[Vic] Extremely Long Child Passport Processing Times

G’day all,
Submitted a passport application for the kid around first week of October.
I did not put in priority processing as I was not expecting to travel any soon and the website stated processing times are around 3 weeks.
It’s now mid December and is still not processed. Tried to get in touch with passport office and they said it has been scanned to the system when i submitted from post office but they cannot give any idea on when it can or will be processed.

Anyone else experiencing this sort of an unusual delay? If I want to prioritise it now is it possible? Should I wait unknown amount of time? There is only phone line contact with really long wait times, so I thought of asking the community for options before I call them again.

Thanks.

closed Comments

  • When do you need the passport by?

    • +1

      ^ The million dollar question…

      • +9

        I bet the answer is 'i don't need the passport by any particular date, I'm just bored of waiting for it'

    • I don’t need it in a hurry. But given its been 2 months already it’s concerning and quite frustrating. I still won’t be travelling for xmas but if I have to book flights in advance say mid next year trip I’d need passport details for booking ticket eh.

  • Wife & I both put in passport applications about 8 weeks ago. Hers came back within 4 weeks, but mine still hasn’t arrived.

    • +3

      Might be an issue with your photo ?

      • I guess you can’t rule anything out, but we had the photos taken at the Post Office, and it would seem strange for my photos to have an issue when they were taken immediately after (and under exactly the same conditions) as the wife’s.

        • +4

          we had the photos taken at the Post Office

          Is it the one in your gravatar?

        • +1

          lol 😹. I think JV meant the photo in your profile and perhaps the alias.

  • +1

    Extremely Long Child Passport Processing Times

    We were warned about that months ago…

    • First warning was late sep, oct is reasonable.

    • With WA residents now able to book holidays to Bali in just under two months, they will also join the queue for passport renewals.

      • Isn't Bali domestic?

        • +1

          Thar may be, but WA is foreign to rest of the Australians 😀

  • +1

    Due to Covid-19, we have run out of passport paper.

    • Just the child passport paper I recon as adult passports have no issue I hear.

      • Maybe child passports are made with softer paper. We all know what happened to the stocks of a softer kind of paper.

    • -2

      Really? Source?

      • Panic buying paper

  • You can change to priority. Will have to pay obviously. But there's really no point now if you're not flying this side of Xmas.

    • You can change to priority

      Okay, thanks for this. Yeah won’t be flying during xmas. But might need passport details atleast for booking in advance.

      • +1

        Passport details are not required for booking. They just need to be provided a couple of days before flight… At least that used to be the case precovid.

  • +1

    In the same boat. Applied for passport 2nd week of Oct and been waiting since. Cant even get to the passport office helplines. Any other way to contact them like go office?

  • Try calling them again and again, tell them that you have to travel urgently and need the passport ASAP. They'll put some note in your application and it should be expedited. When I applied for my son, the processing time was 3 weeks but it still took 5 weeks. Everything is under the guise of "we have so many applications so there are delays". I have a friend who applied with priority processing, paid the extra fees but still got the passport in 3 weeks.

  • You'll probably find theres 5 million people trying to update theirs all at the same time with the borders opening and everyone wanting to escape, and probably the same team of 5 people processing them

    • That’s more like it 🙈

  • We applied for 3 passport renewals. Mine was back in 3 weeks but waiting on the other 2 (one is a child). 5 weeks so far. I was surprised how quick the first one was.

    • my friend’s passport renewals came back within 3 weeks (including his 2 kids). That made me think the delay is mostly for the new passports.

  • +1

    Are the feds delaying with the issuance of passports for children to coincide with a vaccine passport for children?

    • That is an interesting point. I wonder if the idea is they hold processing over so that kids can be fully vaccinated before they travel. Would be nothing official but the timing is interesting. However, could just be swamped as people are looking to travel.

  • +2

    Just an update. I finally got through the help line. The lady put me on priority list as I said I have a travel due within a month. I will have to go to office to collect it as auspost are experiencing delays.

    • Great food for you. I’ll keep this in mind if anything comes up and mine’s still not processed

  • +1

    FWIW the ex-mistake got her US passport renewed and ready to pickup in 5 days.

  • Thanks all for the suggestions. ✌️

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