Passport Renewal

eskbanker

Emmia said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Ezio2025 said:

la531983 said:

Emmia said:

subjecttocontract said:

Last time I renewed I used the Post Office service which was excellent. They fill the form for you, take the photo, handle the postage, do everything, no hassle, no problems. I'd highly recommend it. Think it was £109......easy to check cost online.

For a renewal I found it very easy (and cheaper) to do it all online myself.

Very much this.

I could maybe kinda understand why in the old days of paper forms people might want a human to look over it, but very difficult to do an online renewal "wrong".  Not very money saving to pay more for it in a Post Office....

Yeah this is a good point - I guess without the post office charge & getting the photos done yourself (assuming they cost between £10-£12 as @lr1277 suggested). That’s still a £4-£6 saving without the time it takes to visit the post office & the fuel for trip 

thanks! 

Does the PO service not include sending off the old passport (by secure mail?)? That's another extra cost to add.

Posting your passport back yourself is free.

It has to be, otherwise people won't do it.

It isn't free, you have to pay to send your old one in, as per the emailed instruction I received from the passport office when renewing mine last week:

What you need to do

Send us your old passport.

Use a strong envelope that is the right size for your passport. Check the weight and pay the correct postage – consider using signed for delivery. Send it to:

HM Passport Office
[...]

As above, the incentive is that if you don't, you don't get the new passport!

Emmia

flaneurs_lobster said:

Emmia said:

Posting your passport back yourself is free.

It has to be, otherwise people won't do it.

Really? I thought the renewal process wouldn't complete/new passport issued until old passport received?

That is also true, but people would claim it was lost/stolen to prevent needing to return. 

Emmia

Emmia said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Emmia said:

Posting your passport back yourself is free.

It has to be, otherwise people won't do it.

Really? I thought the renewal process wouldn't complete/new passport issued until old passport received?

That is also true, but people would claim it was lost/stolen to prevent needing to return. 

Perhaps that's new - I don't think I paid to return mine.

Ayr_Rage

As part of the process if you do it online, you receive an "old passport received" message along with several others.

I renewed in April, all online apart from sending the old passport for which you do have to pay.

I took 4 selfies for the required photograph, you can upload them (one at a time) to do a real-time assessment during the application and then submit the one that has the best score.

Very easy to do and all done and dusted in 9 calendar days.

flaneurs_lobster

eskbanker said:

Emmia said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Ezio2025 said:

la531983 said:

Emmia said:

subjecttocontract said:

Last time I renewed I used the Post Office service which was excellent. They fill the form for you, take the photo, handle the postage, do everything, no hassle, no problems. I'd highly recommend it. Think it was £109......easy to check cost online.

For a renewal I found it very easy (and cheaper) to do it all online myself.

Very much this.

I could maybe kinda understand why in the old days of paper forms people might want a human to look over it, but very difficult to do an online renewal "wrong".  Not very money saving to pay more for it in a Post Office....

Yeah this is a good point - I guess without the post office charge & getting the photos done yourself (assuming they cost between £10-£12 as @lr1277 suggested). That’s still a £4-£6 saving without the time it takes to visit the post office & the fuel for trip 

thanks! 

Does the PO service not include sending off the old passport (by secure mail?)? That's another extra cost to add.

Posting your passport back yourself is free.

It has to be, otherwise people won't do it.

It isn't free, you have to pay to send your old one in, as per the emailed instruction I received from the passport office when renewing mine last week:

What you need to do

Send us your old passport.

Use a strong envelope that is the right size for your passport. Check the weight and pay the correct postage – consider using signed for delivery. Send it to:

HM Passport Office
[...]

As above, the incentive is that if you don't, you don't get the new passport!

Hence my question as to whether the PO fee included this old passport return cost.

Ezio2025

flaneurs_lobster said:

eskbanker said:

Emmia said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Ezio2025 said:

la531983 said:

Emmia said:

subjecttocontract said:

Last time I renewed I used the Post Office service which was excellent. They fill the form for you, take the photo, handle the postage, do everything, no hassle, no problems. I'd highly recommend it. Think it was £109......easy to check cost online.

For a renewal I found it very easy (and cheaper) to do it all online myself.

Very much this.

I could maybe kinda understand why in the old days of paper forms people might want a human to look over it, but very difficult to do an online renewal "wrong".  Not very money saving to pay more for it in a Post Office....

Yeah this is a good point - I guess without the post office charge & getting the photos done yourself (assuming they cost between £10-£12 as @lr1277 suggested). That’s still a £4-£6 saving without the time it takes to visit the post office & the fuel for trip 

thanks! 

Does the PO service not include sending off the old passport (by secure mail?)? That's another extra cost to add.

Posting your passport back yourself is free.

It has to be, otherwise people won't do it.

It isn't free, you have to pay to send your old one in, as per the emailed instruction I received from the passport office when renewing mine last week:

What you need to do

Send us your old passport.

Use a strong envelope that is the right size for your passport. Check the weight and pay the correct postage – consider using signed for delivery. Send it to:

HM Passport Office
[...]

As above, the incentive is that if you don't, you don't get the new passport!

Hence my question as to whether the PO fee included this old passport return cost.

I think it’s included as on the PO website it says they’ll send off your old one and it’s not mentioned doing this incurs an additional cost