Immigrationboards.com

Hi

So next week my wife will have her citizenship ceremony, and then straight after that we'll be applying for her first British passport

She's actually already had some photos taken which she'd like to use, but they are not digital, so she just has the physical copies.

I understand that if she wants to use those, she will need to apply by post. I know it's not quite as quick as applying online, but does anyone have experience of how much of a delay it is? Is it many weeks longer than applying on online?

You can still apply online.
You send your original documents and photos to HMPO. It’s not a totally paperless application.

Purely postal application are likely to take longer as there’s more handling of paper involved for digitising.

Thanks, but when you go through the process of applying online it won't let you progress without confirming you have a digital photo?

What is the issue in taking a digital photo? I got a friend to take a picture of me against a plain background and it passed all the tests - or you can go to a booth which will give you a code to upload and it will retrieve the photo automatically. You can also scan the pictures you already have and see if they are suitable for submission.