Ireland - First time passport applications timelines -2021

[maguis]

I seems for most of us lately, they are running about 2 weeks behind estimated due date. Although I was notified via email 16 days after due date (Dec 1) that they couldn't contact my witness, so I had to resend documentation and went back to the end of the line (now Due March 7). Web Chat is not very helpful, they kept telling me everything was fine and tracking well.....

Hey, so sorry to hear about this delay on your process. Do you mind sharing more about this witness thing? I didn't know we had to provide a witness. Are you out of Ireland by any chance? thanks

[Patpatriot]

Magius, I'm in the U.S. For the application, a witness is needed to sign the application and also to verify supporting documentation such as passport, photo ID etc.. Basically, prove you are who you are. There is a specific list on their web site for approved witnesses. I used a Bank Manager who was also a Notary. Got everything signed and stamped, but apparently when passport office attempted to contact him, I'm assuming he never answered the phone or got the message? Anyway, I got an email from them saying I had to re-send the application form and provide another witness. I put a cover letter in with the new form hoping it would expedite my application since everything else had been scanned and verified, but according to passport tracked it's not moving.

[UncleBud]

One day before my Estimated issue date and my docs still haven't been scanned in .....

They were two weeks behind before the holidays, and now it may be closer to three weeks behind. I'm tracking a second application, and it changed from "processing/verifying" to just "processing" one week after the estimated issue date. It's now coming up on two weeks in the "processing" phase.

[derekkn]

Hi all. I'm out of the FBR frying pan and into the passport application fire.

Can anyone confirm whether I need a stamp or business card from my witness who will certify my identity verification form? My GP has agreed to fill it in with me next week, but I'm unclear on what evidence she needs to provide aside from the 'details of witness' in the form and a few signatures here and there in the same form.

All help very gratefully received. Thank you.

[water_tank1]

One day before my Estimated issue date and my docs still haven't been scanned in .....

They were two weeks behind before the holidays, and now it may be closer to three weeks behind. I'm tracking a second application, and it changed from "processing/verifying" to just "processing" one week after the estimated issue date. It's now coming up on two weeks in the "processing" phase.

That's not good news if that's the case.
Mine just changed today from "processing/verifying" to just "processing" so I'm living in hope that a person physically picked my application today.

I'm hoping that it will change to printing shortly ....

[usmanch313]

Can I ask what nationality you are ?

My status still same ?
She said if status not Chnage by 18th you need to contact us .
.so cross fingers hope all good to go .
.when is your passport due date ??

Today
19/01/2022
Dispatched
Your Passport Book was posted on 19/01/2022


Thanks to everyone

[corky100]

Today
19/01/2022
Dispatched
Your Passport Book was posted on 19/01/2022


Thanks to everyone

Hi, just curious on what date your application arrived, and the same for when the staus changed to processing?

[jgclancy]

Hi all. I'm out of the FBR frying pan and into the passport application fire.

Can anyone confirm whether I need a stamp or business card from my witness who will certify my identity verification form? My GP has agreed to fill it in with me next week, but I'm unclear on what evidence she needs to provide aside from the 'details of witness' in the form and a few signatures here and there in the same form.

All help very gratefully received. Thank you.

Just follow the instructions for what is asked for on the printed application documents. Mine did NOT ask for a stamp/card from the witness unlike the FBR process.
I also tell people to notarize everything they can. It makes the documents "official" in the eyes of the government processors.
I also sent notarized copies of my passport & state ID - more is better for ID

jgclancy

[usmanch313]

Today
19/01/2022
Dispatched
Your Passport Book was posted on 19/01/2022


Thanks to everyone

Today
19/01/2022
Dispatched
Your Passport Book was posted on 19/01/2022

Yesterday
18/01/2022
Printing
Your Passport Book is being printed. Any\all documents submitted will be returned separately

1 month 3 days ago
17/12/2021
Processing application
Your application is being processed

2 months 1 week ago
13/11/2021
Processing application
We have received your supporting documents. We are now verifying these documents.

2 months 1 week 5 days ago
08/11/2021
Alert
We have received your application. You must submit your supporting documents to proceed with the application

Hi, just curious on what date your application arrived, and the same for when the staus changed to processing?

[Korms]

Hi Folks,

I submitted my first time application (which should be straight forward as I was born in Ireland before 2005) with the following timeline:

08 Oct 21: Application received
03 Nov 21: Processing application
We have received your supporting documents. We are now verifying these documents.
Estimated issue 07 Jan 22

On 06 Jan 22 it changed to:
Processing application
Your application is being processed

I assume the current Covid situation has created a backlog, so I am debating whether I should get on the webchat and see what the hold up is or how much long should I anticipate the processing to take or just continue to be patient and let it work through....

Anyone have an insight or recommendation?

Thanks in advance

[corky100]

Personally, I wouldn't chase them asking "where's my passport". There's not much they can say or do. I have noticed (on here and twitter) that people who chase seem to get knocked back for rather silly reasons.

[derekkn]

Hi all. I'm out of the FBR frying pan and into the passport application fire.

Can anyone confirm whether I need a stamp or business card from my witness who will certify my identity verification form? My GP has agreed to fill it in with me next week, but I'm unclear on what evidence she needs to provide aside from the 'details of witness' in the form and a few signatures here and there in the same form.

All help very gratefully received. Thank you.

Just follow the instructions for what is asked for on the printed application documents. Mine did NOT ask for a stamp/card from the witness unlike the FBR process.
I also tell people to notarize everything they can. It makes the documents "official" in the eyes of the government processors.
I also sent notarized copies of my passport & state ID - more is better for ID

jgclancy

thank you!

One more question for everybody: how exactly should witnesses certify the photocopy of my passport? I just asked the DFA via their chat function and got an extremely rude response, so I don't fancy going back and asking them to clarify.

Is it: the witness' name, the date, and signature?

[corky100]

https://www.gov.uk/certifying-a-document

How to certify a document

Take the photocopied document and the original and ask the person to certify the copy by:

writing ‘Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me’ on the document
signing and dating it
printing their name under the signature
adding their occupation, address and telephone number

EDIT: Irish requirements identical https://www.irishimmigration.ie/how-to- ... -document/

[derekkn]

https://www.gov.uk/certifying-a-document

How to certify a document

Take the photocopied document and the original and ask the person to certify the copy by:

writing ‘Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me’ on the document
signing and dating it
printing their name under the signature
adding their occupation, address and telephone number

EDIT: Irish requirements identical https://www.irishimmigration.ie/how-to- ... -document/

thanks a lot!

[G Dog]

Personally, I wouldn't chase them asking "where's my passport". There's not much they can say or do. I have noticed (on here and twitter) that people who chase seem to get knocked back for rather silly reasons.

Absolutely. My estimated due date was 14/12, and when it got to 2 weeks overdue I chased it up. They then said I needed to send in 2 proof of ID, (which I had already sent them and they confirmed receipt of). So I had to send in proof of ID again and got sent to the back of the queue again, and now my estimated date is 8/3. Frustratingly, they sent back my original documents, which confirmed that they had everything in the first place. I honestly believe that they asked me for my ID just to be a pain, because I had contacted them about my passport being 2 weeks overdue. Had I not done that, I'd probably have it by now.

[Korms]

Hi Patpatriot,

In the tracker had you moved from verifying to processing when they emailed you?

... but apparently when passport office attempted to contact him, I'm assuming he never answered the phone or got the message? Anyway, I got an email from them saying I had to re-send the application form and provide another witness. I put a cover letter in with the new form hoping it would expedite my application since everything else had been scanned and verified, but according to passport tracked it's not moving.

Thanks

[Patpatriot]

Korms, I went from verifying to processing about 10 days before my due date Dec 1. On Dec 1, my tracking bar went to 100%. Like other's, I tried web chat twice once about 2 days after deadline and then 2 weeks after deadline. I was very respectful to them and basically just asked if they had updates and were there any problems. I didn't accuse them of anything, they just said all looked good and keep checking the tracker. After I re-submitted another witness form that hey wanted, I went back to verifying and tracker went back to 60%.

[corky100]

Just for peoples curiosity, I've complied a few timelines and looked at the number of working days between "we are verifying your documents" to only "processing application".

13/11/21 - 17/12/21 - 24 !? You were smiled upon usmanch313
3/11/21 - 6/1/22 - 45
11/10/21 - 5/12/21 - 39
5/10/21 - 2/12/21 - 41
01/10/21 - 27/11/21 - 40

[alhakeem]

When they receive the application for first time passport when do they usually return the original documents?

[Patpatriot]

I can only speak for myself, but my application was received September 28th and I received my documents back on December 31st. However, my passport is still pending, but I assume that since they sent my documents back they were verified and acceptable.

[Korms]

Korms, I went from verifying to processing about 10 days before my due date Dec 1. On Dec 1, my tracking bar went to 100%. Like other's, I tried web chat twice once about 2 days after deadline and then 2 weeks after deadline. I was very respectful to them and basically just asked if they had updates and were there any problems. I didn't accuse them of anything, they just said all looked good and keep checking the tracker. After I re-submitted another witness form that hey wanted, I went back to verifying and tracker went back to 60%.

thanks for the information. I've spoken to my witness, and no one has contacted him yet. My issue date was 07 Jan, hopefully it will move to printing this week!

Cheers

Lee

[Patpatriot]

I've read some posts farther back where witness was not contacted and passport still issued, so I have no idea if they are supposed to contact them or if it's just hit or miss if they will?

[UncleBud]

We've had three separate first time passport applications months apart. For two of them our witness in the US was telephoned, and for one, our witness was emailed. The most recent phone call was around 19:00 Ireland time (2:00pm EST here).

[UncleBud]

I had not posted details about this application before, but our third family passport has finally reached the "printing" milestone:

Online Passport application: 01 May 2021
Documents received: 30 June 2021 (delay on our part and the USPS system)
Status changed to 'processing': 30 August 2021
Estimated issue date: early September 2021
Request for additional documentation: 01 September 2021*
Resubmitted documents received: 27 October 2021 (delay on our part and the USPS system)
Received original documents back: October 2021
Estimated issue date: 31 December 2021
Status changed to 'processing' again: 06 January 2022 (one week after expected issue date)
Status changed to 'printing': 26 January 2022 (3.5 weeks after expected issue date)
Passport dispatched: 26 January 2022
Passport delivered via Registered Mail: TBD

*requested proof of address. This was tricky because it was for a young adult who was away for college and now graduate school. There were no utility bills addressed to her at her permanent address, and she voted and paid taxes using her then college addresses. Her bank account had been used for proof of name, and fortunately she had recently opened another bank account at a different bank that she could use for proof of address. This took a while to figure out, and the folks on the webchat were very friendly in helping us brainstorm options. They also reassured us that as long as they received the resubmitted information within six months of the application start, it would not expire. This became a nail-biter because her materials got "stuck" in the postal system in Dublin for two weeks so we got in with just a day or two to spare!

[corky100]

Cheers for that, useful. I'm going to post my timeline when I get to processing. I'm pretty sure I will get bounced back as my application doesn't fit in the straightforward category.

Turns out there's more fun ahead, according to twitter the Passport office is changing over to a new system, and that has nothing do to with Passport Online going down since Saturday