No one to sign DD’s passport renewal!!

[Pinkloveheartpjs]

Trying to renew DD’s passport and we have no one to sign. I could ask my manager but she hasn’t known me for 2 years and I wouldn’t want to put her in that position to lie for us.

I have 2 friends both SAHM, DH doesn’t have anyone he can ask the person he did ask doesn’t have a passport.

What on earth do we do?

I have so many people I could ask at work as I’m a HR professional but I haven’t know them two years.

The OP didn't say my friend the teacher can't sign. If you read her posts it is clear she means her child's teacher can't sign which is true.*

Sorry but I disagree with this. In Primary schools you will often know parents from many different year groups- especially in small schools when there are siblings, cousins etc. You are merely confirming their identity and unless a school has its own policy that doesn't permit it, any individual is free to do so if they feel they know the recipient well enough. Teacher may be unwilling or uncomfortable for whatever reason to do so and that is also fine. But that is taking a very literal interpretation of knowing someone in a professional capacity further than the passport office actually care about. When they ring or send the forms for you to confirm they don't ask in what capacity do you know the person nor do they care- they just want you to confirm their identity. My HT did actually clarify this with the passport office to ensure she was allowed to do the forms given she gets quite a few requests.
Given the amount of paperwork needed to access a school place coupled with long standing relationships often fostered within schools, many teachers are more than happy and confident to do this. I have done it in capacity as class-teacher and senior leader. As long as I am comfortable in having known the person and be able to
confirm their identity, then that is fine with me.
The only profession where it explicitly state they have to be a friend is a doctor. If what you said was true - then it would be explicitly stated there for a teacher too. The professional capacity clause is really for professionals who would not have enough contact with a person in their capacity to truly be able to confirm their identity. This is not true of a teacher who sees parents day in day out- often for multiple years. The passport office are more than happy for these forms to be competed by teachers.

"Professions that are not accepted
Your countersignatory cannot:
• work for HM Passport Office
• be a doctor, unless they state that they know you well (for example they’re a good friend) and that they recognise you easily from your photo"

Just wanted to add if you know anyone who works for a bank even if just an admin role I think they count as a bank official so can sign

Just to be clear- in this case perhaps the teacher can't due to school policy or not knowing the family long enough. That's different.

I sympathise, when my brother was very ill and permanently lost the ability to speak it was suggested my parents should get power of attorney for him. It was impossible to find anyone to sign it! They gave up in the end. He was then given a short time to live so he decided to make a will to make things easier for my parents. Again they couldn't get anyone to witness it - even the hospital chaplain said he couldn't. My brother was ND and had no friends. Eventually when he was moved to a hospice my parents found 2 of their friends to do it.
Thankfully when dd3 recently applied for her first adult passport we didn't need to have her photo countersigned as I don't know who I'd have asked.

Not everyone went to uni. Given the op mainly knows people which jobs that don’t require degrees there is a good chance she didn’t go.

Why the fuck do we still need some random person to sign an ID document!

It's an outdated and discriminatory system, not everybody has someone to ask.

OP any teacher can sign, they are on the list. It doesn't need to be a headteacher. Any teacher that knows your child in school could sign it.

What would you suggest instead? Just being able to pick a birth certificate at random and buy a passport with your picture and that name?

Well you could look at how it works in other countries?

My DB put off getting a passport for years because he didn't know anyone who could countersign. The irony is that we had teachers in the family, but relatives weren't allowed to sign.

why does it need to be signed? just renewed my dd's and didnt need it signed?

Do you definitely need someone to verify it? I've just done my son's and it went straight through without requesting verification.

First one does, not renewal.

It does need a countersignature if the child is under 12. Age 12+ shouldn't need a countersignature if their appearance hasn't changed drastically

I'm guessing your child is age 12+ then
Under 12s need a countersignature

Because OPs child is under the age of 12 it needs to be countersigned

I stand corrected :)

Can’t you ask a neighbour? A teacher at the school?

It seems plenty of people are just getting random people who aren’t on the ‘approved’ list or haven’t known them 2 years anyway, so it’s not like the system is actually working as it should be! Makes a mockery of the whole thing when so many people on here are saying they ignored the rules 🤷‍♀️ no one has yet said they tried to break the rules and didn’t get away with it so might as well do away with the current system as far as I can see!!

This ⬆️.
I had the same problem as the op and asked a friend with vocational qualifications and they were rejected as not having a suitable profession 🙄. I was really surprised and think that it is unnecessarily difficult and annoying especially as they also have to have a current British passport. My friend’s husband offered to sign as he is a legal professional but as he has an Irish passport the process much more complicated.
Also, the person who eventually countersigned the application for me said that they were asked a lot of questions about themselves and their job. It made me feel bad for having asked them as they are more of an acquaintance than a friend.

I know of TA’s who have countersigned passports and they have been accepted.

Op, do you have anyone within the family who is a partner of a relative who would be eligible to sign? If they are not married they are not considered a relative and can sign for you.

What's wrong with just filling out an application?

Like you do for Bank Accounts, Drivers licences, professional associations.

There's no logical reason why someone needs to counter sign a passport application.

Are you sure Mumsnet is the right place for you dear 😊

I sign loads as I'm a civil servant. I'd ask on the whats app group at school or do you have any old friends or acquaintances that are civil service? It includes people at DWP etc so there are loads of us about.

I have also been called and written to about a child's passport application so it does happen.

Why do you need to go through this for a RENEWAL.
Just put form in post with recent photos. Job Done. No verifications of identity required.

Oh dear god.

Are you really that clueless? Can you really not think why we wouldn’t want people
to be able to put any old photo in a renewal and claim it’s the same person?!