Renew passport - photo question

bainbridge said:
Renewal requests that have been sent to the passport office via check and send go to the front of the queue, so the turnaround is usually much quicker.
Click to expand...

I didn't use check and send, and had renewed 3 passports back within 3 days or so. Hand delivered, at 9pm one night...

We did pay a photographer a tenner each, as apparently quite a few done in photo booths get rejected.
 
check and send is a waste of money - its hardly difficult to do it yourself.
If it looks like an old photo just get another one done at a photo booth.
 
One thing. This might be stating the obvious , to some, but if you've renewed your driving licence recently and have some photos left over, don't try and use them for your passport. They rejected mine.

Any photo over 1 month old gets rejected, apparently.
 
bainbridge said:
Renewal requests that have been sent to the passport office via check and send go to the front of the queue, so the turnaround is usually much quicker.
Click to expand...

This is completely false. I wouldn't bother with check and send, they don't even check what you right on the form, just that there is some writing in the correct boxes.

I have seen quite a few complaints from people who have used check and send then had their application rejected due to filling the form in wrong!
 
Mr-White said:
Did mine last week, just go online and fill all the paperwork in there and print off the declaration page. Then just send off the signed page with new pics and your old passport. New one turned up in 3 days :eek:

Changing your pic is easy, if it's just down to aging you don't have to get them signed.

Renewable cost me £72.

Got my photos taken in one of those photo machines in Tesco.
Click to expand...
All this +1 did the same myself, my passport also arrived within 3 days.
 
If you sign up to the Government Gateway, which ever recent photo you have uploaded onto their database it uses that for renewals for both Passport and Driving Licence. Did that to renew my Driving Licence last week, saved all the hassle going to photo booths etc.
 
malachi said:
If you sign up to the Government Gateway, which ever recent photo you have uploaded onto their database it uses that for renewals for both Passport and Driving Licence. Did that to renew my Driving Licence last week, saved all the hassle going to photo booths etc.
Click to expand...

Good shout, when my son got his provisional license a few weeks ago they used a pic from his recent passport application.
 
I paid once for a check and send service and had to get it checked 3 times. One time was because the first woman told me to write in the wrong date so had to get my counter signatory to sign it again :mad:

They don't include photos in the check and send service.

BB x
 
I did the form online, paid £72 and submitted my new photos + old passport by post. That was in 2012.

The form does give some rules about how the photo should be done. Neutral expression (so no smiling), no makeup if female, no hats, no high collars etc. Did my photos in the booth outside Stafford Sainsbury's.

Everything was turned around within a fortnight.
 
malachi said:
If you sign up to the Government Gateway, which ever recent photo you have uploaded onto their database it uses that for renewals for both Passport and Driving Licence. Did that to renew my Driving Licence last week, saved all the hassle going to photo booths etc.
Click to expand...

Using your Passport to get a new Driving Licence is on there but I don't think you can use your driving licence to get a new passport.

Unless there's something glaringly obvious that I'm missing.
 
bainbridge said:
Renewal requests that have been sent to the passport office via check and send go to the front of the queue, so the turnaround is usually much quicker.
Click to expand...

djcj said:
This is completely false. I wouldn't bother with check and send, they don't even check what you right on the form, just that there is some writing in the correct boxes.

I have seen quite a few complaints from people who have used check and send then had their application rejected due to filling the form in wrong!
Click to expand...

I have this on good authority.. The man at the post office doing my check and send told me :D
 
egraphixstudios said:
I get my photo taken at a local professional studio. only charges £10 for a nice digital photo and £4 for passport photo printouts.
Click to expand...

I do this too, except I'm my own photographer. 1000 times better results than any photo booth could hope to achieve, and it costs me less than 10p for 8 passport photos.
 
Last edited:
Don't go the post office its a con.

They are called POCAL applications which stands for Post Office Counter AppLication.
They are bundled with all the other boxes but have big purple sticker with POCAL written on.

I used to avoid them like the plague, problem is if the is a problem with the application
the client has the right to a refund from the post office. The amount of **** you went though dealing with them was not worth it.

I could do 50 to 70 straight forward postal renewals a day, but POCAL you only got about 30-50 done a day. Pain in the arse they were.
If its renewal, fill the front in tick a box on second page, sign and date the back, new photo job done. ;)

Everyone is on PASS now which is Passport Application SyStem. The old black passports were a killer all on microfiche and hard to check.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom