News

If you’ve lodged multiple applications for you and other family members together, they might arrive at different times.

This is because all applications are assessed individually, and passports will be posted or ready for collection as soon as they are completed.

Child passport applications also have extra security checks and can often take longer to process.

You’ll receive an email when your passport is completed and ready to collect or receive tracking details from Australia Post if you’ve opted to have it posted.

Normally, you should allow a minimum of six weeks to get your passport.

And, if you’re planning travel in the next six months, it’s best to apply for a passport now.

However, if you need your passport sooner, priority processing might be the answer.

Our Priority Service is available for $237, with your passport ready to be mailed or collected in just two business days once we’ve received all your documents from Australia Post.

In exceptional cases, we can also issue passports in less than two business days, for example if there is a compassionate or compelling reason, such as the death or serious illness of an immediate family member or an unexpected need for urgent business travel.

If this applies to you please call us on 131 232 to arrange a lodgement appointment at a passport office. You’ll need supporting documentation, such as a letter from your doctor or your employer.

Priority processing is only available in Australia.

If you’re overseas and can’t wait up to six weeks for a passport, you can apply for an emergency passport at an Australian diplomatic or consular mission.

For further information, please go to the urgent applications page.

We are experiencing high demand for passports since the reopening of Australia’s international border.

In the first three months of this year, we issued nearly 400,000 passports, more than double the total number we issued over the same period in 2021.

With passport demand on the rise, we strongly urge you not to leave your application to the last minute.

You should allow a minimum of six weeks to get a new passport or renew one.

To help avoid delays, before you submit your application, make sure you:

• provide all the necessary information
• meet all the requirements.

For more information, visit our FAQs page for answers to the most common questions we receive.

We apologise to those of you who’ve had difficulty contacting us recently. We want to assure you that fixing this issue is a top priority for us.

Call volumes have increased dramatically over the past six months. 

We now have more staff working in our contact centre than ever before, and we are adding more. Our dedicated call centre staff are doing all they can to assist and we’d be grateful for your continued patience.

While we understand some of our customers prefer to speak to a person to have their questions answered, in most cases our website will have the information you require.  The majority of the phone queries we get can be easily resolved by going to our general advice on passport applications, which provides answers to the most common questions raised.

You can now download your International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate and save it to your Apple or Google digital wallet.

It can now also be used with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Travel Pass that some airlines are using for customers to store and manage their verified COVID-19 test and vaccine certificates.

Your international certificate provides proof of your COVID-19 vaccinations to present to border authorities or airline check-in staff for crossing international borders.

Anyone who has a valid passport and their COVID-19 vaccinations recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) can request an international certificate. 

The easiest way to get your free international certificate is by using your Medicare account in myGov, or the Medicare Express Plus app.  If you can’t use these options, you can contact the Australian Immunisation Register on 1800 653 809.

International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate Specimen – Digital wallet format:

Apple Wallet:

Google Wallet: