A Geordie mum living abroad has slammed the HM Passport Office after facing an anxious wait to see if her daughter's passport would arrive in time for a trip home.
Vicky Kirby, who swapped Howdon for France 16 years ago, applied for her daughter's passport to be renewed on April 23 ahead of a trip back to Newcastle this summer. But the mum was left wondering whether the family would make it home at all after waiting more than two months for her daughter, Amelie Kirby's, new passport to be processed.
The 10-year-old's old passport was received by the UK Passport Office via recorded delivery on May 6, but after that point, Vicky said there were no updates to say when the passport would be ready. Vicky, 44, believed that British citizens overseas would be subject to the same 10-week processing time as those in the UK.
However, as the weeks passed she said she was unable to get any clarity or help from passport staff on the status of the application despite sending dozens of emails and spending hours on the phone trying to get through to someone who could help.
"I come back to Newcastle around three or four times a year but have been worried we wouldn't be able to come back [in August] because of the HM Passport Office," she said.
"The passport has been in a black hole of processing. The tracker was not being updated and there has been no communication just because I am an overseas citizen.
"I made the choice to leave the UK but I am still a British citizen, yet I couldn't even pay to escalate the application because I am overseas. I couldn't get a call back, I've been on hold for hours and had people hang up on me."
Thanks to ChronicleLive raising awareness of her plight with the Home Office, Vicky said the new passport is now on its way to France, meaning that it will get there in time for the family's trip to the Toon on August 18. However, Vicky hopes her story will raise awareness of similar situations that "thousands" of British ex-pats are facing when renewing their passports.
"The HM Passport Office is shambolic," Vicky said.
"They are destroying people's lives. There is a Facebook group called Passport Advice UK and you wouldn't believe how many people are in the same situation.
"Missing a holiday is one thing - although people do save for years to go away - but there are people who applied in December still waiting for their passports. There are people who have lost jobs because of the delays, people who have missed weddings and funerals. Every single thing you can imagine."
She continued: "In the UK you have people driving across England to reach Durham or Liverpool to try and get their passports. I want my story to raise awareness of other people that are in this situation.
"The Government needs to do something about it. I also want the Government to put something in place for overseas citizens who are being fobbed off like they don't exist."
The HM Passport Office said that processing times differ from country to country and in France, the processing time is 11 weeks, meaning that the family's passport renewal has been completed in the allotted time.
It stressed that staff are working tirelessly to deal with record demand, with the team processing around three million passport applications between March and May 2022. The office has also taken on 850 new staff members since April 2021 and are in the process of recruiting another 350 people.
A HM Passport Office spokesman said: “Applications from overseas are not subject to the same ten-week processing time as standard applications from the UK and vary by country, which customers are informed of at the time of their application.
“A passport will not be issued until all checks have been completed, and we advise waiting to book travel until you have your new passport.”
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