renewing passport

Hi, Just realised that my passport expires in a couple of weeks. I have started to complete the online app and discovered that I need a digital photo and one that has a code so that I can attach it to my app. I have looked around the La Cala area for a photo shop but cant find one. Can anyone please reco a shop in the La Cala area please. thanks nic

All you need is a digital camera which you can buy from £10 and a bit of know how (not a degree in computer science and photography). You could borrow a camera or get a neighbour to do it for free.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnXrL-hC-Fk

Mrs B done hers in June. I did the photos. Passport sent them back two weeks later with 4 reasons no good, so she goes into a photo shop,ten quid 6 photos. Passport sent them back this time 3 reasons no good and again two weeks later with a note telling her that if they are not done correctly by the time the old passport runs out she’s loses her fee and has to start again. Went back to photo shop and he did them again. Sent third set of got new passport with photo of Mrs B from the second set of photos. Same time a friend did his and it took just over a week. What the hell went on we don’t know.

Hello Baz, that sounds strange; I presume you were sending hard copy photos in. If you do it online, you upload your photo and their system either accepts it or rejects it there and then.

1st time Kavanagh digital camera and sent online with two weeks wait to say no good. Photo shop hard copies sent recorded and again two weeks wait to be told no good, third set photo shop done another set and sent them their and then and as I said when Mrs B got her new passport the photo showed the top she was wearing in the second rejected set. Even the photo shop couldn’t believe what happened and when she took her passport in he noticed straight away the second lot of photos which he had done. Was wondering how many times they do this to get another lot of payments from you because we can’t think of any other explanation due to them using the second rejected photos, or a training person let lose on their own.

Rules for digital photos....

https://www.gov.uk/photos-for-passports

Hi All, many thanks for the info. Showing my complete ignorance; am I therefore right in thniking that I can get a couple of digital pics from a photo shop and then load them onto the passport renewal application form.thanks nic

Many people take a photo with their phone and upload directly onto the passport application site as is described in an earlier reply down below. The application site will accept or reject the photo instantly. A non techy friend of 80 has just done it this way.

Just thinking about your several rejections returned  by post. Ate you sure you are using the government uk ( gov.uk) site and not an agency pretending to issue passports on your behalf.

Regards

Re avoiding copycat sites...

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/passport-renewal/

I renewed mine recently online. It was the most straight forward renewal I've ever made. As Kavanagh says, you upload your photo and their system either accepts it or rejects it there and then. Nicbax, do you not have a smart phone with digital camera?

Re: copycat/scam sites. I recently overheard a couple saying that the EHIC now costs £35. It does not. It is still free, so long as you order it directly from the government website and not some agency charging for nothing. 

No gjohnint the genuine passport office site, even the ones I sent recorded and tracked we were told no good, out of focus/ background blurry and something else, and these were the photo shop ones, not even a booth set.

Once we got the passport back never bothered to complain,government department waste of time, completely strange just to renew a passport.

Hi Guys, Thanks once again for the most helpful info. Yes I have a three year old Samsung smart phone and assume it has a digital camera. I can take a couple of photos but I shall need to learn how to "upload" these onto my laptop and from there onto the passport application. I am struggling to join the 21st century. I am sure Google will show me how its done. Thanks again. nic

How do you know roberto if the online passport system rejects your application their and then if yours went straight through? We got our rejection application two weeks later by email.

Just re-read your earlier post Baz - my apologies, I thought you had sent hard copies by post only. Fair comment, my photo was accepted by the system straight away, so I assumed (my bad) that if it was unacceptable it would be rejected straight away. 

Just found this from moneysavingexpert: 

"Once uploaded, the system performs preliminary checks that ensure your photo meets (the required) criteria, so if there are any problems, most people will know straight away.

However, the photos will also go through additional checks, so you may be asked to re-submit at a different date if any problems arise."

Presumably in your case the photo was not immediately accepted by the system, and the additional checks found something not to their liking.

No problem Roberto, the. very first application was done using the genuine passport web page, uploaded the photos and that was it, it wasn’t until two weeks later we got notice they had been rejected, so into a photo shop and had six hard copies done which I sent these of Royal Mail tracked and signed for, and again two weeks later rejected, back to the photo shop and even he couldn’t see what was wrong with the ones he took, another set taken and sent online, the new passport came within days, but the inside photo was of the second set they had rejected, talk about a complete balls up doesn’t come into it.

These detailed complaints need reporting back to the Govt.

At the bottom of the page on https://www.gov.uk/browse/abroad/passports there appears to be a link with the question “ is there anything wrong with this page” . If you click on that it gives you the option to identify the problems encountered to assist in improving the website. Maybe worth feeding this back and see what transpires?

Just another example of the Tory Government scapegoating the public.

Good to see that there is a monitoring and reporting mechanism in place, but it relies upon those who have complaints to consistently use such mechanism(s) to place their complaints on official record and in so doing minimise future instances with intent to improve the system.

Hopefully those who have complaints of this order will feedback the responses that they receive, which should act as a further form of transparency and accountability in the longer term.

In theory ads you are absolutely correct, but in reality taking the case of Baz, after all that grief and time wasting who can be bothered. Is he going to get any compensation or just a bit more incompetence? Perhaps they might flag up his file for the next application in 10 years time.

To be honest I was hoping that anyone affected would report back their bad experience to gain a better system for the benefit of all, not necessarily just from a perspective of gaining compensation ( but I understand that some might consider their bad experience might warrant some compensation if it caused them extra expense).  

The only way we ever get improvements to a system is to report back and perhaps it could be argued that just bemoaning a system ( albeit warranted) does little to improve the failing in the longer term.

Again I suppose it comes down to whether you want improvements going forward,  not just for your own sake, but for others to be spared your bad experience too.

Anyway hope it gets resolved. :)