent passport. Thanks

Only not eligible if you don't have consent of both parents (even with court orders). Otherwise eligible and got it on time with the priority fee

 

[Trin Trin]

My simple adult passport renewal got processed in 5 business days (after the passport office received my application) without paying any priority processing fee. Now with AusPost - so hopefully they won't take 5 weeks to deliver!

Timeline:
Lodged at local PO in Melbourne: Friday, 22 July
Status changed to 'Lodged' on Passports website: Tuesday, 26 July
Status changed to 'Under Assessment' on Passports website: Wednesday, 27 July
Status changed to 'Passport issued' + SMS and email notification: Tuesday, 2 Aug.

 

[Seat0B]

Mr Seat0A got his text message saying the passport has been mailed today - 4 weeks after submission. My granddaughter has now ticked over 12 weeks with no passport yet. Her parents' took 7 weeks.

 

[randompunter]

Applied at the post office on the 17/6 for a kid's passport, received text yesterday to say it was in the mail. So it took just over 7 weeks' processing time.

 

[cagiva]

Latest from the Herald Sun

 

[Melburnian1]

I phoned again today (now at 14 weeks) and was told its halfway done and two more steps before being printed.

So much for escalation. Passport office is simply doing triage. Because our travel date is in a month, other more time sensitive applications have been prioritised over it. I was assured it'll be here before the date of travel (and it will no doubt, but its just annoying)

I know someone's whose passport application (initial one, not renewal) is at 19 weeks plus a day or two. I doubt they're alone.

Your comments match my informant's experience. Some contradictory information given by different call centre staff is of note, but these employees cannot change 'the system'.

 

[AisleSeat]

I phoned again today (now at 14 weeks) and was told its halfway done and two more steps before being printed.

So much for escalation. Passport office is simply doing triage. Because our travel date is in a month, other more time sensitive applications have been prioritised over it. I was assured it'll be here before the date of travel (and it will no doubt, but its just annoying)

Just got the email saying the passport has been posted. It's been 17 weeks. We go on holiday in 3 weeks; cutting it close there.

 

[Melburnian1]

Just got the email saying the passport has been posted. It's been 17 weeks. We go on holiday in 3 weeks; cutting it close there.

I don't know where in Oz you are, but based on the experience of persons in Melbourne's suburbs I know of, you may receive the passport in two to four business days from yesterday i.e. Friday to at the outside Tuesday if you're in a major urban area.

My postie continues to state he's delivering many each week. When I have been at official post offices in the last two weeks (three separate visits), there is always someone lodging a passport application. At one location, three of the four clerks were concurrently handling them, which resulted in a longer queue for everyone else.

If anyone lodges at a post office, may I recommend visiting prior to 1200 on a weekday as the really busy time when small businesses lodge parcels is 1500-1700 hours?