The new online IPA2 service, which was introduced in May, was designed to speed up the passport application process by enabling applicants to pay and fill in forms online, then send them off to the passport service, which issues a travel document.
However, passports that should have been issued in three weeks are now taking up to six weeks to process. Some applicants have had to resubmit passport applications on paper, and application fees have been refunded.
The Guardian reported a Home Office spokeswoman as saying, there were some early teething problems that caused a delay in processing a number of applications. Online applications represent a small proportion of applications – about 3% – and we remain within our performance targets.
