British Passport Office Reviews 

Had nothing but trouble with both mine and my partners passport renewal, did the online renewal, paid the £102 fee, sent both old expired passports to the office (2 different office addresses for some reason) with mine, I got an email saying I need to report my lost passport.... I had literally sent it a couple of days prior and been told they had received my documents so HOW?! With my partner's, received same email that documents had been received but then got told he needed to send a handwritten letter to the telling them how the passport was damaged... And that he needed to get someone to confirm his identity It wasn't damaged upon sending them from the post office recorded delivery?! ?! Who on earth are they employing at that place?! All I get back is "we have made a note for the examiner" examiner needs retraining! No faith in this service at all. Just hope we receive them in time for going on our holiday!

Took 12 weeks to receive my passport utterly ridiculous!!

Its shocking how bad they are .I paid to renew my passport and I been waiting for over a month when I tried to phone they said my details was wrong. They said they cant talk to me I had to phone up several times. Before someone helped a bit gave me a number to track when I said why has no one told me this before. She had no answer. They lied telling me my details were wrong. Like I don't know my own name and address. Completely stressed me out .not helpful at all this government is a joke this whole country is a joke gone backward. Full of idiots running everything. Now I have to find out what happened to my passport I paid them now I have to do the investigation Completely useless. All they want is your money

Apart from a slight issue with getting an acceptable photo (the system doesn’t seem to like grey hair), it was great.
Applied to renew on line on Saturday (standard service cos not in a rush). New passport arrived 5 days later.

I found out that my passport had the wrong expire date from the issue date, it should be 10 years but it showing 10 years +6 months still valid. I have lost my family holiday because of this european union rule! Be warned the passport office /British embassy have a public duty to inform the public but they dont and can't be bothered!!!

Renewed a passport 3 years out of date. Ok it took 8 days. Excellent considering Good Friday Saturday Easter Sunday and Easter Monday were in that period. Well done Passport Office. Nice to see efficient work from government for a change.

Needed to renew non urgently so applied on line on 26 March 2026. Received passport back on 02 April. Seven days turn around is great service by any standards.

So I am one of those people who have never travelled, like the furthest I've ever been from the UK is Belgium and I've only ever been on 4 flights in my life. To and from Eire and to and from Belfast.
I had a bit of an issue with my passport as my online login decided to go splat and not work, so I called them. The woman couldn't have been sweeter. I explained that I needed a passport renewal for November and what had happened and the woman said "Ok, stop right there. Stop panicking. The longest this is gonna take is 6 week, you have nine months. It's gonna be ok. Let me look and see what's gone wrong."
While she checked she asked me where I was going and I said Portugal, she told me everything I'd need ("a passport, travel insurance and a plane incase your arms get tired") that I didn't need a visa and gave me ideas where to go in Lisbon. She was so kind to me, cos I was a complete idiot with no idea what I was doing.
The issue was I had accidently registered two emails addresses, nope we have no idea how, and she sorted it. I promised to send her a postcard and now have my nice new passport ready to go and spend my birthday in Lisbon!

I have just been scammed by the passport office disgraceful behaviour to treat a British Citizan in this way having held a British passport for 45 years they refused to renew it due to me recently getting issued with an Irish passport ( thank god ) they kept my renewal fee and refused to issue a new British passport my 6 th .thankfully the renewal of my Irish passport took 10 minutes and cost £ 65

I paid an extra £5 to get my new passport delivered and tracked. Received 4 texts and one email for the 4 hour delivery slot.
This DIDNT happen and I rang the Royal Mail tel no that deals with passports etc and given an abrupt response by Debbie and she told me that paying extra to the passport office doesn’t qualify for anything extra with the mail service. So it finally arrived at 18.20pm soaking wet and have the photos to prove this appalling service that is not fit for purpose.

Staff at Peterborough were brilliant very efficient.
Super impressed

Even by modern standards this is a very unfriendly service. I phoned to get information on how to renew my recently-expired passport. The system had no option to be put through to a person and kept me over three minutes repeating options that had nothing to do with me, The supreme irony was that they have an AI bot telling the public to treat staff 'with respect' then making it nearly impossible to contact staff at all.
When I eventually got through, I asked my questions - which the call handler wasn't really able to answer properly - then was told if I wanted to get a passport at the Liverpool Office I'd have to make an appointment ONLINE. This was in spite of the fact that one of the dozens of options on the automatic call routing was 'if you want to make and appointment, press *.
The only reason I'm giving as many as 2 stars is that they did at least put me through to a call handler in less than 15m and I keep 1 star for services like HMRC which kept me in a queue for nearer 40m. But this is still appalling service for what could be a vital service (imagine if I had and urgent need to travel such as illness or death of a relative abroad).

Truly excellent service from start to finish. Realised my passport was close to expiry date. Gambled with doing an online application to save a trip to fast track and unbelievably got my new passport within a few days. Kept informed throughout the process too by text and email. 5 stars all round.

My experience has been shameful,I'm stunned by the positive reviews, my wife applied in early September,admittedly she filled a out a question incorrectly. The options were not helpful as all possible appointments we're weeks away and she needed the passport asap. However a lapse of weeks went by before she realised nothing was being done. She contacted the passport office to get the mistake corrected. It's now late December and she's still waiting. Feels like she's been put to the back of the queue every time she rings up asking for progress.. So sorry I don't understand the positive reviews.

Just used passport service on line very simple and the whole process went through professionally when we went to the passport office apart
from the 4hour wait everything was very easy overall very pleased just make doubly sure you get there on time as travel times can take quite a bit longer due to the location Peterborough can be hard to get to for first time traveller

I have just renewed my passport online and found the service exemplary. The application was made online on Nov 20th and my new passport received on Nov 27th!!
In the intervening period, I was kept fully up to date by HM Passport Office on the progress of my application - viz.,application received, old passport received, application approved, new passport printed, delivery of new passport actioned etc etc.
I was absolutely amazed by the speed in which my application was processed and the level of communication throughout the whole process.

I found the door staff abrupt, petty and rude, I turned up for my appointment 10 minutes early, it was -3 outside, even though there was no one in a big waiting area I was told " your early " come back in 10 minutes and I'll see if I can get you in"
after the interview I had to return in 4 hours, when I went back door staff told me the printers not working come back in 30 minutes, I explained it was cold out I had waited over 5 hours could I wait inside quite abruptly I was told no, when I returned after 30 minutes he said " it's still not working but I will allow to into the waiting area " adding with a smile" it won't be good news,
I eventually got the passport, the rest of the staff empathetic and professional, the door man was totally the opposite! If it would not have been a same day passport I would have complained on the day but did not want to compromise getting it.

Prompt friendly and human. You just don’t expect good service from government agencies anymore. Try HMRC if you want to die with frustration. By contrast passport renewal is a joy. They grab your online renewal and process it quickly. If you have made an error or submitted a bad photo they phone or email and sort it instantaneously. They put customers before process. Our turnaround on the non-urgent service to was less than two weeks. Why are they so good, when everything else is so bad?

The two men working on the at the front door, scanner conveyor were rude and abrasive to everyone.
I had one of the first appointments at 8 am. All of the staff past those two were polite and professional.
The only reason I didn't complain in person to them is that I was on a one day emergency passport renewal and didn't want to jeopardise it in any way.
Even after overhearing what they were asking of the people in front of me and fully complying they were petty and rude.

Very clear process to get new and renewed passports. Service on line and on phone is exceptional and communication of each step is fantastic. Massively different experience to what I get in the US.