Passport Office strike

J

joanmul

Registered User
Messages
525
We sent in an application for passports on the 1 Feb. Now they are on strike and I'm wondering how to get around this. We're going to Australia on the 16 March and need to get visas about 2 weeks before this.
 
Hi Joanmul, you should be okay. They are not actually on complete strike but operating a work to rule, like some days they haven't opened the public office until say 11am and other days not answered the phones. But once your application form is in already I reckon you should be grand.
 
I wouldn't rely on this at all. I've had experience of a work to rule in the passport office before and recently had passport application rejected due to the photography being too shiny. Can you go to the passport office and queue and get it in one day? Or ring them up and try and get yours seen to as a priority.
 
If you do decide to call in don't forget to bring your travel itinerary with you to prove that you do need it seen to as priority.
 
Did you send it in via an post, as you usually get a ref number that you can check it online
 
''Due to industrial action, it is not currently possible to guarantee the turnaround time for selected passport services provided at the counter in the Passport Service's public offices. The Passport Service would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by this disruption and to assure customers that emergency passport services are not affected.

In light of this, customers are advised to apply early and use the Passport Express service available through local post offices where a 10 day service is currently available. Passport applicants are advised to check for updates on this website.''

http://www.dfa.ie/uploads/documents/Passport_documents/Strike/ppo note 2010.pdf
 
Hi, my friend applied for her passport at the start of February by normal post ie not Express post and it was received by the passport office on 9th February. She has to travel to Poland next week for a compulsary study trip as part of her 3rd level studies and went to the passport office earlier today in person, where she was told that there is an 8 week backlog and she will not be able to get a passport in time. She also has a trip book for during the Easter break to Italy which is now also out of the question.

Can anybody please advise us asap as to any possible way in which we can get around this? The head of the school here in college has given us a letter to present to the passport office stating how important this trip is and that my friend's absence will jeopardise her studies. We are hoping to travel back to Molesworth Street this afternoon and will ask to speak to a supervisor.

Any advice????
 
In light of this, customers are advised to apply early and use the Passport Express service available through local post offices where a 10 day service is currently available. Passport applicants are advised to check for updates on this website.
Click to expand...
So despite the WTR and the inconvenience it may entail to the public, passport express is in full operation - is this correct?

Not that I'm complaining, on the contrary, I just don't understand it fully.
 
There was a queue of about 40 or 50 people outside the passport office this morning in Dublin at 9AM. Dunno if its related to the WTR but queue seemed crazy
 
Caveat said:
So despite the WTR and the inconvenience it may entail to the public, passport express is in full operation - is this correct?
Click to expand...
Simply put, a work to rule means that staff will just do what they are supposed to do as part of their normal duties – no more & no less. Considering that the passport express facility is part of their normal duties, applications processed this way should continue to operate more or less normally.
 
Fair enough, but by that criteria, surely dealing over the counter and answering the phone is part of their normal duties too is it not?

If so, they are simply not doing their jobs - falls outside a WTR by the sounds of it. Unless the above were part of a strike as opposed to WTR?
 
There seems to be a very fine line as regards what sort of industrial action they are taking. Maybe they can justify it by saying that they will not provide cover for unfilled vacant posts, or answer phones that are not on their individual desks, or what is actually written in their job description, though I agree that closing the public office looks very like strike action to me, despite the fact that they are working in the backround. But presumably the unions know what's what in that regard.
 
Just got this by mail from a reliable source:


The Passport Service apologises to customers for the disruption of service
and inconvenience caused by ongoing industrial action and advises them of
the following:

1. It is no longer possible to guarantee a turnaround time for the
issuing of passports. Projected turnaround times for the
issuing of passports will be posted on the Passport Service
website: www.passport.ie

2. The 10 day guarantee for receipt of applications submitted
through the Passport Express service provided by An Post and
the Royal Mail is suspended until further notice.

3. Passports received through these services will be processed on
a first come first served basis. Applications submitted by
Passport Express are currently being processed between 10 and
15 days of receipt.

4. It will not be possible to fast-track any application other
than in a case of genuine family emergency, in which case proof
will be required that travel is necessitated by the death,
illness or welfare of a family member. The issuing of passports
in such emergencies is not affected by the industrial dispute.

5. The public counters and out of hours services should only be
used by those who have a necessity to travel for reasons of
family emergency.

6. All other applications should be submitted through the Passport
Express channel.

7. Customers should retain the barcode number on their passport
application or the customer service number provided by the
postal service and use this number to check the status of their
application on the Passport Service website.

8. The requirement that applicants submit their existing passport
with their application for a new passport has been temporarily
suspended in cases where the current passport has not yet fully
expired. In such cases, customers should include a photocopy of
the personal details pages of the current passport with their
application for a new passport.

9. Before making any overseas travel plans, customers should check
the expiry dates of their own passport and the passports of
persons on whose behalf they are making bookings. If a passport
has expired or has insufficient validity to allow completion of
the planned journey (bearing in mind that some States require
persons entering their territory to have a minimum remaining
validity on their passport), an application for renewal should
be submitted now and in sufficient time that the new passport
can be received before the intended date of travel.

10. The current industrial action has seen closure of the
public offices and/or telephone services at short notice.
Updates will therefore only be available on the Passport
Service website: www.passport.ie
 
:confused:

What you said (in another thread) was that the €55 Public Counter Urgent Fee payable, upon proof of urgent travel, for passports required to be issued on the same or next day was no longer being charged, & that there was a press statement to this effect available to view on

There is no such press statement available on the site.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top