Michaela

I was apprehensive about the service I would receive here based on the bad reviews. However, when I came to do my passport application here in July I was seen promptly. I was told that it would be ready in 4 months. After 5 months I returned to the High Commission as I still hadn't received it and was told that it would be a further 6 weeks. It then arrived a month later. I did call up to check on the progress in that time and was updated on the whereabouts. In total the process took 6 months which I think is acceptable. The staff were polite, helpful and professional. However, the same cannot be said of some customers who were rude and in some cases abusive to staff who were nothing but polite back (I saw this behaviour from a minority of customers on both visits to the high commission). I saw customers who had turned up without appointments or with the wrong documents (despite their being a clear list of documents needed for passport applications on the website) become rude and verbally abusive to staff when their applications could not be processed. This made the atmosphere quite unpleasant and hostile for the staff and the rest of us waiting. I felt sorry for the staff who had to work in such difficult conditions because of such rude and entitled customers.