Well done, Passport Office

My passport expires at the end of September, so I made myself a note to get it renewed this week. There have been lots of reports about long delays and people having to cancel travel arrangements because passports haven''t come through in time, but that certainly isn't my experience!

I decided to bite the renewal bullet yesterday and opted to do it online. First off, I needed a photo. I used a Photo-Me booth in the Omni shopping centre and paid my €8 for a printout with four photos and a Passport Photo Code. I worked my way through the online process, but the photo was rejected. Woops. So I decided to use IDstation.online instead for a second attempt. No booth this time, and it cost €20, but I ended up with another set of four and another code. The difference this time was that the place I went to submitted the photo to the Passport Office in advance and got confirmation that it was suitable this.

Sure enough, I sailed through the online process without a hitch on my second attempt. I got email confirmation at 2:04 pm which included a tracking link. I made another note to myself to check progress on Monday.

Progress how are ya! Imagine my amazement when I checked my mailbox at 11am today to see what the postman had left and there was my new passport. Amazing! Apply yesterday at 2pm. Delivery today at 11am. I most definitely have no problem with the efficiency of the Passport Office.