Expats face big delays for UK passports
British expats are being hit by long delays in receiving new passports.
The UK Passport Office has warned that processing times are “significantly longer” in relation to applications from overseas than those filed by UK residents.
But even UK residents are up in arms over long delays. The Daily Mail this week published a leaked picture of piles of orange boxes containing passports waiting to be processed.
The UK Passport Office has drafted in extra staff and is operating from 07:00 to midnight every day to try to deal with a flood of applications that has led to reported delays of several weeks for UK residents waiting for new passports.
All overseas applications for British passports are now processed in the UK in Liverpool.
Previously, overseas applications were handled by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s seven regional processing centres, including those in Hong Kong and Wellington.
Some new overseas applications are now taking as much as two months to process, reports the Telegraph UK, and there are fears the backlog could get even worse.
British passport holders in Hong Kong have also complained of huge delays, with reports of waits of up to three months for a new passport.
Ian Jarrett
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