** ALL ** Passport Related Questions in here! Please Read Post#1 first!

Brendan Flowers

I need to get my passport renewed for a trip on the 5th March. It expires in May and I need it to be valid for at least 6 months for this flight.

I dont think I have enough time to apply via post. What is my best option to renew my passport? Would it be to make an appointment in the passport office? If so how quickly would I be issued with a new passport? Are there any other ways to get a new passport issued in a short space of time (for non emergency travel)?

Charles Babbage

Is it that you need a passport valid for 6 months. to enter the destination? This may be true of some long haul destinations, it is not true of European ones or the US. Perhaps worth being certain on this point.

Brendan Flowers

Yeah it's for longhaul travel and the Country I am visiting have confirmed on their embassey website that passports must be valid for at least 6 months

bobbysands81

Brendan Flowers wrote: »

I need to get my passport renewed for a trip on the 5th March. It expires in May and I need it to be valid for at least 6 months for this flight.

I dont think I have enough time to apply via post. What is my best option to renew my passport? Would it be to make an appointment in the passport office? If so how quickly would I be issued with a new passport? Are there any other ways to get a new passport issued in a short space of time (for non emergency travel)?

If your travel time is in the next 3-10 working days you can make an appointment with the Passport Office to sort your passport in time.

Further info here - https://www.passportappointments.ie

Brendan Flowers

bobbysands81 wrote: »

If your travel time is in the next 3-10 working days you can make an appointment with the Passport Office to sort your passport in time.

Further info here - https://www.passportappointments.ie

Yeah I was looking at that. Would you have any idea how long it'd take to get the passport issued after my appointment?

Dodge

Brendan Flowers wrote: »

Yeah it's for longhaul travel and the Country I am visiting have confirmed on their embassey website that passports must be valid for at least 6 months

Don't always take information on websites as 100% true. I'd call the embassy and ask someone there. You might be pleasantly surprised

To answer your other earlier question, you need to contact the Passport Office too. No one here can give you definitive answers

Brendan Flowers

I've rang the passport office numberous times since yesterday morning and I keep getting a recorded message saying they cant take my call due to high volume. And I emailed them yesterday morning and I've got no reply yet

January

Tweet them, seems to be the best option from looking online.

Dodge

Brendan Flowers wrote: »

I've rang the passport office numberous times since yesterday morning and I keep getting a recorded message saying they cant take my call due to high volume. And I emailed them yesterday morning and I've got no reply yet

Book an appointment. You need the passport and that's the only way you can get it quickly. Check with the embassy if you actually do need one

Brendan Flowers

Yeah I just contracted the Embassy and they do require you have a passport that is valid for a minimum of 6 months. Dont have a Twitter account but I'll set one up if it means getting some information!

Dodge

Brendan Flowers wrote: »

Yeah I just contracted the Embassy and they do require you have a passport that is valid for a minimum of 6 months. Dont have a Twitter account but I'll set one up if it means getting some information!

But what are you going to do with the information? Either way you need a passport quick and the only way you'll do that is by making an appointment

Penny Tration

Applied for a replacement passport today (lost mine) as I'm going away in 7 weeks, and I was told current turnaround time is 3 weeks for renewal and 4 weeks for replacement.

So your only option is to book an appointment asap and go into the office.

Brendan Flowers

Yeah I will book an appointment today.

@Penny Tration - Did you apply for your new passport via post or through appointment?

Penny Tration

Brendan Flowers wrote: »

Yeah I will book an appointment today.

@Penny Tration - Did you apply for your new passport via post or through appointment?

Post, because I knew it'd take 4 weeks and I don't need it for 7. usually when you do it by appointment, the latest you'll get it is the day before you travel

Bistoman

The system is Not working, Thank god I'm in no hurry, But 3 weeks to be stuck at stage 2 and they still say I should get My passport last Monday!! It ridiculous.
Now I'm sure someone will be back on telling Me that they are not a call center and they are understaffed, That's fine.
But if they know that it takes 1, 2 or 3 months to renew a passport then they should just say so, Not this 3 weeks bull**** that they are still pretending it takes.

scaryfairy

scaryfairy wrote: »

hi,

we have flights booked for the 1st of March which felt like ages away when we sent in our son's passport for renewal at the end of January..
however, now it is still on stage 3, having spent 10 working days on stage 2 or sth.

at this pace the passport would be only ready by mid-March. ha!

what can we do at this stage? we are going for a wedding so it's not like we can just rearrange (plus costs loads of €€€€).

I am willing to pay extra for one of those appointments but can they do anything if your passport is already in the system??? We cannot spend 2 days queuing so really don't know what to do..

so just an update on this in case anyone else is in the same situation:
I didn't realise but I can walk to the Dublin office in c 20 min, so did that at lunch.
There is no point of making an appointment for someone in our situation as they can only help those who are submitting their application there and then.
However, there also a ticketing system for drop-in enquiries. I was seen within 5 minutes or so (yay!), and they looked up our application and said that it should be ready early next week, delivered to us by Tuesday...
we will see... the guy said that they are working overtime over the weekend in Balbriggan - that's where our application was -etc. He also put on a note for us on the system, and they should give us a call if there is something wrong with the application. They were very friendly and all, cannot complain about that.

fingers crossed...

JohnMearsheimer

Bistoman wrote: »

The system is Not working, Thank god I'm in no hurry, But 3 weeks to be stuck at stage 2 and they still say I should get My passport last Monday!! It ridiculous.
Now I'm sure someone will be back on telling Me that they are not a call center and they are understaffed, That's fine.
But if they know that it takes 1, 2 or 3 months to renew a passport then they should just say so, Not this 3 weeks bull**** that they are still pretending it takes.

The issue date is system generated. Most of the time it only takes 10 working days for a renewal but it has been the busiest February in the history of the Passport Service. The work load only starts to pick up around March until it hits its peak in May/June. By the time that comes around all temporary staff are trained up and in place (they usually start from mid February onwards).

The passport service can only go on trends from previous years. The figures show peaks and troughs and February is always a trough. This February has been much busier than normal for whatever reason. The passport service can't control how many people apply for a passport at any given time.

The passport.ie website gives the most current turnaround times.

JohnMearsheimer

Brendan Flowers wrote: »

Yeah I was looking at that. Would you have any idea how long it'd take to get the passport issued after my appointment?

It depends on your proof of travel. If you go to the counter and have no proof of travel it'll take the working 10 days but you'd be nearly guaranteed to have it. It wouldn't get caught up in a backlog of post office applications.

djh2009

A relative of mine , born in Dublin , was adopted in the 1940s and his adoptive parents gave him a new name which includes their surname. As there was no formal adoption until 1952 he has no formal evidence of his identity. Will it be possible for him to get a passport ?

JohnMearsheimer

djh2009 wrote: »

A relative of mine , born in Dublin , was adopted in the 1940s and his adoptive parents gave him a new name which includes their surname. As there was no formal adoption until 1952 he has no formal evidence of his identity. Will it be possible for him to get a passport ?

He can use his adoption certificate in lieu of a birth certificate.

Marcusm

JohnMearsheimer wrote: »

The issue date is system generated. Most of the time it only takes 10 working days for a renewal but it has been the busiest February in the history of the Passport Service. The work load only starts to pick up around March until it hits its peak in May/June. By the time that comes around all temporary staff are trained up and in place (they usually start from mid February onwards).

The passport service can only go on trends from previous years. The figures show peaks and troughs and February is always a trough. This February has been much busier than normal for whatever reason. The passport service can't control how many people apply for a passport at any given time.

The passport.ie website gives the most current turnaround times.

With the greatest respect, this is self serving. Not only can you consider past history but you can look at the expected variations for the year. The Euro 2016 finals in June could easily be seen as both increasing he number of passports likely to be required this year but also advancing the date on which they might be applied for. You should look to the failings in your senior management.

bobbysands81

Marcusm wrote: »

With the greatest respect, this is self serving. Not only can you consider past history but you can look at the expected variations for the year. The Euro 2016 finals in June could easily be seen as both increasing he number of passports likely to be required this year but also advancing the date on which they might be applied for. You should look to the failings in your senior management.

What if senior management looked for the staff but were told to make do with what they had sprinkled with overtime and temp staff?

Our passport system works.

djh2009

JohnMearsheimer wrote: »

He can use his adoption certificate in lieu of a birth certificate.

Thanks for your reply, JohnMearsheimer. There is no adoption certificate. It was before formal adoption in the state. All he has is his original birth cert in his birth name, but nothing formal in his given name. Any ideas ?

Myrddin

JohnMearsheimer wrote: »

The issue date is system generated.

Based on what, where are they pulling the three week figure from? From what I'm reading, three weeks isn't happening...so where's it coming from? This is part of the problem, yes, people shouldn't leave it until the 'last minute', but if a holiday is six weeks away, & the passport site is saying three, then people aren't going to be too pressed about getting it done early. People are like that If the site had a realistic turn around time that was updated frequently, perhaps it might ensure people get it done in time? The way I see it, the system generated times are beyond inaccurate, & this is adding to the problem of unforeseen surges in applications.

54and56

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone here has applied for the Irish Passport Card using the Android phone app?

I tried several times and no matter what I do I cannot get it to accept the photo it takes as part of the process. I line up perfectly, no glasses, no smiling or anything like that and in good light but it never ever accepts the photo as being good enough.

Has anyone had any success with the app and if so have you any tips for getting past the photo stage??

FYI I tried using the app again today with excellent natural light from a window in front of a white wall and absolutely no joy, I took about 40 photo's in all sorts of positions and with lights above and below to remove any possible shadows but no joy, every single photo (taken with a 13mb camera phone) was rejected.

I eventually gave up and tried using the passport card website application process. That allows you to upload a digital photo you've taken earlier. Once again it rejected loads of the photo's I took but eventually it allowed one to be processed (I honestly couldn't tell you why it accepted that one and not any of the dozens I tried) and the application was finally accepted.

As an innovation I'd give the process 8 out of 10 but in terms of execution and user experience I'd give it 1 out of 10.

Pathetic.

Malee

djh2009 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, JohnMearsheimer. There is no adoption certificate. It was before formal adoption in the state. All he has is his original birth cert in his birth name, but nothing formal in his given name. Any ideas ?

If he has an original birth certificate that shows he was born in Ireland, he can additionally post in so-called Proof of Usage for his current name. To list all the documents required:
- His original birth certificate
- An original utility bill (showing his name and address)
- An original other document (bank statement, pay slip, anything showing his name)
- An original photo-ID (driving licence, PPS card)
- Two original documents from different sources (think of the documents above, and for example p60, hospital letter, car insurance letter, electoral register, etc) dating back a minimum of two years (so before 20/02/2014).

Depending on he may be given a passport that also has his birth name registered, but with the above documents he should be ok for a passport in his current name.

djh2009

Malee wrote: »

If he has an original birth certificate that shows he was born in Ireland, he can additionally post in so-called Proof of Usage for his current name. To list all the documents required:
- His original birth certificate
- An original utility bill (showing his name and address)
- An original other document (bank statement, pay slip, anything showing his name)
- An original photo-ID (driving licence, PPS card)
- Two original documents from different sources (think of the documents above, and for example p60, hospital letter, car insurance letter, electoral register, etc) dating back a minimum of two years (so before 20/02/2014).

Depending on he may be given a passport that also has his birth name registered, but with the above documents he should be ok for a passport in his current name.

Thanks Malee. I didn't think it would be possible. But that's a great help. PP office not answering calls, not returning messages left either or replying to e-mail queries. So thanks again. Will pass this on to him and hope for the best.

Marcusm

bobbysands81 wrote: »

What if senior management looked for the staff but were told to make do with what they had sprinkled with overtime and temp staff?

Our passport system works.

Communicate the impending bottleneck to manage customer expectations rather than leave it to the point that staff are describing it as unexpected and unprecedented. I don't think the wait times are unreasonable but I do think the communication is lacking.

Myrddin

Application Number Entered: xxxxxxxxxxx
Status: Received on 26/01/2016

Application No. xxxxxxxxxxxis at Stage 2 of 6: Your documentation is being processed.

Target Issue Date: 08/02/2016
Your Application was Last Updated: 22/02/2016 14:12

So not far off a month in the hands of the folks doing the processing, this application is still in stage 2. A full two weeks over the target issue date now, and still four steps to go...I can't help but notice that the 'last updated' section has been adjusted to today's date, yet the stage remains unchanged. What does this mean?

By the way this is for a first time passport, submitted by Passport Express

Penny Tration

Myrddin wrote: »

Based on what, where are they pulling the three week figure from? From what I'm reading, three weeks isn't happening...so where's it coming from? This is part of the problem, yes, people shouldn't leave it until the 'last minute', but if a holiday is six weeks away, & the passport site is saying three, then people aren't going to be too pressed about getting it done early. People are like that If the site had a realistic turn around time that was updated frequently, perhaps it might ensure people get it done in time? The way I see it, the system generated times are beyond inaccurate, & this is adding to the problem of unforeseen surges in applications.

So is it taking longer than 3 weeks?

I'm going away in 6 and a half weeks, left my passport application in a week ago (passport express) because I only realised then that I'd lost my passport. I was told 4 weeks, which should have it back 3 weeks before I go.

If it doesn't arrive, can I go into the office, pay another fee and get it if I bring proof of the holiday?