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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it could be really tricky for some people to get a passport

117 replies

dogscatsandbabies · 23/02/2015 21:18

Excluding the cost of the thing. Just applied for DD's first passport and her photos have to be certified by a professional person... Doctor, lawyer, teacher, bank manager etc. It specifies that this must be someone who knows you as a neighbour, friend, colleague or similar and NOT someone who only knows you professionally I.e your own GP. This person must hold a British or Irish passport.

I had no bother accessing such a professional but it struck me that it might be a total nightmare for some people from lower socioeconomic areas whose neighbours / friends etc are unemployed or work in "unskilled" or more manual jobs which aren't counted as professional.

Anybody found this?

OP posts:
lertgush · 24/02/2015 01:45

It really doesn't have to be a professional. I speak as someone who lives in the US and knows no British professionals here that I could ask.

Glastokitty · 24/02/2015 03:23

I don't know any nurses.

ifgrandmahadawilly · 24/02/2015 06:58

I had this exact problem recently. I'm from a very working class area so really don't know anyone who is a proffessional and I have some problems with socialising. I basically only speak to my family and people at work. People at work wouldn't have known me for long enough and its a call centre, so no professionals there.

I ended up getting a friend of my mothers, who has never actually met me to sign.

It's just pointless and exclusionary.

MagratGarlik · 24/02/2015 07:09

YANBU, OP, though we don't fit into your "lower socioeconomic group" statement (both dp and I have PhDs). However, before ds1 was born, we'd been living abroad for a number of years and most of our friends were therefore not British passport holders, dp is not British, so any older friends of his were not British and the only two people I kept in touch with from days prior to moving abroad were also living abroad!

When ds1 was born we'd only been back in the UK for 5 months and needed a passport for him early on, but found it tough it find someone who met the "must have known you for 3 years" criteria.

thehumanjam · 24/02/2015 07:19

YANBU. When I applied for my first passport at the age of 18 I didn't know anybody that met the criteria. In the end my boyfriends boss signed despite never having met me before.

DontOpenDeadInside · 24/02/2015 07:24

We're hoping to be able to go away this year for the 1st time in 10 years! But not sure if i know anyone who will sign it (though tbf I've not asked anyone yet) Dd1s friends mum is a nurse but she is originally from the Phillipines so not sure if she would have a uk passport? If someone has lived here for 10+ years, do the get a british one? [No idea]

thehumanjam · 24/02/2015 07:26

I don't know any nurses. Why would someone be more likely to know a nurse than any other profession?

QOD · 24/02/2015 07:34

I applied. To renew my Dd s the other say, first child to adult renewal ans I actually aaid similar ....
but more along the lines of .... i am averagely intelligent, went to grammar, decent non professional job .... Omg it was so complicated!

CuttedUpPear · 24/02/2015 07:35

I totally agree with you OP.
Apart from not knowing anyone professional, the process is fiddly and a big ask because of the likelihood of the Passport Office following up the connection and generating more paperwork for the person who signs.

I managed to get a QC to sign mine - except that he didn't listen to me about where to sign, did it wrong and the application was rejected.

I felt I couldn't ask him again so had to look for someone else, which wasn't easy.

I agree, it's totally outmoded.

And I don't know any nurses, police or social workers either (and think the flippant comments about the last two were insensitive).

MsMcWoodle · 24/02/2015 07:40

Yeah. I work for myself and we have moved around a lot. Not religious either. It's a nightmare.

Nolim · 24/02/2015 07:43

What a pointless requirement. I can imagine plenty of situations when this could be a problem. What if you just moved to a new area with a baby and dont know anyone?

ClashCityRocker · 24/02/2015 07:50

I would have struggled when I was younger.

New area, no doctor, genuinely didn't know anyone who would qualify.

mousmous · 24/02/2015 07:53

how do you do it if you are new to an area?

Sephy · 24/02/2015 08:02

I appreciate it would be an enormous pain, but being new to an area doesn't prevent you from sending the form and paperwork to someone who lives in your old area. But I appreciate that only applies if they are friends you're still in touch with, not easy to get a local publican or teacher to do it that way.

LoxleyBarrett · 24/02/2015 08:04

MousMous - You could always try asking someone from your old area.

I find it has to believe that if you have lived somewhere for a couple of years that you know absolutely nobody who can sign your form - gp, nurse, pharmacist, optician, physio, teacher, council worker etc

DontOpenDeadInside · 24/02/2015 08:15

But loxley you are meant to know them outside of their profession. So unless they are a friend you could not use any of those.
I'm very much an introverted person. I have 1 friend and am a sahm. Dp is self employed and also introverted (more so than me) Yes im finding it hard to think of someone.

Nolim · 24/02/2015 08:21

Agree with ^^

I am an introvert myself and also i dont go around asking ppl about their citizenship!

The80sweregreat · 24/02/2015 08:23

The forms are a nightmare all round and its more money to have them checked in the post office too. Its all a con and a complete faff.

The idea from eachtigertires is excellent - most photo shop places have to a abide by the rules for the picture, why not let them stamp the back of them too? I suppose they would say it might be open to fraud and wouldn't allow it. They don't like making things easier for people!

MagratGarlik · 24/02/2015 08:40

"If you've lived there for a couple of years...."

That's fine, but you have to have known the countersignitory for 3 years (at least when I reapplied a year ago).

SistersOfPercy · 24/02/2015 08:41

Ours are up for renewal and I can see why people struggle.
My kids are adults and I have no contact with their ex teachers so no good there, my gp recently left. Dh's policeman uncle signed out last ones but he has died since then. I know no nurses and all our friends tend to be project managers and engineers etc.
Fortunately I do have a good friend who is a teacher but without her I can't think of anyone else who we could ask.

mateysmum · 24/02/2015 08:50

It can be a problem. We lived abroad till quite recently and now live in a part of the country where neither we nor our families have lived before, hence we know very few people who would be qualified to sign.

CuttedUpPear · 24/02/2015 08:51

Also Loxley I refer you to my comments about the potential paperwork being generated for the signer.
It can be a lot of work, and if they haven't actually known you for three years then they risk losing their job.

muminhants · 24/02/2015 08:53

I'm a professional and I've had to hunt around to find someone local at times. If you've just changed job and/or home location, it can be difficult to have someone around the corner or at work to do it.

In the past I have asked friends/colleagues who are lawyers, my childminder (who's also an adult education tutor and signs in that capacity) and someone I had studied with who I then came across in a new workplace, so she'd known me for over 2 years even though she'd not seen me for about 10! I've countersigned for an Irish passport and they actually phoned me to check the details, I've never been called for a British one.

Maybe join a club - there are nurses, teachers, lawyers, accountants etc in my running club for example. Or become a school governor so that you get to know the teachers even if they don't teach your own children.

muminhants · 24/02/2015 08:55

The other thing now as well is that they also need to be British passport holders, so if they've not travelled themselves for a while and don't have a valid one, you can't ask them.

Vagndidit · 24/02/2015 09:02

Don't have a UK passport but did run into this problem when applying for a provisional license. At that point. I had only been in the country for 6 months so obviously didn't know anyone who would qualify for the known for 2+ years category.

It does seem a bit of an outdated concept that people in certain professions are supposedly more trustworthy to verify identity than others. Why can't photo verification be a part of the professional passport application checking service? (Or is it already?)