# Processing time for British Passport



## ivi (Nov 12, 2008)

Hi all,

I have just become an English citizen. Very excited about it. I want to apply for the British passport but it may clash with my travel plans. On the official government web site it says that adults applying for the first time should allow 6 weeks.

Can someone advise on realistic waiting time?
I think government guidelines sometimes overestimate. Anyone had a similar application recently? I would be interested to hear how long it actually took.


Thanks a lot,
Ivana


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## Stevan (Jun 30, 2009)

You can get a fast track passport in a week but i think this may only be for renewals.

The six weeks is because you must attend an interview for a first passport


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## Penny-Louise (Sep 26, 2009)

My experience over a few complicated passport changes is that the estimated times are a little pessimistic: ie, it's a bit quicker than they say.

Penny x


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## ivi (Nov 12, 2008)

Penny-Louise said:


> My experience over a few complicated passport changes is that the estimated times are a little pessimistic: ie, it's a bit quicker than they say.
> 
> Penny x


Hi Penny,

Thanks for that. Will let you guys know how my process goes.

Ivana


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## ivi (Nov 12, 2008)

*British passport processing time*

A quick update on the my personal experience of processing times for the passport.

I had to send my NZ passport for the application processing. The whole application took almost 5 weeks, but I got my NZ passport back after about 14 days.
The longest time in the process is waiting for an Interview, but by then I already had my NZ passport back.

Cheers,
I.


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