Passport office wanting GREAT Grandmother’s birth certificate

[FunWithFlagz]

(edited by MNHQ at request of OP)
I’m trying to get a passport for my granddaughter. She lives with me permanently. I’ve had an email asking for MY mothers birth certificate because I was born after 01/01/1983 so my not automatically be a British citizen. My mum is abroad on an extended boomer retirement holiday and her house is 120 miles away. Sending off for a copy would take 15 working days and I fly in 4 weeks…

Has anyone heard of such batshittery before? I never had to send my mums birth certificate when I got my own kids passports!

AIBU to think that this is insane and this passport officer is clearly bonkers?

@CowTown I can only assume the OP didn't provide the parents' passports.

Why can’t OP supply her own (as grandmother) passport alongside her own (as grandmother) birth certificate?

Normally if the parents and grandparents have passports this would supercede the age restrictions. That's why I think it's worth checking.

If you are applying on your GD's behalf are they then treating it as if you are her mum & your mum her GM?

Or do you think that as you are so young they think that you are her Mum not her GM?

Read it she has done . It’s because she was born after 1983 so doesn’t automatically hold British citizenship. They need to prove where that came from so either her mums birth certificate or dads .

’ how does your grand-daughter not have a birth certificate? Wasn't she registered at birth? Or has it been lost in the "reasons you now have custody of her"?

yes, I wondered why/ how the granddaughter who needs a passport doesn’t have a birth certificate . It may be ‘ batshit’, but I think the passport office are faced with a child whose origins are ‘legally obscure’, and an applicant who appears surprisingly (? Suspiciously?) young for the claimed relationship. When asked for further substantiation of the child’s right to a British passport, and more importantly , facilitating her leaving the country, the OP cannot supply the required proof.

Okay, I’m sure it is all completely innocent and above board, but if it wasn’t and the Home Office did not conduct the proper checks on enabling a young child to leave Britain, I can hear the shrieks of outrage from here.

Or drive the 2 hours to the great-grandmother’s house? Not ideal, but 4 hours seems a better option than waiting 15 days, since you’re leaving soon.

@FunWithFlagz the same happened to us 30 years ago when my hubby needed a new passport! they wanted the date of birth and date of death of someone who was about 120 years old!!! i had a hairy fit when they (passport office) phoned me at home about this. I was so angry that passport office then phoned my hubby at his place of work an hours later and got it all sorted out! all because my husband was born in pakistan! ( he was born on the airforce base because his dad was in the raf!! we might not have minded so much if we hadnt sent them his out of date passport!!!)

I know that. But OP shouldn’t have to prove her post-1983 citizenship via the birth certificate route if she has a British passport!

OP you have wrote that you are applying for a birth certificate instead of a passport by accident in your opening post which seems to be confusing a lot of posters. You should probably ask for the post to be edited.

Can you not supply your mothers passport number?

I'm fairly sure that whilst I only had to do grandparents & not great grandparents, from memory I just put their passport numbers on the form.

I think you’ve got a bit confused! My granddaughter absolutely has a birth certificate, as does her mother, as do I! We were all born in hospitals and were registered in the normal way. The passport office have have these in their possession. All born in the UK and we all have a British passport (apart from my granddaughter- which we are trying to get)

The issue is they now want my mums birth certificate, which I consider unusual.

I have an order from the court (SGO) evidencing my legal status with my grandchild, which the passport office have also got.

I like being called ‘suspiciously’ young, although it’s definitely all above board!

Ah, that explains the confusion! Thanks! I meant passport!

You will find the GRO reference for your mum's birth certificate on freebmd which was linked above.

Free BMD? Free but more difficult to search.

This is very odd -

So I understand that your granddaughter has a British birth certificate, and was born to a British citizen mother/grandmother ?

If that is the case, all the passport office needs is the child’s birth certificate, and one parents British passport.

I have recently applied for a child’s passport and there was no mention of grandparents or great grandparents.

If your family originally from another country by chance, and the citizenship of the adults not straight forward?

You need the mothers passport or proof of British citizenship. If the mother doesn’t have it then in turn their mothers ( ie child’s grandmother) would first need to show citizenship for their child and so on down the line.

If the child’s mother does not have a British passport then yes it can be more complicated.

Is your family from the Windrush generation or other migrant/refugee community without standard proof of citizenship?

How do the passport office think that you and your daughter got your British passports if they think that you might not be British?

So going forward, everyone born after 1983 applying for a passport will have to not only provide their parents’ British passports of evidence of citizenship, they will also have to provide the birth certificates back to 1982 and earlier? Even children born 100 years from now?

It's obviously their rules. You should have applied in plenty of time. Sounds all a bit complicated. Why aren't her own parents applying for a passport for her.

They don't need to update the passport advice because the advice is to not book a holiday before you have your first passport. I'd pay for the fast track BC. It's a one off, occurrence.

I didn’t need my mothers birth certificate for my own kids passport application (I’m born after 83 too) so I can’t understand why you’d need it for your granddaughter if you and your daughter are British and have sent off British birth certificates.

You were born AFTER 1983 yet you are a grandmother?

So you are under 40 and a gran?

Is that right?

How old is your grandchild?

Both my children were born after 1983 and are now adults in their 30s.
I didn't need to provide any evidence when they got their own passports.

I was born after 1983 so had to provide details of my parents in order to get passports for my DC. Me and my partner are both British citizens with British passports but we still had to do it and it's clearly stated that these are the rules.