PASSPORT COUNTERSIGNING

[theconstantheadache]

Help???

I don't know anybody to countersign my 18MO passport ???

Iv no idea who to ask as every person iv asked hasn't renewed their passport or can't sign as they don't have a profession listed...

@JustLyra

I used to sign them as I was a teacher but now I am retired I am no longer a member of a professional body. One of the reasons why it has to be a professional.

@CaptainMyCaptain Retired professionals can still sign them. You don’t have to be a current member of a professional body.

OK, thanks. If I'm asked again I'll do it.

@wonderstuff

The process is online now, you give the email address of your counter signature person, passport agency sends them a code and a link, they need to know the child's full name and date of birth, they don't need to share any information other than email address with the applicant.

I found this really helpful as I was able to ask friends who live too far away to actually sign a form. Also as someone who signs a few I prefer it, I've lost a passport before taking it to work to fill in a passport form, this new system is much quicker and easier.

I'm surprised at schools having a policy of not signing, I'd always be happy to sign for my students providing I'd known them the 2 years, some people won't have many people they can ask.

You have to have known the parent applying for the passport for two years - not the child. That’s the issue for schools (as well as the time when they’re checked and putting teacher’s private details on the forms).

@Howshouldibehave

I don’t think teachers have a professional body, do they?!

The General Teaching Council for England although it was only introduced fairly recently. I've never worked in Wales, Scotland or NI so I don't know what happens there. Before that I suppose it would have been the Department for Education.

@EerieSilence

It's a very idiotic rule. My DD's Irish passport application was signed by the local Garda, no problems there. For my non-Irish passport renewal, I just needed a valid ID card, my old passport and myself. They took the biometric photos and other data there. Sorted within 20 minutes.

How does the Gurda know you are who you say you are? And where do you get the valid ID in the first place?

Most ID is based on passports, ie you need to provide passport to get a bank account etc.

@CaptainMyCaptain

That was abolished years ago, wasn’t it?

I didn’t think the DfE would be classed as a professional body.

Surely teachers are registered somewhere and need to do a number of hours continued professional development each year?

But whatever I imagine it would be very difficult for them to get or keep their job if they ended up with a criminal record for knowingly countersigning a dodgy passport application.

[quote Howshouldibehave]@CaptainMyCaptain

That was abolished years ago, wasn’t it?

I didn’t think the DfE would be classed as a professional body.[/quote]
The TRA are the ones that investigate allegations against teachers in England so it would be them.

GTCS in Scotland id assume.

@JustLyra quite possibly, I've been retired for a few years now.

@HopeValley

I'm also a teacher and unfortunately our school policy is not to sign them. I've read before about how difficult and unfair this can be for people in working class areas and I can imagine it to be true. I've taught in schools where few parents worked at all and those who did were not in professional roles - I can imagine them struggling to think of a friend who could sign, whereas if you have been to university you probably have a choice of numerous people around you.

How stereotypical! Just because some people don't work whilst having young children doesn't mean they haven't earns qualifications or even if they haven't, that they don't know many, many people who have! 🙄

But there are some communities where that is exactly the case. I really wasn't meaning to be offensive and for many people not working it won't be an issue at all, but in some communities it is.

The list is obviously out of date, and it also makes ridiculous assumptions based on class. And stockbrokers-that's selling gambling, to some people.

@HopeValley I was very well educated, maybe not university but I studied at college for 4 years, did advanced courses in my profession and got a lot behind me. University isn't the be all and end all. Doesn't always pay either, I know people who went to university and work at the local fast food place ....

But an update. It's all done!! I know a few people it was just finding someone who had a passport in date as everyone kept saying they didn't bother with COVID and my luck they all seemed run out when I need them lol
If it was family able to sign it would of been so easy but hey.... thanks anyway !

I've already said I wasn't trying to be offensive. I absolutely agree university isn't the be all and end all (and don't feel I said it was - to me that wasn't in any way what the discussion was about). I'll bow out now. I was actually trying to be sympathetic to the problems many people have finding someone to sign through no fault of their own, and was referring to an issue I'd previously read about, not my own prejudices about levels of education, which it seems to have been taken as. As I said, I didn't mean to cause offense.

@Redwinestillfine

You can't just ask on Facebook it's got to be someone that knows you and your baby. Dr's surgeries do it ( for about £10)

I meant put a message on Facebook for her FRIENDS to see, not just randoms from the internet. lol.

OP has it sorted now anyway.

I meant put a message on Facebook for her FRIENDS to see, not just randoms from the internet. lol.

I absolutely agree with this, you'll be surprised how many friends can sign without you knowing it

Drs aren’t allowed to sign unless they are a personal friend

so they only have to log in to the passport site and confirm the image.
it’s not quite as simple as that. The countersignatory online has to answer a lot of questions about the child’s parents. I’ve done it for a friend recently, and the questions were ridiculous really. On the old paper version, I’d just sign to confirm.

The countersignatory online has to answer a lot of questions about the child’s parents. I’ve done it for a friend recently, and the questions were ridiculous really.

What questions are asked now?

I used to sign a lot pre Brexit when people with Irish passports could sign for UK applicants (which I always found weird) and the questions were just about when they were born, where they were born, how I knew them and for how long. Definitely nothing ridiculous.

school governor?