Countersigning passport

[shazza292022]

Hi does anyone know if someone who works at a nursery can countersign a passport? She has put her role down as nursery teacher. Anyone done this and been accepted?

I would say no.

Accepted occupations for countersignatories

Your countersignatory must either:

work in (or be retired from) a recognised profession
be ‘a person of good standing in their community’
Recognised professions
Examples of recognised professions include:

accountant
airline pilot
articled clerk of a limited company
assurance agent of recognised company
bank or building society official
barrister
chairman or director of a limited company
chiropodist
commissioner for oaths
councillor, for example local or county
civil servant (permanent)
dentist
director, manager or personnel officer of a VAT-registered company
engineer with professional qualifications
financial services intermediary, for example a stockbroker or insurance broker
fire service official
funeral director
insurance agent (full time) of a recognised company
journalist
Justice of the Peace
legal secretary (fellow or associate member of the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs)
licensee of a public house
local government officer
manager or personnel officer of a limited company
member, associate or fellow of a professional body
Member of Parliament
Merchant Navy officer
minister of a recognised religion (including Christian Science)
nurse (RGN or RMN)
officer of the armed services
optician
paralegal (certified paralegal, qualified paralegal or associate member of the Institute of Paralegals)
person with honours, for example an OBE or MBE
pharmacist
photographer (professional)
police officer
Post Office official
president or secretary of a recognised organisation
Salvation Army officer
social worker
solicitor
surveyor
teacher or lecturer
trade union officer
travel agent (qualified)
valuer or auctioneer (fellow or associate members of the incorporated society)
Warrant Officers and Chief Petty Officers
Professions that are not accepted
Your countersignatory cannot:

work for HM Passport Office
be a doctor, unless they state that they know you well (for example they’re a good friend) and that they recognise you easily from your photo
You’ll be asked to find someone else if your countersignatory does not meet the requirements.

If they are registered with a professional body then they can countersign

Is she actually a qualified teacher?

What is her job in the nursery?

If she is a teacher, fine. The cleaner? Not so.

Generally I think it’s if you have a degree, you can sign.

My understanding is that you have to be a member of a professional body, so that you have something at stake, something you could lose if you have a false statement

Yes a nursery teacher is a teaching role for which she has teaching qualifications rather than nursery care qualifications so should be fine.

A degree has little to do with it.

Surely they’re a ‘person of good standing in the local community’?

A friend has regularly done it on the basis of being a vicar’s wife.

Honestly, I don’t believe it’s as rigid as the forms would lead you to believe. I’m a data protection officer for a private sector financial services firm. Not a member of any professional bodies. Yet I’ve countersigned passports for via number of people and it’s never been an issue, including this year for two first passports for a friend’s children.

If you're talking about UK passports that really not true, you need to consult the list a pp has posted above

I think your query is pretty niche OP, it would be better to try and get a definitive answer from the passport office if that's possible. With all the problems this summer I wouldn't send an application off unless I was 100% sure

I think your query is pretty niche OP,

I don't think it is. A teacher can sign. The person who works in a nursery has put teacher as their role.

The only issue problem here is Op hasn't clarified the person is actually a teacher.

When DS needed a passport for his school trip to Belgium, his TA was going to sign for him but it was returned & in the end, a qualified teacher signed for him instead.

They can be of good standing in the community rather than be on that list. A nursery teacher is likely to be ok

My partner has his signed by someone who is a carer and it was fine so I would say a nursery worker would be ok. It's someone who is of good standing in the local community

They can sign as a person of good standing in the community.

and you don't need a degree, to the person who said you did. I have signed numerous and I've never been in sniffing distance of a university.

The signatory also has to be permanently resident in the UK. I can sign them but not as I'm not UK resident.

It’s very bizarre, really!! Who decides on good standing?!

@Haggisfish3 Generally the people on the list I posted are considered to be a of good standing... (not saying a necessarily agree with that view).

That's why there is a list. and for those posting that all an sundry have signed theirs and they don't check - they do.