To not counter sign this passport

[DirtyDancing]

I can counter sign passports.

A lady, call her Jo, at my DH's company has asked me to counter sign her sister's kid's passport.

I've know Jo for years & years. Never met her sister or sister's kid.

I've said no as I've never even met Jo's sister. Everyone saying ABU. just sign it she's clearly Jo's sister & not a terrorist.

AIBU?

to answer the question, of COURSE you shouldn't do it!

no why should you lie ?
They can find somone else, you only need some basic qualification to do it.

The Passport Office, or whatever it is called this year, does in-depth enquiries on some random applications.

I am qualified in two different ways (profession and work) to counter-sign.

And as I want to stay qualified I won't counter-sign for people I don't know - ever.

Do not do it, you can be prosecuted and people do go to prison for it.

It's fraud by abuse of position and you will also lose your job if caught.

yes that is true andrew.
I signed for an Irish passport, and not only did I get a phonecall checking me out but so did my dad!

I countersign passports and you are definitely NBU.

I despair sometimes at the casual dishonesty some people seem to think is perfectly OK.

YANBU - as others have said, its a legal document with repercussions for you and your job.

Isn't the whole point of having to have it signed by someone supposedly trustworthy is to confirm the passport holder is who they say they are???
If you start signing all around you for people you've never met it undermines the whole thing, and hopefully could rebound on you pretty badly if there was some sort of scam you're unwittingly dragged into?
Why would you even consider it?

I'm often asked to sign, but only by people who I've known the required amount of time or v close to it. I wouldn't sign for an adult I'd never met. I do know of people whose applications have been checked, and a LOT of questions asked, especially if you're applying for a first passport over the age of 18, that obviously is some kind of flag with the Home Office.

It's not uncommon for people not to have anyone to sign for them..i struggled with my DSs because although I'm a lawyer most of my colleagues are paralegals, so couldn't sign, and our GP and teachers wouldn't. In the end I had to go up to London for the day to meet a former colleague and get her to sign! My bf has no one to sign his currently, as his GP wont either.

OP is getting hassle from those who don't realise or care that they are asking her to perjure herself. That's fraud.

stick to your guns, OP. As everyone says, the answer is no.

More than your job's worth....

I'm a solicitor and have been contacted by the passport office about photos I have signed. Done loads...but only when I've known the people!

velvet spoon these days anyone with any kind of level 3 qual can sign AFAIK.

My husband has had calls from passport office about forms he has signed, for one form they called him a total of three times. They call more about childrens forms apparently

Do not sign.

Also, how do they know Jo's sister isn't a terrorist? They don't wear badges telling people...

If it was your friends' child then YABU because for child passports you are certifying that you have known the applicant (eg: the parent doing the form) for two years, not the child itself.
But if you don't know the sister either, then YANBU

My old neighbour got very cross with me when I refused to sign his son's photo. I knew his son, so that wasn't a problem but they had only moved in a few months earlier and the form said I had to have known them for at least 2 years. So I refused.

He got the neighbour on the other side to do it instead

It can be actually quite hard to find someone in real life to do this, especially if you are not in one place for long.

Happily when I renewed my NZ passport, the whole thing is done online, no physical counter signature needed. I was able to contact someone I knew in another country, and enter her details in the system. She had to hold a NZ passport also, apart from the length of time, non-relative etc... And they've done away with the, must be a dr, jp, minister, registered professional BS as well. The photo is even uploaded digitally.

It is brilliant, and the turnaround was a week, which is pretty damn good when the passport was issued from London, and I live in the US.

" And they've done away with the, must be a dr, jp, minister, registered professional BS as well "
As they have here in the UK

I'm surprised at how many people are stll counter signing passport photos. It is not actually needed for a renewal now unless there is a significant change in the photo. Did DS's last year - his photo was 5 years old on his expiring passport and he is now 18. we got away without needing a counter signatory. Have just renewed DHs too and no counter signatory required. Surely they are only needed for 1st applications and very young children who have changed significantly.

I've done 3 in the last year or so. All for friends children who have changed significantly since the previous passport photo.

We've just had to have ds passport photo countersigned. The last one was done when he was 9 and even I struggle to recognise him in it.

Pretty much anyone can countersign. You have to have known the person for 2 years, and have a valid UK passport yourself. But that's about it. The requirement for the countersignatory to be of 'professional standing' went out some time ago. I assume someone realised that the milkman who sees someone's house every day is just as likely to be honest as the GP who sees the applicant once in a blue moon. And more likely to answer the phone....

"The requirement for the countersignatory to be of 'professional standing' went out some time ago."

That's not quite true.

"Countersignatories must work in (or be retired from) a recognised profession or be ‘a person of good standing in their community’"

www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications

I needed to get my DCs passport photos countersigned - they had expired about 9 months before though.
I did the online application so they just give you the bits you need to complete and both my DCs needed countersigned - DD1 was 13 and DD2 was 7 - so DD1's previous one she'd been 7 ish and DD2 just under 2...
and they do still look the same - I guess there must be some age cut off...
I didn't need mine countersigned when I did mine (5 or so yrs ago) and it had expired within a year before...

some of us don't have a passport because we've never needed one. So yeah, we'd still need to find someone to sign.

Last year I countersigned my best friends mums passport, I've known her for about 13 years, she's a close personal friend. They actually wrote to me at work, with her picture on paper and a bullet point list of around 8 questions. I had to reply on letter headed paper things like how long exactly I'd known her, how did I know her, did I still see her recently. I assume it was because it was her first passport ever at the age of 58. It was fine as I could easily answer everything, but very very tricky if you don't actually "know" the person your saying you've known for two years plus.

Not a chance