To be annoyed with passport office

[red78hot]

I've just had an email stating that the person who signed my babies passport photo is not eligible, however this person has signed 2 others this year alone. So aibu to think the passport office is batshit 😅

are they a relative?

Depends on the reason. Happened to me on one occasion when the passport of the person who signed my daughters application had expired so they were no longer considered eligible. The one signed for my son a couple of weeks earlier went through fine.

For clarification, the signers passport was still in date when they did my sons.

Sounds like they just didn’t do the control check last time and this time the application got pulled for checking so it was found out. Not really batshit.

My friend of 40+ years asked me to countersign her and her daughter’s passport photo, but when I went through the papers, I wasn’t eligible because I don’t have a job 🫣

It says VERY clearly on the guidance that only certain jobs are eligible, it's pretty obvious that you need to actually have one in the first place to even think you'd be eligible to sign it! My mind boggles.

They won't/can't check everyone. They'll do random checks and also check on people who their computer algorthym picks out. If this person has countersigned 3 so far this year, that could well be a red-flag causing a check on them. There'll be very few people signing so many in such a short period of time!

Have you double checked the qualification criteria to check they were actually eligible in the first place??

I think the UK system is batshit as a whole. I am from the Netherlands and they don't do the whole countersigned with eligible jobs bullshit at all. And passports are a local council responsibility so it's easy to go in person and get it all done. The max it takes is a week.

It must be tiring being you if that’s all it takes to make your mind boggle.

They asked me for the non British parents passport. 3 weeks after they had the application.

We're both British!

(For my sons passport!)

I presume this is a joke?

Did she not bother to read the instructions/eligibility - it's all pretty clear.

It's a good job you did and realised you weren't eligible - saved your friend a lot of time and hassle.

You have national ID's don't you. I think that makes difference. And not just in this process...

You dont actually need a job to be eligible. You could be retired from a profession or a 'person of good standing in the community'. The list of professions is not an exhaustive list so you don't need to be on that list at all.

Why would it be a joke? Are people confused that I didn’t know what the guidance said before I read the guidance?

In order to countersign a passport application and certify the pictures you have to meet certain criteria. One, obviously, is to know the applicant personally and have done so for a prescribed period of time. Secondly you have to be in, or be retired from, one of a list of professions:

https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications/accepted-occupations-for-countersignatories

While I personally think that's nonsense them's the rules and unless/until they're changed somebody who is not in one of those professions runs the risk of being rejected if they're spotted.

I very much doubt that every single application's countersigner is checked so some will be passed without meeting the criteria. As PP says doing 3 in a year may trigger a 'flag' for further checks.

I was a bit surprised to hear it's a prerequisite to have a current job. When my son was a toddler (so this is about 16 years ago) our neighbour who was a long retired head teacher verified it with no issues. Maybe that has changed but I think the rule used to be someone with certain qualifications rather than specifically current employment.

As I've just said on another thread, my daughter (EU/BC) has just got an appointment for her EU passport renewal. 12/6/24. At the local town hall. Has to go in person to be measured and the colour of her eyes noted etc.

So applying online in the UK is a very very minor inconvenience as long as you follow the instructions.

Oh cross posted. Just seen that retired professionals are still allowed!

I submitted two of my kids passports at the same time. One was accepted and was was refused on the same day, within minutes of each other with the same counter-signer who is UNDOUBTEDLY eligible 🤷🏻‍♀️

Your countersignatory must either:

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

It's not a given that you need to be in current employment

I can’t be the only person that finds the list of who can countersign funny. I always think chiropodist is an odd choice.

My mum is a chiropodist and has done loads! It is a bit of a funny one but I'd say she is also a person of good standing in the community!

I’d imagine she’s a member of a professional organisation?

I can’t wait to do my first one 🤣

although I do think I need to get mine renewed soon.