A British government minister has urged people to renew their outdated passports “as soon as possible” if they hope to go on holiday this summer as the Passport Office faces a 10-week backlog in processing applications.
With the tourist industry returning to a state of near normality after the lockdown-wrecked summers of 2020 and 2021, there has been an unprecedented number of applications by British citizens who realised their passports were out of date.
Home Office minister Kevin Foster told the House of Commons on April 25 that a million passports were processed last month compared to 7 million a year in 2019.
But Stephanie Peacock, a Labour MP, told the House of Commons a woman in her Yorkshire constituency had applied in January for a new passport for her daughter, intending to go on holiday next week, but had still not received it back.
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