BRITISH expats in Turkey who have applied for passport renewals are facing lengthy delays before they receive them.

Waiting times of nine weeks, or even more, have been experienced by expats due to the processing now taking place back in the UK rather than at offices in Germany.

Her Majesty’s Passport Office has warned that processing times are “significantly longer” in relation to applications from overseas than those filed by UK residents, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The reason behind the delays is that all applications for overseas passports are now processed by HM Passport Office in the UK.

Previously, overseas applications were handled by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s seven regional processing centres in Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, Madrid, Paris, Pretoria, Washington and Wellington.

The responsibility has been gradually transferred between December 2012 and March 2014. All passports are now handled by a central application processing centre in Liverpool, England.

Passports take about three weeks to be processed for those living in the UK.

Passport renewals used to take around four weeks for those living overseas, but new advice states that for overseas applicants the wait is now at least six weeks and first-time applications can take eight weeks or more.

A spokesman for Her Majesty’s Passport Office said: “We are updating our guidance on estimated processing times for customers who apply for a passport overseas. Applications from overseas can take significantly longer than those made in the UK due to additional security checks.’’

The spokesman added: “We recommend customers do not book travel until they have received their passport”.