Anyone applied for baby's first passport recently?

[HollyGoLoudly1]

Hi all, posting here for traffic. Also probably an AIBU because it seems ridiculous to me that I have to do this!

Applying for my baby's first passport and the document checklist says I need to send the grandparents birth certificates and marriage certificates? Really?? I obviously don't have them and while I could probably get hold of my parents certificates, we are NC with my DP's parents. He doesn't even have an address for his dad anymore.

Has anyone applied for baby's first passport recently and am I definitely understanding this correctly??

We applied recently and didn’t have to send anything like that. I think it depends on when you were born though.

Really!? We just did and I included the marriage certificate because of surname change issues but there was no mention of grandparents birth certificates?!? And we have received the passport fine!

Nope, just sent off her birth certificate and filled in the bit with our passport numbers :)

I did the same as @Ihavealwaysknown. Mine & Dh passport numbers on the form plus DD's full birth certificate. Got it back within 4 days.

Anyone can order certificates from the general register office and they cost around £10 each I have a collection from family history research.

I just wrote grandparents details. I even left DH's Dad blank as he doesn't know him and it was fine. I didn't include any proof. I think if both parents already have passports there will already be a paper trail from that.

I wasn’t asked for any of that stuff. Just our passport numbers and the baby’s birth certificate. If you need certificates you can order them from the records office, you don’t need to be in contact with the people in question.

Assuming you are talking about a British passport?

www.gov.uk/get-a-child-passport/first-child-passport

Doesnt seem any need for what you mentioned. When we applied for DS' not that long ago we just had to enter our passport numbers and send of his birth certificate.

Eh? I didn't have to do any of that when applying for DS's first passport, and neither I nor his father even have a UK passport. I can't remember if I put my Irish passport number TBH.

Is this because you and your OH were born after 1983 (or 1984 or whatever the cut off year was?

If so, it's to do with establishing nationality. (Before then we had strict Jus Solis, meaning anyone born in the U.K. before then automatically had British citizenship. But since then nationality partly depends on your own parents' status.)

I got advice about this (I've lost my own birth certificate and didn't have access to my parents'). I was told to just write a letter explaining when and where the grandparents were born and their nationality details.

Obviously, if you and your OH already held British passports when baby was born, then your nationality is established and so grandparents are irrelevant.

We didn't have any problems and one of my DC wasn't even born in the UK, and one grandparent isn't English.

I think you don't need those details if you put your own British passport numbers where indicated as that shows you are British citizens and can therefore pass that on to your child

We applied a couple of months ago. I was born in 1984 and DH isn't British, but we still didn't have to provide either of our parents' birth certificates. We used the fast track service and DH collected it from the passport office - we were both confused by the wording of the form but he was told in person that such details weren't needed.

Do one or both of you have a British passport?

If so, just stick that passport number on the firm and it will be fine.

From the passport notes:

About grandparents: If your parents were born on or after 1 January 1983, you will also need to provide evidence of your grandparents’ claim to British nationality by providing their birth certificates and, in the case of grandfathers, their marriage certificates.

This does not apply if:
• your parents’ British nationality is based on registration, naturalisation or their immigration status, or
• you have provided the number of your parents’ British passports in Section 4 of the application form.

We were both born after 1982 and for our 5 month old we had to send his birth certificate, and provide our passport numbers.
We did have to provide our parents details and marriage dates too.
His passport was back within a week.
It is easier to do online if you have facility to print, it only asks the questions that you need to answer and tells you exactly what you need to send x

Thanks everyone. We (the parents) are both born after 1983 but both have British passports. The wording is confusing, I must just be reading it wrong. The form has asked for grandparents details though!

Those paper passport forms are particularly badly designed. I've never filled one in without reading twice and checking something.

They really should use the "If yes, complete Q 3b, If no, continue straight to Part 4" format that most official forms employ.

Is it the paper form or online?

P.s. it's cheaper to apply online

I am born after that date and got eds passport last year and we didn't send those details. I think it's only if you don't have a British passport

I did the online application and it asked for grandparents details but I just left them blank where I didn’t know (don’t know DH biological fathers details). I also forgot to put my passport number on the application. I posted it on the Friday and returned the following Thursday back in January.

Its asks for grandparents.details such as date of marriage etc but you don't need to send any documentation