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Original poster

Help with a passport crises

102 replies

SettlerofCatan · 09/03/2022 19:33

We are going to Austria skiing on Sunday and our son, who’s at Uni just texted to say his passport ran out in December. We are checking all the passport offices to see if there is an last minute appointment before Sunday. If he turns up in person without an appointment is there any chance they will help him… ?I know I ABU posting this but I am soo stressed.

OP posts:
Diamonds12345 · 09/03/2022 23:28

Ah that’s such a shame! I doubt he will be able to just turn up and be seen but keep checking the website for cancellations. If he is able to get to a passport office in another city (Belfast is usually good) he will be more likely to get an appointment.

I find all the comments about how he’s 18 and it’s still your responsibility to check his passport a bit baffling Confused I know you don’t magically become responsible when you turn 18 but at the end of the day he’s an adult and it was his responsibility to check, not his mums job to do it for him. When I was 18 I started my job as an air hostess, it was most definitely my responsibility to make sure my passport was up to date! I’d have been mortified if someone suggested it was still my mums responsibility to manage my passport for meConfused

Hope you manage to get an appointment and get to have a great holiday Flowers

GozerTheGozerian · 09/03/2022 23:33

There’s no way he will even be allowed in the building without a appointment. They’re very strict on that at the moment.

As others have said keep refreshing. I had a emergency one week appointment last month and the new passport arrived on the 3rd day so they are pretty quick if you can get an appointment.

moonbedazzled · 10/03/2022 02:06

the trip was a present for his 18th but with COVID this has been the first time we have been able to get everyone together he’s actually 20 soon! And we had loads of chats about checking passports as I had to get mine renewed last month and we panicked about that when it was deliver next door and they kept it for 10 days whilst we worried about where it was!

@MurmuratingStarling
I can't speak for anyone else, but with me, I am just exasperated with the amount of people on here who (as I said earlier,) book a holiday abroad and pay in full, and then suddenly, justDAYSbefore the trip, they discover a family member has an invalid passport.

But she booked the holiday 2 years ago and it might still have been in date then. She has had many conversations with her 19 year old son about his passport's expiry date. And he's done nothing about it. He's a grown up. He's not a baby. He can get himself to a blinking passport office. Why should his mummy be responsible for him? I don't blame her for being infuriated by him and people should not be having a go at her but at her irresponsible son.
Ultimately you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. Her son's an idiot for not getting on with renewing it.

3luckystars · 10/03/2022 02:20

I’m optimistic, keep trying for an appointment. Good luck!

moonbedazzled · 10/03/2022 02:22

[quote IKnowYouDontTurnTheLightOn]@moonbedazzled what an unbelievably stupid comment Hmm[/quote]
😂😂😂😂 Here...Biscuit

CowsAreNotGreen · 10/03/2022 06:54

Sorry but I don't think he's going

CowsAreNotGreen · 10/03/2022 06:55

I'd be asking him to refund the cost of his ticket

RampantIvy · 10/03/2022 07:07

I find all the comments about how he’s 18 and it’s still your responsibility to check his passport a bit baffling

In all likelihood the passport wouldn't be with him in his student house but at home in his parent's house, but I agree that he should have been proactive in getting a new one. I know perfectly well that DD's passport has expired and so does she, so she won't be booking any foreign travel until she gets a new one.

thinking123 · 10/03/2022 07:15

Not helpful to you now op, but all these stories about expired passports stress me out so I have put reminders in the family calendar. I have set reminders for 9 months, six months and three months for all the passports. Only took five min but makes things like this less
Likely to happen.

gogohm · 10/03/2022 07:15

Keep checking, if he can get an appointment today or tomorrow they are issued that day

Shipoftheseus · 10/03/2022 07:19

In all likelihood the passport wouldn't be with him in his student house but at home in his parent's house,

Why on earth would that be the case? My DC had their passports with them at university. So did their friends. Of course they did. So they could use them - go abroad and stuff. What earthly good would a passport be at their parents’ house?

LadyPropane · 10/03/2022 07:20

[quote MurmuratingStarling]@SettlerofCatan

He's only 18, so you would have got his passport for him when he had one last. Did you have no idea whatsoever that his passport was due for renewal in late 2021?

I never 'get' these threads where people book holidays abroad, pay in full, then get to a few days before the holiday, then discover a family member - usually one of their CHILDREN - has only got 5 hours left on their passport! Or it ran out last week! Oddly, their OWN passport is always up to date. Wink

Of course he won't be seen without an appointment. It's too late now. You either all miss the trip, or you go without him. The latter is pretty cruel though.[/quote]
I don't get it either - don't you have to put in your passport number to book an international flight? So you have it in your hand and open the page... And there is the expiry date right in front of you.

Also you would have needed it to book your 30 day holiday visa, I think..?

RampantIvy · 10/03/2022 07:23

Why on earth would that be the case? My DC had their passports with them at university. So did their friends.

Because after registering DD didn't need her passport. Why on earth would she need It at university? It is safer in the safe in our house than in a student house with people coming and going all day, and doors not always locked.

curlymom · 10/03/2022 07:29

I recently waited over six weeks for my passport. When I looked up about going in person it said only in an emergency. Why don’t you call the passport phone line? They are really helpful

Shipoftheseus · 10/03/2022 07:32

Why on earth would she need It at university?
So she could go abroad? For ID? Surely she wouldn’t have to travel maybe hundreds of miles to pick up a passport from home to do a quick trip to France with friends or whatever. Surely she travels abroad without her parents. Perhaps Covid-19 restrictions have made young people less likely to do these trips, though, I admit. But things have opened up again now.

BarbaraofSeville · 10/03/2022 07:42

At 20 years old it's highly likely that he's needed to use his passport to confirm ID for university or work multiple times so it's his responsibility to check when it expires.

Given that this was a treat for him and no-one else is that bothered about skiing, he needs to see if he can get an emergency appointment anywhere between today and Saturday, if this is an option for the first adult passport and make sure he turns up with all the correct documentation or else he won't be going.

If he doesn't get a new passport, it's probably best to just cancel the entire holiday. You'll obviously lose all the money, but you will save what is probably considerable extra costs, eg food, lift passes, equipment hire etc.

Juno22 · 10/03/2022 07:53

I'm so sorry OP. You must be really frustrated and disappointed. His only hope really is if he can get an appointment for a same day service.

Rainallnight · 10/03/2022 07:53

This isn’t a passport crisis. I thought you were Ukrainian stuck at a border or something

BarbaraofSeville · 10/03/2022 07:58

Me too Rain

I expected this thread to be about someone's Ukrainian friend or relative being prevented from escaping the war due to a passport issue.

Not someone's adult DS who has left it to the last minute to check something he should have sorted out months ago, despite being reminded multiple times.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 10/03/2022 08:05

can you defer the trip again?

stop with the blaming
its done now

SoupDragon · 10/03/2022 08:12

In all likelihood the passport wouldn't be with him in his student house but at home in his parent's house

Except it is clearly with him given he is the one who noticed it has expired.

RichardMarxisinnocent · 10/03/2022 08:35

@RampantIvy

Why on earth would that be the case? My DC had their passports with them at university. So did their friends.

Because after registering DD didn't need her passport. Why on earth would she need It at university? It is safer in the safe in our house than in a student house with people coming and going all day, and doors not always locked.

To travel abroad if doing a languages degree?
LIZS · 10/03/2022 08:37

Dd has her passport with her. For id and to travel.

knittingaddict · 10/03/2022 08:38

@TheHoptimist

is he eligible of an appointment- it says renewing an adult passport?
My daughter used an appointment to get a passport for her 7 year old. The only difference is that you won't get the passport on the day and it's sent in the post. I think it took about 5 days to arrive.
knittingaddict · 10/03/2022 08:45

@RampantIvy

I find all the comments about how he’s 18 and it’s still your responsibility to check his passport a bit baffling

In all likelihood the passport wouldn't be with him in his student house but at home in his parent's house, but I agree that he should have been proactive in getting a new one. I know perfectly well that DD's passport has expired and so does she, so she won't be booking any foreign travel until she gets a new one.

That's not what usually happens. University students are adults and would have their passports in their possession. My daughter did and I haven't seen her passport since she left for uni 10 years ago. They might need it for all sorts of things.