UKC

Time to renew my passport; has anybody on here used the online service?

If so, did you have any problems, particularly if you uploaded your own photo?

As I haven't changed a bit in the last ten years (unlike the painting in the attic); it looks fairly straightforward.

In reply to Hat Dude:

Yes, Mrs Weasel and I have both renewed our passports recently. I did mine first and used the digital photo upload and it was a pain in the backside as at first they rejected it due to the sizing of the shot (they want it larger so they can reframe it), it was then rejected due to not being light enough so all in all it took 3 trips to Max Spielman to get them right. Mrs Weasel then did hers via the Post Office check and send and they accepted the application first time. Turn around on the passport once the application was accepted was then about a week.

In reply to Hat Dude:

Did mine last week. Got it back today - seems like a really simple and easy to use service. Got my photo done in a standard booth in Tesco and scanned it.

In reply to Baron Weasel:

Thanks for the info.

I've looked at the guidelines for submitting a digital pic and it shows that you need it to be bigger than a standard passport photo, with more space around it.

Think I'll give it a try despite your warning

In reply to Hat Dude:

Anyone done it from overseas? Any pitfalls to watch out for? (apart form the astronomical cost?)

In reply to Hat Dude:

It's not that difficult to upload your own photo. I did it recently and it's fine as long as you read the instructions carefully and don't mistakenly assume that they want the classic head-only framing. They'll even accept smartphone pictures which makes life easy.

In reply to Hat Dude:

Did mine online three weeks ago, uploaded a new photo taken with my phone. From application to receiving a new passport took 4 days. Really great service.

In reply to Hat Dude:

Thanks for the replies all