Applying for Provisional Licence without a Passport

[TheNextSteps]

I’ve also posted this in ‘Teenagers’ but thought I’d pop it on here too as there’s more traffic here.

My 17 year DS is applying for his Provisional Driving Licence (I know there’s an horrendous backlog) His Passport expired during Lockdown (as did the whole family’s but no plans for travelling abroad anytime soon!)

So I worked out that I can send through his birth certificate - I’ll be sending the original, full version - and a letter from HM Revenue & Customs that informed him of his National Insurance Number just before he turned 16.

On the form itself, you’re asked to put a cross by the documents you’re providing, so he did that next to ‘U.K. birth/adoption certificate’ - immediately beneath this it reminds you ‘plus one other form of identification’. But there is no box to tick that says ‘letter confirming NI number’. So I assume I just send it in alongside the birth certificate?

But then there is a box that says ‘Please write the serial number(s) of the document(s) you are enclosing’. Now there’s a 7-digit number at the top of the birth certificate that starts with BF and ends with CE - is this classed as a serial number? Shall I put that? But when it comes to the letter from HMRC there’s an ‘our reference’ number and a tiny, subscript 36 number sequence printed at the top with loads of zeros but I’m sure that’s just some internal correspondence reference - you can barely read it. There’s no way I can fit both numbers in the box.

(It might be that the serial numbers refer to EU Identity cards or Biometric Residence Permits. But I’m not sure)

Has anyone else gone through this process that doesn’t have a valid passport? All I have to do now is go to the Post Office to get a postal order as I don’t have a cheque book anymore. It’s such a bloody palaver when you don’t have a passport. I feel like I’ve stepped back 20 years!

And I’ve read the other thread where it says no one is picking up the phone at DVLA, and that some people have waited months and then had their forms returned because they’ve said there’s been mistakes on the form, and that the forms will sit unopened for months - so I really want to get it right first time so I don’t further exacerbate the delay.

Any advice gratefully received!

My grand daughter recently applied for her provisional without a passport. We applied and paid online using a debit card. They sent her some paperwork to sign, which we returned with her birth certificate and the NI letter. She also had to send photos which had yo be signed by an appropriate person. Her teacher did this for her. I think the teacher also had to sign part of the form.

I think we filled in the number from the top of her birth certificate but nothing for the NI letter. Hers didn’t take as long as expected but this was April so things might have slowed down since then.

Thanks Daisy - I didn’t think doing the online application was an option without having a passport? But either way it sounds like postage was involved so probably not much in it. We’ve got the form signed and the back of the photo too. I’ll put the number that’s on top of the certificate as it obviously worked for you 😊 Now just need to get a postal order.

Out of interest did you send a stamped, self-addressed envelope with recorded delivery for the return of the birth certificate/NI letter? I’m thinking I’ll just leave it for them to return it second class as I’m not in a rush to get them back - but is that foolhardy?!

I was in exactly the same boat with DD2, and in the end, thought "sod it" and decided it would be easier to renew her passport first. This was in the middle of the first lockdown, and it was all so complicated.

The passport actually arrived in record time, but the provisional licence took WEEKS, overshooting her 17th birthday by some margin. Updates from DVLA were non-existent, so we had no clue it was even being processed until a couple of days before it arrived.

I didn’t send a reply envelope for return, but it would be a good idea. I was worried about getting her birth certificate back. I had copied the NI letter. Luckily the birth certificate was returned without any problems. Hope it doesn’t take too long for you.

I’ve just applied for 2 teens online, one with a passport which was very straight forward and one without a passport where I’m just waiting to send the birth certificate, NI letter and photo off when the form arrives in the next day or so

The passport holding teen has an email within 24 hours saying he had been processed and would receive his license in the next 2 weeks

The non passport teen had an email advising a form would arrive within a week to return the documents with

We shall see how it goes

Just checked the post and the online passport one has arrived in under 3 days blimey, watch the other take 3 months now

We had the same experience as @Daisychainsandlaughs after a false start with the lost, bloody teenagers NI letter, and had to get a new one.

She paid online with my debit card and they held the payment until we had the birth certificate, NI letter and photo/form signed by the appropriate person to send off and she received her license in about 3 weeks.

This was about April/May