Making Australian Passport Renewals Easier

After coming back from our last holiday in Bangkok I was aware of the need to renew my passport as it was fast approaching the minimum six month validity required by many countries for travelers. Originally, I thought that I had a while to get it through the gate however it seems that I might need to travel overseas for work necessitating that I give this some immediate attention.

Anyway, for those of you wanting to get organised quickly you can fill in a form on the Australian Passport Office website. You’ll need to provide and verify the details of your current passport before you can fill in the renewal application form. Once you have filled that in you can download a copy in PDF format or elect to have it mailed out to you – obviously, if you’re in a hurry you’d want to download the PDF version and print it out. Make sure you follow the printing instructions as if you violate any of the requirements (such as printing single-sided instead of double-sided) then your application may be declined.

Next up, you’ll want to book a passport interview at an Australia Post outlet. Just head over to the Australia Post website and do the following:

1. Search for post offices using your postcode making sure you tick the “Australian Passport” option,
2. The list displayed will show post offices offering passport services in order of distance from the provided address or post office for the supplied postcode. Once you’ve identified where you desired post office, click on its heading,
3. On the next page you can click the red Make an appointment button,
4. Follow the appointment wizard to select your appointment type, number of persons attending the appointment, date and time along with your e-mail address and phone number for confirmation.

It’s also worth remembering that you will need two identical photos that will be affixed to the application. The good news is for renewals is that you can have these taken at your passport interview without any further requirements. You’ll also need to provide your current passport for cancellation before your renewal application.

After your application has been submitted you can track its progress back on the Australian Passport Office website here and, if you’re in a hurry, you can pay the priority processing fee if you did not elect to pay it at the time of application submission at the post office.