Passport Renewal / Application - Time Taken?

[ethernet]

International Benchmarking. How does .au's passport compare with the rest of the world? For Aussies living overseas, they cant use mail, but physically visit embassies that treat you like criminals with hostility (or covid patient zeros). I would like to know why 'passports' is so inefficient and a breakdown of costs. I suspect we are subsidizing loss making causes and high court appeals. The RBA can harp on about pretend inflation . Lets see a ranking graph.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Well, they are raising passport fees twice this year, one for the CPI and the other to strengthen the Aust passport.
But as Aust passports are not stamped anymore, and ergo, we should get to pay less.
But no, they will keep increasing the fees.
As for breakdown of the cost of manufacturing the Aust passport, I think that they would consider that as confidential.
Just look at the Aust pax dep charge, now also gone up to $75 is it?
They say it costs to operate Smartgate, etc, too.
For those working abroad, I guess, its easy to loose passpots, esp if a person has to work in a not so scrupulous country, where you need to show passport and home address in that country, that means people know where you live, and you could get a breakin, and the passport goes walkies, would certainly be a pain to get a replacement, if that passport is the only cert document you have.
What is the passport fee by July?
$425 for 10 years, or something like that, edited: by me, just checked, $373.75 for Aust based, but maybe more. if living overseas

 

[cagiva]

The cost of manufacture of a passport should only be a small fraction of it's price.

Just did a comparison of a few European countries.
Here are approximate prices:
The British passport is a rip-off at $450
German $132
French $156
Italian $193

I think the Australian is way overpriced as well!

 

[Tiki]

Turkish passports are around 5400 TRY which is currently $280 AUD. That is crazy when you consider the average wage in Turkiye compared to the average wage in Australia!

 

[SydneySwan]

The cost of manufacture of a passport should only be a small fraction of it's price.

Just did a comparison of a few European countries.
Here are approximate prices:
The British passport is a rip-off at $450
German $132
French $156
Italian $193

I think the Australian is way overpriced as well!

That UK price is incorrect. One of my sons just renewed his UK passport and the cost was 114 pounds including the courier fee so about A$215.

 

[MattA]

That UK price is incorrect. One of my sons just renewed his UK passport and the cost was 114 pounds including the courier fee so about A$215.

And it's even cheaper for people actually in the UK, which is more of an apples-to-apples comparison with the cost of getting or renewing an Aussie passport within Australia. Online fee for a new adult UK passport or renewal when applying within the UK is £82.50 so A$156. Getting your first adult passport

Renewing a UK passport from Australia bumps the cost up to £94 + £19.86 courier fee, so ~ A$215 as you say.

Certainly makes the Australian one seem expensive by comparison, even before the latest price hike.

 

[prozac]

Perhaps the validity period should be 10yrs and 6 months to accommodate the period in which it cannot be used? Would cost no more in paper or effort.

 

[auriga]

The cost of Aussie passports are way out of line with the rest of the world, but we cannot do anything about it. Bullshit nonsense about strength and security.

 

[jbman]

Perhaps the validity period should be 10yrs and 6 months to accommodate the period in which it cannot be used? Would cost no more in paper or effort.

UK passport gives the extra 6 months to cover this
Appears to have changed

 

[SydneySwan]

UK passport gives the extra 6 months to cover this

Since when? My son's just renewed UK passport does not have any extra 6 months.

 

[jbman]

Since when? My son's just renewed UK passport does not have any extra 6 months.

Oh what, wife did hers couple years ago and it was 6 months extra on it.

I will retract my old information

 

[MattA]

Since when? My son's just renewed UK passport does not have any extra 6 months.

I don't think they do this anymore. Not sure exactly when it stopped but it used to be the case that if you renewed early you got the time left on the old passport added on to the new one (up to ? 9 months ?) I think one of the reasons they stopped is that (post-Brexit) the Schengen zone doesn't recognise any validity beyond 10 years from when the passport was issued, so those extra months on the end are no longer useful for Brits travelling to Europe.

 

[cagiva]

That UK price is incorrect. One of my sons just renewed his UK passport and the cost was 114 pounds including the courier fee so about A$215.

I stand corrected. I can't remember where I looked up the price at the time.

The cost of Aussie passports are way out of line with the rest of the world, but we cannot do anything about it. Bullshit nonsense about strength and security.

Security? I don't know for sure about the other European passports, but the Italian passport has a copy of the photo and fingerprints contained in the microchip. That is better security than ours.
And as for strength, last reports I saw didn't rate the Aussie passport stronger then any of the European passports.

 

[Warragul]

but the Italian passport has a copy of the photo and fingerprints contained in the microchip. That is better security than ours.

I don't think fingerprints on a passport chip would pass 'the pub test' here, even if it does make it more secure.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

They (the public at that time) didn't want the Australia Card.
Betcha they wouldn't approve of fingerprints being taken now either.

 

[cagiva]

My point was that the cost of producing an Aussie passport can't be any more than others that have more technology involved and cost half the price!
And the time taken is not acceptable. Some foreign Consulates will print your passport while you wait. Half hour appointment to do everything from application to taking your money and handing you your passport.
Still think that ours is overpriced for what it is.
Lucky we are Australian (assumption) because for those nationalities that need a visa to enter the Schengen area fingerprints are taken and stored somewhere in the EU for 5 years.

 

[Warragul]

Lucky we are Australian (assumption) because for those nationalities that need a visa to enter the Schengen area fingerprints are taken and stored somewhere in the EU for 5 years.

Agree, at least it has an end date and the EU's privacy protections are better than most. Finding out how long US keeps fingerprints collected at the border is a fun exercise. I think it is 75 years.

 

[Flashback]

Well, they are raising passport fees twice this year, one for the CPI and the other to strengthen the Aust passport.
But as Aust passports are not stamped anymore, and ergo, we should get to pay less.
But no, they will keep increasing the fees.
As for breakdown of the cost of manufacturing the Aust passport, I think that they would consider that as confidential.
Just look at the Aust pax dep charge, now also gone up to $75 is it?
They say it costs to operate Smartgate, etc, too.
For those working abroad, I guess, its easy to loose passpots, esp if a person has to work in a not so scrupulous country, where you need to show passport and home address in that country, that means people know where you live, and you could get a breakin, and the passport goes walkies, would certainly be a pain to get a replacement, if that passport is the only cert document you have.
What is the passport fee by July?
$425 for 10 years, or something like that, edited: by me, just checked, $373.75 for Aust based, but maybe more. if living overseas

They sure do get stamped, I renewed mine 5 months ago and I'm nearly 1/3 of the way through it.

 

[clifford]

Off topic, but I had to replace my British passport a few weeks ago as I had lost my previous one somewhere between LGW and DLM (Dalaman, Turkey). Luckily I had my Aussie passport with me as a backup, or it would have been fun.

Anyway, cancelled the lost passport straight away (using phone app) and applied for replacement passport online when I got home. Time taken, including postage was less than a month, and that included getting a replacement photo when I was in BKK, via an excellent local photographer (cost 200 THB for digital and hard copy).

So all good really (so far).

 

[SydneySwan]

I know this thread is focused on AU passport renewal but thought I would post recent experience of UK adult renewal from Sydney;

11 October - applied online
12 October - posted old passport to UK regular post
1 November - received new passport.

As a follow up to this, I have just renewed my UK passport by post from Sydney and the key dates were;

9 January - applied online
10 January - posted old passport to UK using regular post
26 January - passport office acknowledges receipt
30 January - passport approved
31 January - passport printed and posted
5 February - passport received via DHL courier

So the biggest delay seems to be the postal service. Once the passport was received processing was pretty quick.