Passport renewal lead time - any suggestions..?

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Charlton_King
Charlton_King Posts: 2,071 Forumite
I've been Money Tipped!
in Overseas holidays & travel planning
My passport is coming up for renewal in August this year. Does anyone have recent experience of the process and possibly recommend a reasonable point ahead of that time to start the application?
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  • Ms_Chocaholic
    Ms_Chocaholic Posts: 12,595 Forumite
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    You can renew up to 9 months in advance and those extra months are added to the validity of your passport.

    To save any hassle, I'd renew it now before the holiday rush starts.
    Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
    You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
  • PeacefulWaters
    PeacefulWaters Posts: 8,495 Forumite
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    Not recent. But my last renewal took less than a week.

    From memory if you apply in February you'll get an expiry date of August 2028.

    *edit it looks like 9 months grace rather than 6 months based on the post above. If you're not going away in January fire the forms off now!
  • martinbuckley
    martinbuckley Posts: 1,713 Forumite
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    You get up to 9 months added to your validity, so you don't lose any dates.

    I would certainly advise renewing it now rather than waiting until it gets busier - providing your application is completed correctly, the turnround time at the moment can be less than a week. I submitted mine on a Monday morning and got my new one on the Friday!
  • sandsy
    sandsy Posts: 1,720 Forumite
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    Do it now.

    My kids have May renewals, and with needing new passports every 5 years, I renew in January every 2 or 3 years, and it usually takes one week. Sent one off yesterday.
  • karcher
    karcher Posts: 2,069 Forumite
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    Mine runs out in 2 months, it's a lot of money to renew :(
    'I'm sinking in the quicksand of my thought
    And I ain't got the power anymore'
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,598 Forumite
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    Just send it.

    Its easy to do, very easy but go via the official site, its easy to go via the official site. It gets returned to you quickly, maybe 10 days.
  • kuepper
    kuepper Posts: 1,360 Forumite
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    As you'll get up to 9 mths unused added it can be done anytime before then without losing any time on it but if you do it sooner rather than later it'll be less hassle as some bookings require your passport number for the airline and if it changes before the flight you may have to pay a fee to amend your booking and if you forget to notify them at all it could cause problems at the airport.
  • greatgimpo
    greatgimpo Posts: 1,256 Forumite
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    It's a shame I can't hang about for a new old one, the blue British one and not the Euro version.
  • UKTigerlily
    UKTigerlily Posts: 4,702 Forumite
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    I just renewed mine & they added time on, it took no more than 3 weeks
  • Charlton_King
    Charlton_King Posts: 2,071 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
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    Ok, thanks to all. I look forward with great delight to getting a good old, red, British passport...
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