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

Freer141

Freer141 wrote: »

Applied for my daughters passport on 23rd of March they received it on the 26th and gave me an estimated issue date of 30/04 but still no sign and we fly on the 10th.

I’ve been to the Dublin office twice to at least find out one way or the other if we can get it in time but no luck as yet. They have said we just need to wait on the call from the passport office.

The Online tracker has been stuck on processing since then. Big lesson learned to be way ahead of their turnaround times.

Just following up on the below. Got a call today from them after going on Webchat again to say they were trying to contact the school principal who is obviously on Mid-term break.

Then we had an issue with them trying to contact the Garda Station (no surprise there) then they couldn’t reach the solicitor who signed some legal forms for us either.

Finally after hours of running around trying to get in touch with these people our solicitor was able to take the call and we were told we could collect our passports tomorrow (the day before we fly)

Just thought I would come back and let you all know the outcome as I saw little of that when I was unsure wether I would get it or not.

My advice is go into the passport office at least twice as if you aren’t on top of it they won’t see the need to rush either. All in all the staff were very nice to deal with it’s just the process can be stressful but that was my own fault entirely.

Tilikum17

Hello All,

Not sure if this is where I should put this thread but anyway.....

My friend is living in London. He was due to come home this weekend. He applied for the express passport 3 weeks ago, as they told him it would take two weeks at the most. Now 3 weeks later - no passport has arrived.

Is there any point going to the Irish embassy in London? Or is there nothing that can be done?

Mint Sauce

It took about 4-5 weeks for my passport to arrive this time last year, and I applied here in Ireland, also through Passport Express.

Has he rang them with his travel plans? If no joy, maybe fly or take a route that does not require a passport. Aer Lingus one example.

munchkin_utd

Indeed. It’s an urban myth that you need a passport (as an Irish or uk citizen) to go between ireland and uk.
You don’t.
Ryanair want a passport, and make you go to Stansted, both things you can avoid if you choose any other operator or means of travel to get between ireland and Britain .

coylemj

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Indeed. It’s an urban myth that you need a passport (as an Irish or uk citizen) to go between ireland and uk.

All good in theory but far from an 'urban myth' for the OP's friend if his ticket is with Ryanair.

Natibaby

HONKEY TONK wrote: »

Why did you think he was trolling?

This was my online Renewal time frame for both a book and card.

This is also including the fact I submitted on a Saturday



28/04/2018 - Saturday - 10min after completing online form
Printing
Your Passport Book is being printed

01/05/2018 Tuesday Passport Book posted
Dispatched
Your Passport Book was posted on 01/05/2018

01/05/2018 Tuesday Passport Card Printing
Printing
Your Passport Card is being printed

Passport Book arrived Wednesday - Passport Card Arrived Thursday

All in All it took 4 working days for me to receive both my Passport book and Card

You can't apply online if under 18 yrs of age. I applied online for myself last year, it took 7 days from application to receiving my passport. Great service. Have recently applied for 3 children's passports through passport express my estimate due date of completion is 29 working days.

Caranica

By the end of the year you'll be able to renew children's passports online. This should make things significantly more efficient

munchkin_utd

coylemj wrote: »

All good in theory but far from an 'urban myth' for the OP's friend if his ticket is with Ryanair.

There was no mention of any ticket being already bought, so from that starting point you just need to choose a means of transport that doesn’t require a passport, which is anybody but Ryanair.

To answer the original question, you can ring the embassy and maybe they will have info on the situation but essentially they are powerless as the passport office in Dublin now processes all the biometric passports with chip.
The most they can do is issue an emergency 1 year passport (€30 + postage + a possible €70 quick turnaround fee) but for that price you could pay for the bus or train ticket.

Inchinc7

I'm about to head up to Dublin passport office. Kids' passports due to be issued tomorrow but tracker says 'processing' still. We're travelling next week and I'm panicking here. They are aware of travel dates but I guess that doesn't mean anything. Any advice?

Caranica

Inchinc7 wrote: »

I'm about to head up to Dublin passport office. Kids' passports due to be issued tomorrow but tracker says 'processing' still. We're travelling next week and I'm panicking here. They are aware of travel dates but I guess that doesn't mean anything. Any advice?

Contact your TD and it should be sorted. No point in going in

Hurrache

My kid's application was received mid April and took 15 working days from the day it was received to the day it was dispatched so not too bad in the end.

FurBabyMomma

My application was received on 6th April, due to be issued 27th April. It's a child's renewal, which cannot be done online. I waited hours on chat last week to be told they would contact me 'if possible'. We travel next week, which I informed them of.

I've already been bumped from no. 32 back to 38 in queue this morning (as also happened last week). Up to 27 now.

munchkin_utd

Caranica wrote: »

By the end of the year you'll be able to renew children's passports online. This should make things significantly more efficient

thats great !
I'll be interesting to see how that works, because I presume the automatic biometric recognition would have issues determining that a 5 year old is the same person as the one in the photo from their passport when they were 4 weeks old.

Still and all, its insane to be filling forms and getting signatures and real photos, and sending them in physically when at the other end someone has to take all that paper and then type in the details and scan the photos.
The more preparation work the applicant does, removing manual tasks from the passport office, the more time staff have to make decisions and approvals.

treascon

FurBabyMomma wrote: »

My application was received on 6th April, due to be issued 27th April. It's a child's renewal, which cannot be done online. I waited hours on chat last week to be told they would contact me 'if possible'. We travel next week, which I informed them of.

I've already been bumped from no. 32 back to 38 in queue this morning (as also happened last week). Up to 27 now.

I had the exact same scenario as you with exact same dates. Received the passport on 1st May. Is there an issue I wonder? If so you would think they would contact you particularly when you are travelling soon

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

godtabh

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Had to collect a kids renewal last week. I got an update of printing between progressing and collection. Only updated for collection on the day it was due for collection.

FurBabyMomma

treascon wrote: »

I had the exact same scenario as you with exact same dates. Received the passport on 1st May. Is there an issue I wonder? If so you would think they would contact you particularly when you are travelling soon

Hi treascon, I actually contacted them on 1st May and they added the travel dates to my application. I spent 85 mins waiting online this morning (said average wait til 23mins40, ha!) and had a 35min conversation with the online agent to basically be told that I would be contacted if a date for collection would become available, that I am not to go to the passport office. I have requested to be contacted asap if it can be sent out by post, given I am 6 months pregnant and have 2 toddlers so traveling up to Dublin will be a nightmare. I'm so stressed out and can't understand why people applying after me have received their passports much quicker. 23 working days now.

Inchinc7

Inchinc7 wrote: »

I'm about to head up to Dublin passport office. Kids' passports due to be issued tomorrow but tracker says 'processing' still. We're travelling next week and I'm panicking here. They are aware of travel dates but I guess that doesn't mean anything. Any advice?

Apparently, our passport applications haven't even been checked by anyone yet even though they're in there 6 weeks! Have to wait for phone call, might be ready Monday to pick up. Put us on priority list. We'll see how it goes...

FurBabyMomma

So for those of you whose passports were stuck in processing when you were due to travel, what would your advice be? Just show up at the public office in Dublin next Tuesday? Did you successfully get it issued in person? Did you make an appointment or just arrive and take a ticket?

kf2010

Inchinc I'm in a similar situation to you. Due to be issued tomorrow, tracking still says processing. Have got no help on chat other than they've noted it on my application that im travelling mid next week. I don't know what to do at this stage. I am thinking of just showing up at the passport office tomorrow anyway.

Inchinc7

kf2010 wrote: »

Inchinc I'm in a similar situation to you. Due to be issued tomorrow, tracking still says processing. Have got no help on chat other than they've noted it on my application that im travelling mid next week. I don't know what to do at this stage. I am thinking of just showing up at the passport office tomorrow anyway.

My friend is flying on Friday and she went up to the office yesterday. She just got a call to pick up passport tomorrow. So that makes me hopeful. The guy I dealt with was really nice and said I'd done all I can do at this point. Am worried in case there are any issues though, if there are, I'm fecked.

I do think the passport office should say something like apply 8 weeks or even 10 weeks in advance. It's now 30 working days for a first time application. I've seen so may posts and tweets from people in the same boat as us, thinking that we had enough time. The system is seriously flawed.

I was only waiting at the office for 30 minutes to get seen. It was just the getting up and down to city centre took half the day.

kf2010

Thanks for the reply! What time did you go in there at? I will be waiting with a small baby but can't get in there for 9!

Inchinc7 wrote: »

My friend is flying on Friday and she went up to the office yesterday. She just got a call to pick up passport tomorrow. So that makes me hopeful. The guy I dealt with was really nice and said I'd done all I can do at this point. Am worried in case there are any issues though, if there are, I'm fecked.

I do think the passport office should say something like apply 8 weeks or even 10 weeks in advance. It's now 30 working days for a first time application. I've seen so may posts and tweets from people in the same boat as us, thinking that we had enough time. The system is seriously flawed.

I was only waiting at the office for 30 minutes to get seen. It was just the getting up and down to city centre took half the day.

Inchinc7

FurBabyMomma wrote: »

So for those of you whose passports were stuck in processing when you were due to travel, what would your advice be? Just show up at the public office in Dublin next Tuesday? Did you successfully get it issued in person? Did you make an appointment or just arrive and take a ticket?

You just take a ticket when you get there. I was there about 12ish today, not busy. Waited about half an hour to be seen. I think you can only make an appointment for new applications. I have to wait for call, could be Monday before I hear. I said I could collect. I had advised my travel dates via webchat a month ago and confirmed this, again via webchat, about a week ago. This seemed to be news to the guy I dealt with.

It's all very frustrating, but I'm trying to be optimistic. I have avoided mentioning holidays to my small kids in case I don't get them on time.

FurBabyMomma

Inchinc7 wrote: »

You just take a ticket when you get there. I was there about 12ish today, not busy. Waited about half an hour to be seen. I think you can only make an appointment for new applications. I have to wait for call, could be Monday before I hear. I said I could collect. I had advised my travel dates via webchat a month ago and confirmed this, again via webchat, about a week ago. This seemed to be news to the guy I dealt with.

It's all very frustrating, but I'm trying to be optimistic. I have avoided mentioning holidays to my small kids in case I don't get them on time.

Oh heck, I won't be able to travel to Dublin 2 days in a row!!!! I hope they would be able to issue it on the day or I'm screwed. It's so unfair to put the fault back on the consumer when they are the ones giving out flawed timelines.

coylemj

munchkin_utd wrote: »

There was no mention of any ticket being already bought, so from that starting point you just need to choose a means of transport that doesn’t require a passport, which is anybody but Ryanair.

You're ignoring the bleedin' obvious simply to make a pedantic point. The OP posted at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday that his friend is coming to Ireland next weekend. He applied for a passport three weeks ago and is anxious that it hasn't shown up and the OP is wondering if it would be worth his (the frend's) while going to the Irish embassy.

So with all that circumstantial evidence, you assume that he has not yet purchased a ticket and all you can do is tell him to chose an airline other than Ryanair.

Inchinc7

kf2010 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply! What time did you go in there at? I will be waiting with a small baby but can't get in there for 9!

Hiya kf2010 and FurBabyMamma. I was there around 12. Wasn't busy that time of day. I was afraid I'd be waiting hours but I took a ticket for passport enquiries and my number came up after about half an hour. The passports are printed in Balbriggan, not the Mount Street office you have to go to. So I doubt that you could get it the same day. But that's just based on my experience this week, I could be wrong. I don't know how quick they can turn them around when it's really urgent.

I sent numerous emails, direct messages on Twitter, wasted hours on webchat and never once got through on the passport office number. It's a real inconvenience having to go in but for the sake of my stress levels I had to! I just hope it was worth the trip up. I'll keep you posted. I've found this thread really useful.

McMurphy

Just an update here, I applied online for a renewal at roughly 7.30pm(ish) yesterday evening, 8th of May.

It has been posted out to me already (9th of May) according to the site at about 445pm today.

I am impressed.

Well impressed.

kf2010

Mine is a first time passport for a child :-( - in 29 working days now. The timeframe given when I sent everything in in March was 23 working days. All they say when I eventually get through on the chat is they have noted my travel date. Does not seem to make much of a difference! Will see how I get on at the passport office tomorrow. If they gave more realistic time frames or more details on the trackings other then just saying "processing" for the last 6 weeks, it would make life a lot easier!!

masculinist

Ive been going crazy trying to find out how to save a fare price for 24 hours and give them 2.50 euro for the privilege .

Where is the button for this ? I cant see it at any stage from searching for flights to payment . Its like their website has gotten worse and worse

steve-o

When are you planning to travel? It's only offered if you are booking at least 14 days in advance.