FRANTIC Britons are now being forced to travel across the UK to receive a new passport because of confusing new rules.
The new rule prohibits Brits from having passports older than 10 years.
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These months no longer apply.
A number of Brits were caught by the new rule.
With the Passport Office currently on strike, some are forced to fly in order to get a quick appointment.
They are difficult to locate due to the huge demand of a fast service. EnglThe following are some examples of how to get started: and Wales Belfast is often the only place that has availability.
Liam from Bristol had purchased a flight to Paris for the French Open Tennis tournament. He was scheduled to depart on May 29.
But he realized that in spite of his best efforts, the despite Passport Although technically ending in November 2023 it was already overdue – the date of start being April 2013.
The wait for a passport can be up to 10 week and there are no fast-track appointments in his area. He was forced to schedule an appointment with a Belfast-based company, the first available date being May 17.
Sun Online Travel quoted him as saying: “It is very frustrating that our passports were changed in such a way without our knowledge.”
I don’t think this message was widely spread or that authorities made any effort to make it known.
He fears it will not arrive before his flight, even though the fast track is estimated to be around eight days.
It’s not the first time a person has had to travel to Belfast to deal with a similar problem.
Jenny Southan’s flight was denied to France after her passport expired. She didn’t realise that her expiry date differed from the date of her start.
She had to shell out another £250 to get to Belfast for the fast track service.
The woman said, “It was almost 48-hours to book an Online Premium Appointment and I couldn’t get my new passport until April 25, 19 days after that.
“What’s more, I would have to fly to the passport office in Belfast to collect it, as there were no slots in England.
“This maddening situation has cost me about £700 on the application, flights and hotel.”
On social media, other people also expressed concern that Belfast was the only location for fast track.
Someone wrote, “Passport Renewal Tryna Send Me Belfast for Fast Track.”
One said, “Ryanair Hi can you fly Manchester Belfast, with you and a proviso Driving licence Instead of a Passport? “Trying to reach the Belfast passport office to obtain one!”
The Home Office currently states that over 99.7 percent of standard applications are being processed within 10 weeks, with the majority of those delivered to customers well under this timescale.
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