Gardian Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Well, for once, a quite positive bit of news. Our passports expire in 6 months time, so the renewal process needed to be started. Our younger son who lives elsewhere in the EU was faced with the same situation and kicked off the online renewal in mid-December. It was really totally painless. We had our pics taken at a local professional photographer (for just €8 each, it just seemed better than the uncertainty of a photo booth) and she emailed them to us. The online application was really straightforward and our ‘old’ passports were mailed back to the UK today. Our son’s new passport arrived by courier this morning, so a 5 or 6 week turnround, but that includes Christmas / NY. It all seems to work pretty well ! Forgive me if none of this is ‘news’ to all of you, but I rather thought that the online application process is quite new. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 Online service has been available for at least 5 years. I applied for OH in 2018 and, like you, I was amazed at how well it worked. I applied for mine last November, even though my passport was valid until December. With all the talk of postal strikes and so on, I thought I'd do it a bit earlier. In fact, it came back in a fortnight. BTW, if you had a red EU passport, you could use it till the last day of expiry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted January 27, 2023 Author Share Posted January 27, 2023 I stand corrected Mint. Still, no harm in telling folk that it’s not as bad as the Press would have you believe. I rather suspect that there’s a ‘specialist unit’ at Durham for expats (that’s where you have to send your ‘old’ passport back to) and the turnaround is a lot faster than for UK-based applicants. Anyway, doesn’t matter really, as long as we get ours back in a reasonable period of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hectorsdad Posted January 27, 2023 Share Posted January 27, 2023 Guardian, you called her Mint! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTr@sh Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 9 hours ago, Hectorsdad said: Guardian, you called her Mint! Mint means the same as Menthe. Whereas Guardian does not mean the same as Gardian. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hectorsdad Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 Well ET, I could not get either of those “errors” past you but there was a little more to it. Thanks for your quick reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hectorsdad Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 You have forced me to translate “guardian” and google came up with “herdsman” which seems to be consistent with a name on a French forum. I had assumed, incorrectly, that it was exactly the same as guardian in meaning. I often make embarrassing mistakes due to my ignorance. I should have learned by now to be more careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 No need to be overly worried about mistakes Hectorsdad, we all make them? You would know about the different French départements though, wouldn't you? You could then hazard a guess that Gardian might live in the Gard. The early forum had a smattering of people who called themselves using variations on the names of their départements or regions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betise Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 1 hour ago, menthe said: ... The early forum had a smattering of people who called themselves using variations on the names of their départements or regions. It did indeed Mint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajal Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 1 hour ago, betise said: It did indeed Mint Or Sweet 16 even.😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
menthe Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 No, no cajal, I never lived in 16. I was Sweet 17 because that was my département, Charente Maritime. Sweet was tongue in cheek, I was far from. Betise, the one that always confused me a bit was Ron from the Aveyron. Either he didn't live in Aveyron or he couldn't pronounce Aveyron. Oh well, we were all new then, on the forum, in France. I'd made many many errors in French some of which were hilarious but some were downright embarrassing😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hectorsdad Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 (edited) Was it on this forum that a member was ronaveyron, or something close to that? I remember checking out his website with the intention of spending a few days in that area. It looked really good but I could not visit at that time and since then he seems to have vanished. His postings were always positive and supportive. Perhaps it was on another forum that has been lost. It is entertaining just trying to workout how these names are created. Edit: What a coincidence that ronaveyron should emerge almost simultaneously. Just read the previous post after my posting. Edited January 29, 2023 by Hectorsdad Updated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajal Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 13 hours ago, menthe said: No, no cajal, I never lived in 16. I was Sweet 17................... Oops, of course. I suspect the error was prompted by the influence of modern popular music on my life.😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 Mint, Menthe, SW17 .............. this is someone who has masqueraded under a number of different aliases over the years. That banana bloke is the same. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbanana Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Well, variations on a banana! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betise Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 15 hours ago, anotherbanana said: Well, variations on a banana! And his sister ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherbanana Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 My real daughter even managed to sign up one night, has not posted since though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted February 15, 2023 Author Share Posted February 15, 2023 My new passport was delivered yesterday - that’s precisely a 3 week turn round from my online application. I reckon that’s excellent. I would imagine that at other times of the year, it mightn’t be as quick as that, but they’re clearly ‘on the case’. Mrs G’s application is running about a week behind mine, seemingly because her ‘old passport’ took that much longer to get to the UK, but no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franceandbeyond Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 That's fantastic news! A 3-week turnaround time from your online passport application is indeed excellent and reflects the efficiency of the process. It's impressive to see that the authorities are working diligently to provide quick and reliable passport services for citizens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowfox05 Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 We applied to renew our passports online from France using photos we'd taken on our phones 15 days ago. The new ones arrived today and we were kept informed throughout by email and text about progress. Compared to my 18 months to exchange a UK driving licence for a French one it was a brilliant service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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