Holidaymakers have been urged to act now if they want to get their new passports in time for summer travels after the UK Passport Office issued an urgent update this afternoon (Friday 29 April).
In the update, HM Passport Office reiterated that they are not facing a delay due to backdated processing after coronavirus, but are now "seeing unprecedented demand as more than 5 million people delayed applying for passports during COVID-19 because of restrictions in international travel."
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The Passport Office dealt with around one million applications in March - the highest output on record - and people have been urged to allow up to 10 weeks to get their new passport.
They anticipate 9.5 million British passport applications will be made this year and in March 2022 alone, HMPO processed more than one million new passport applications, the highest output on record.
HM Passport Office also warned those applying for a new passport that the ten week wait only applies if an application is filled out correctly and will take longer if applications are submitted with missing or incomplete information.
Director general of HM Passport Office, Abi Tierney, said: "Now that international travel has resumed, we know people will be looking at going away on holiday and yet many people are leaving applying for a passport too late. The summer holidays are fast approaching so if you need a new passport, we urge you to apply now."
The department added: "Our dedicated staff are working tirelessly to ensure that passport applications are processed as quickly as possible."
What the Passport Office says it is doing to combat wait times
In a statement today, it said:
- we have increased staff numbers by 500 since April 2021 and are in the process of recruiting another 700. In total, as of 1 April 2022 there are over 4,000 staff in passport production roles – this has helped us to handle more applications than ever before
- additional staff are being recruited to assist with customer queries on the Passport Adviceline which is currently run by Teleperformance
- we have onboarded more delivery companies to ensure passports and supporting documents are delivered on time to customers
- we have increased availability for fast-track appointments and extended working hours across the 7 HMPO public counters – new appointments are released daily, three weeks in advance
