To wonder how I'll get my DC's passport legally?!

[justwanttolookgood]

I don't know anyone who can counter sign!

And on top of that, I don't know anyone professionally who has known me for over 6/12 months really. GP included. The person needs to have known the parent for over 2 years.

What am I going to do?

A nurse (dental nurse can do it too)? Someone who works in a pub with a personal license?
Do you know anyone who runs a shop?

You must know someone who's known you for two years.

The person doesn’t have to have met your child. So, a teacher from your school could do it.

Nursery school staff,
Teacher at school
Neighbours?

Any friends who are managers in retail/any neighbour with a job on the list/anybody you went to school with who's now a teacher or something?

If you can think of someone who has known you for the required amount of time but they don't have one of the 'professional' jobs on the list then ring the passport office and they will be able to tell you whether you can use that person as a counter signatory.

The passport countersignatory list is not very inclusive for people at the lower end of society , whose children probably don't go to nursery, parents don't know professional people, rent so probably move a lot so don't know people for 2 years. Obviously OP may not fall into these categories.

It is very easy for a lot of the middle classes to get a countersignature, I could probably find someone at work, DS is an accountant (he obviously can't sign mine) but knows other people in the same profession so will not have this problem himself. If people went to university they are more likely to know the sort of people who can countersign

There was another thread about this recently where a plumber was probably not suitable to sign it.

Do you know anyone with a small business OP, maybe your landlord, how old is your DC?

A GP is not allowed to sign nowadays unless they are a friend.

My HV signed for the children and a family friend who works as a cleaner signed for me

What about a post on Facebook asking for any old friends in the right professions to volunteer? Even if you have lost touch since then they might well still be happy to help

OP, how old is your DC, it will help with suggestions.

The below is taking from gov.uk website. What about your regular gp or health visitors?

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/building society official
• barrister
• chairman/director of limited company
• chiropodist
• commissioner for oaths
• councillor, eg local or county
• civil servant (permanent)
• dentist
• director/manager/personnel officer of a VAT-registered company
• engineer - with professional qualifications
• financial services intermediary, eg 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 public house
• local government officer
• manager/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, eg an OBE or MBE
• pharmacist
• photographer - professional
• police officer
• Post Office official
• president/secretary of a recognised organisation
• Salvation Army officer
• social worker
• solicitor
• surveyor
• teacher, lecturer
• trade union officer
• travel agent - qualified
• valuer or auctioneer - fellows and associate members of the incorporated society
• Warrant Officers and Chief Petty Officers
People who aren’t accepted
Your countersignatory can’t:
• work for HM Passport Office
• be a doctor, unless they state that they know you well (eg good friend) and that they recognise you easily from your photo

Are you working? Your manager/ boss can do it. I wouldn't worry to much about the 2 years. It's to ensure you are genuine. A person that you have had regular contact with over the last year or so should be ok.

My mum signed DH's before we were married and she is a self employed reiki healer - so I'm not sure that the registered profession thing is massively stringent.

If you are really stuck I think you can call them and ask for advice or an exception.

If it’s because you’ve only recently moved to the area, could you not get in touch with some old neighbours / your old GP and ask? That’s what I had to do last time as I’d only been in London for a year - I went back to my parents village and asked the vicar if she could sign it.

Have a look through your Facebook friends, I bet someone does that type of job. Do your parents know anyone professional who have known you since a child? Teacher at your old school?

I would agree go back to people who did know you 2 years ago. And people who run their own business can sign.
What about an old boss? An old teacher?

I had this problem too OP. At the time I didn't know anyone who worked in a recognised profession (I know professionals but its more people who work as computer programmers or in call centres etc), I didn't socialise much and was renting / moving house a lot so found it hard to get to know people / stay in touch.

Eventually I got someone my mother vaguely knew to sign it for me, even though she had never met me.

So I guess my only advice is get someone to lie for you? That's probably not great advice though.

Ask on Facebook. You'll be amazed who's allowed to sign.

You can apply for,your passport online now. I’m not sure if a countersignatory is needed. It wasn’t when I just did my my passport (renewal not first).

I've signed a few passport applications and a HCPC registration. I work as a commercial officer for a large multi national company and have done for 30 years, but I'm not a professional and not a manager. There must be someone you know.

www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport

GPs lobbied hard to be excluded from the list of passport signatories as this was taking up a lot of appointment slots. The list does seem to be designed to exclude people that don't mix with professionals. I would make a list of all the people you know with their occupations (sex them up, e.g. shift supervisor at a shop is a Retail Manager, etc) and then call the Passport Office for advice. My guess is that they're just looking for someone whose career would be in jeopardy if they were caught lying on official paperwork.

I don't think that list is exhaustive. I got someone whose job is "Marketing Manager" to countersign my sons first passport. That job isn't on the list but it was accepted no questions asked. This was 12 years ago, it may have got more strict since then, don't know.

Passport Office are looking for someone who is on some sort of official list , in theory cross check against. If you already have a passport they are unlikely to check against a countersignatory on your son's application.

My hairdresser did mine and the DS’s