Priority Passport Application Fees - Unfair?

Yorkshire-Man on 21/02/2022 - 15:17
Last edited 21/02/2022 - 18:19 by 2 other users

Question… does this seem unfair to you?

We have booked our first family holiday in years to Fiji for the Easter Holidays. I realised my daughters passport was running out in Sept and often they need 6m+ to travel so I thought I would get it renewed.

The guy at the post office tells me that, although we aren't travelling for nearly 2 months there are big delays in the passport office so to make sure we had to pay an additional $225 fee for 'priority processing'. This took a child's passport application to $380.

Is it fair, because they are backlogged (and because we still have an archaic system involving paper applications) that we should have to pay the extra fee? Or am I angry for no reason?

Edit - Thanks for the opinions. To be clear, I'm not in the slightest bit annoyed at the Auspost guy, he's just trying to help. The annoyance is with the Govt Dept that's still charging an extra fee to people that need to travel within the 'normal' processing times. Overall, I get it, suck it up, which I've already done :)

Travel Passport

Comments

  • PissLUR on 21/02/2022 - 15:19
    +4

    why do you trust the guy at the post office? have you verified what this guy said?

    • Yorkshire-Man on 21/02/2022 - 15:21

      He tells me they are taking up to 12 weeks to be processed now. Put on the spot, he had scissors in his hand cutting up my daughters current passport. Visions of screwing up the first family holiday in years I paid up.

      • Xistn on 21/02/2022 - 15:25
        +1

        Welcome to the power gauntlet of Auspost.

      • PissLUR on 21/02/2022 - 15:27
        +1

        you are correct as in Fiji requires 6 months

        https://www.fijihighcommission.com.au/frequently-asked-quest…

        Please be advised that non-Fijian passport holders intending to travel to Fiji are required to have their passports valid for 6 months from their intended date of arrival into Fiji. If the validity of your passport is less than 6 months you will not be permitted to travel to Fiji.

      • orangetrain on 21/02/2022 - 15:30
        +1

        Why is he cutting up your daughter's passport? Don't you need that to renew?

        Streamlined renewal is an easier way to renew your passport. If you qualify, then to lodge an application you only need your application checklist or form, two passport photos and your most recent passport.

        https://www.passports.gov.au/getting-passport-how-it-works/p…

        • jackary on 21/02/2022 - 15:31
          +1

          You can use our streamlined renewal process if you’re an adult who holds an Australian passport that was issued when you were 16 or older

          I presume OPs child is under 16.

        • Yorkshire-Man on 21/02/2022 - 15:33
          +1

          Adults only, this is a kids passport.

        • kerfuffle on 21/02/2022 - 15:59
          +3

          Why is he cutting up your daughter's passport? Don't you need that to renew?

          It's part of the renewal process.

  • deme on 21/02/2022 - 15:28
    +1

    additional $225 fee for 'priority processing'

    And that's what you got.

  • SBOB on 21/02/2022 - 15:28

    Yorkshire-Man
    Or am I angry for no reason?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue7wM0QC5LE
    username checks out ;)

  • garetz on 21/02/2022 - 15:28
    +9

    So you are complaining that he had the gall to warn you and stop you from ruining your holidays ?

    Seems like you should be thanking him instead of complaining.

  • CrowReally on 21/02/2022 - 15:30
    +4

    It's 2 months from Easter now, and the 'standard' time you're meant to allow for getting a passport is 2 months anyway - if COVID wasn't a thing you'd still be on the "I'd pay this rather than have your holiday ruined anyway" threshhold.

    Having the waiting time blown out to 12 weeks is unfortunate but at the end of the day, what are you going to do? It's not like you can get passports any other way (unless you know bikies, but they have the same 12 week delay and processing charges).

    • DashCam AKA Rolts on 21/02/2022 - 16:38

      (unless you know bikies, but they have the same 12 week delay and processing charges)

      You might also become obligated to carry a package or two as well.

  • toniyellow on 21/02/2022 - 15:30
    +3

    The fee is to skip part of the queue. If every applicant was offered a free upgrade to priority, the queue would be long and you would be back in the situation where you run the risk of not getting it on time. So you are getting what you are paying for.

  • jackary on 21/02/2022 - 15:30
    +1

    This is the only recent information I can find from the Passport office.

    I don’t think the person who served you at Aus Post was deliberately trying to mislead you but there’s nothing to suggest there’s a backlog at the passport office.

    I once had to drive from Brisbane to the Parramatta Births, Deaths and Marriages office to collect my mothers birth certificate, to then apply for a priority passport which I collected from the Brisbane passport office. All up it cost nearly $800 (not including the petrol or time off work) for a single adult passport. Lesson learned, last minute international travel isn’t the greatest of ideas.

    It sucks… but what can you do. I hope my story makes you feel a little better.

    • Yorkshire-Man on 21/02/2022 - 16:23

      Thanks for this.

      It just kinda irk's me that they are overloaded so the user should pay an extra fee to get it sorted. Still, you spent more !!

      • jackary on 21/02/2022 - 16:31

        I hope you got a little chuckle out of it. It was a living hell at the time, but it all disappears once you get on the plane.

        Just to follow up on your reply though - they aren’t overloaded. There’s no information on their website to suggest they are, so I think your anger is a little misdirected. If anything, you should be mad at the clerk who gave you inaccurate information, but I think another commenter explained why you got the information you did.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 21/02/2022 - 15:42

    This is ozbargain forums and I support your right to be outraged, OP

    • Catullus on 21/02/2022 - 16:21
      +4

      Beware, some Post Offices are operated by Private Contractors and if they can con you into spending more, obviously their percentage take will be more. This particularly occurs with parcel fees, so make sure you know the rates and query if you think someone is trying to have a lend of you.. In many cases it is preferable to deal with corporate POs as the assistants are all employees and are paid a wage and not interested in a fiddle. In fact they will go out of their way to get you the best deal.

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 21/02/2022 - 16:51

        In fact they will go out of their way to get you the best deal.

        Not the case at mine, the business hub is not very nice to deal with, turning even little requests such as picking up a parcel without the little 'sorry we missed you card' a huge hassle (despite me having drivers license, business card, and rates notice on me to prove identity).

        Whereas the privately owned LPO is actually quite good to deal with now with the new owner.

  • Blokeinhisundies on 21/02/2022 - 15:56
    +5

    The guy at the post office has no ulterior motive as he doesn't make anything off you paying the extra fee. He probably thought he was being helpful. Knowing the amount of retarded customers there are out there he's probably been abused in the past by some numpty who's passport wasn't approved in time.

    • Yorkshire-Man on 21/02/2022 - 16:25

      Lol, its not him cross with… its a govt dept that has a 'additional fee' which needs to be paid because they are overloaded and cant do it in the usual 4/6 week timeframes.

      • DashCam AKA Rolts on 21/02/2022 - 16:43
        +2

        because they are overloaded and cant do it in the usual 4/6 week timeframes.

        Do you think it might have something to do with international borders reopening and lots of people wanting to get OS. A two year restriction on international flights is going to mean a lot of lapsed passports and an increased demand for renewals or new passports to be issued. The suggestion in a spike of applications is not sounding that far fetched.

        • Qazxswec on 25/02/2022 - 16:42

          oh, i didn't even see your comment, i wouldn't of written mine if i had

      • Qazxswec on 25/02/2022 - 14:33

        but couldn't you take that one step further and say the reason they are overloaded is because people like you have left organising their passports till the last second now that the borders are finally opened, instead of using the last couple of years everyone has had to get their affairs in order knowing that more than likely they would want to go on a holiday when the borders opened back up, making it not the departments fault

    • djones145 on 22/02/2022 - 08:05

      nah they gets commission for upselling to premium stamps (ones with GPS tracker built in), priority processing and when he sells those tv ad products

  • usaeed on 21/02/2022 - 16:02
    +1

    Applied for my daughters' passport on 17 Jan, regular timeframe. It was shipped after 10 business days but we received it on 16 Feb.

  • JDMcarfan on 21/02/2022 - 16:11
    +1

    Classic shortcut option is elect for the passport to be collected at your closest Department of Home Affairs office (where the passport application is submitted too, reviewed and processed). Was told this by an Auspost employee many years ago when I told the story of having to pay $500+ in extra fees to expedite the rents passports. Whilst not fool proof, electing this option effectively makes your application identical to the priority processing applications (minus delivery to home address) and is reviewed and processed within a standard timeframe of 1 week (was told up to 2 weeks, during a non-covid time). Ended up getting my passport less than 72 hours later and repeated this with the same result for a grandparent's passport right before borders opened.
    I'd imagine it'd be longer than that now but still well below the standard timeframe, as somewhere along the line their system bumps your application. The only hassle is heading into the CBD and occasionally having to wait 30mins for your ticket to be called to collect the passport (like the local RMS/RTA)

  • tsunamisurfer on 21/02/2022 - 16:37
    +3

    The Post Office guy is actually trying to do the OP a favour.

    He/She knows the wait time is 12 weeks, OP is travelling in 8.

    Despite working in AusPost his grasp of mathematics is enough to know the OP won't make it on the plane.

    So he warns the OP.

    OP bitches on Ozbargain that AusPost are scamming him.

  • ifyareckon on 21/02/2022 - 17:07
    +4

    Unfortunately the "backlog" was inevitable when borders opened and everyone who hasn't renewed in the last two years wants to get away on holiday. The government aren't going to go and spend huge $$$ on more printing presses simply to appease a short term spike in demand.

  • Jenny Death on 21/02/2022 - 18:45

    I wonder what the delays in passport processing actually are. They run a background against you and maybe an international one, then what? They print your passport?

    • Eeples on 21/02/2022 - 19:35
      +1

      Receiving, checking, printing, and posting off a passport would take at least 10mins; I would guess.
      So that would be 6 per hour or about 50 per day or 250 per week.
      Say they have 50 people doing it then that's 12500 passports per week. And if the wait is 8 weeks then that is 100,000 passports ahead of you.

      $225 to jump 100,000 people looks like value.

      Note: all figures rubbery

      • Yorkshire-Man on 22/02/2022 - 07:53

        This is probably correct. Interestingly in the UK its all digital, there's an app & it remembers all your previous detail, digitally compares the photo to check its you renewing it and verifies you with the online database. All printed centrally and done in a few days. Same in NZ… we're just laggards here :)

  • zombrex on 21/02/2022 - 18:56

    Glad I renewed back in November.
    I swear it came back in 9 days at normal processing speed.

  • brad1-8tsi on 21/02/2022 - 19:53
    +1

    You could have taken the risk and paid the standard fee…

    It was your choice

  • stirlo on 22/02/2022 - 10:08

    My friends applied for a passport for their newborn in September and it didn’t arrive until late January so I don’t think the Post Office was deceiving you. Sorry you had to pay the extra though.

  • Poppin on 22/02/2022 - 12:04

    The 'normal' processing time is now longer. I think this is what they mean when people say 'the new normal'.

  • Flyingpotato on 22/02/2022 - 12:46
    +1

    I recently renewed mine and the Auspost lady said to expect 6-8 weeks for processing. I didn't pay for priority processing and my application was finalised and shipped in 2 days.

    Obviously ymmv, and in your circumstances I wouldn't have risked it, but I was surprised at such a big disparity between expectation and reality!

    • stralya on 23/02/2022 - 16:07
      +1

      I had the same experience - only paid for normal processing. I had the passport in a week. This was in early January.

  • [Deactivated] on 24/02/2022 - 20:26
    +1

    the fees here for anything are a rip. i could get 3 Scottish birth certificates for 36 pounds + 4 pounds postage (to AU), which equals out to about 75 - 80 Australian dollars, but for one Australian birth certificate, it costs 50 dollars (not including postage) 80 - 90 if you want priority processing.

    i've just had a look at the application for a new adult passport and frankly, it's ridiculous. they want an australian citizenship certificate (which i don't have) even though I was born here and have an australian birth certficate, or they want proof of one of my parents + grandparents citizenship.

    it was easier to get a british passport from AU than it is to get an australian passport from AU. wtf

    • stirlo on 25/02/2022 - 14:09

      Unlike USA we don’t have citizenship by birthright so you could have an Australian birth certificate but not be an Australian citizen. This is why they still require proof your parents are citizens.

      Considering it’s a document you apply for once and renew every 10 years a cost difference of a few 10s of dollars hardly seems like a big deal…

      • [Deactivated] on 28/02/2022 - 08:36

        it's just stupid that i can get a passport for a country i wasn't born in more easily than i can for a country i was actually born in.

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