Irish Passport Witness help

[LetsGoGiants]

Hi

Posting this in sheer desperation.
i live in Belfast and im applying for my first Irish passport, but im struggling to find someone on the list of approved witnesses to complete my form.

i didn’t go to school locally, and dont have children so school principal/teacher aren’t options.

i don’t belong to a church so dont know a member of the clergy

Bank manager said no
Pharmacist said no
GP said no (well I couldn’t get past the receptionist but she said the doctor won’t do it)
Nurse said no
And I’d seen on a few forums people were saying their local PSNI did theirs, but I contacted 2 local stations and they also said no.

i don’t know any of the others on the approved list, I contacted a notary public in the town to see how much it would be but it’s been 3 weeks,

Is my only option to pay a solicitor to do it?

Any advice would be grateful received

For the passport application I didn’t require stamps. The witnesses had to include their place of work and provide a work landline, but there was no stamp.

iirc when I did the FBR that did require a stamp, or alternatively a headed letter. We had no stamp, so printed out paper with the school header and wrote something along the lines of “I declare I am an employee of xyz school” , signed and dated.

Commissioner of oaths. When I was living in London and needed to renew my Irish passport I walked into a local solicitors and their commissioner of oaths did it for me, didn't even charge me. In the UK the police aren't allowed do it which is weird as most here just go to local Garda station with birth cert

The witness thing has got me a bit confused too, well the phone number anyway! I’m un UK applying for my Irish passport, dh works in a hospital and has taken my verification form to work for one of his Dr colleagues to sign. Can she definitely not put her mobile number? Hospital Drs use their mobile as their number, a “work number” doesn’t get anyone through to the actual Dr.

This is the reason that we ended up getting our applications witnessed by a notary. I’m a physio and could’ve easily got a doctor, nurse etc in my hospital to sign it - needing a landline and being able to speak to passport officers on the phone without warning during the work day was the big barrier. They ring on two occasions - if your witness is unable to answer then the entire application gets rejected. It’s a crazily outdated system.

I have a friend in the same situation but wants a uk passport.
Its not easy either.
All solicitors she as asked have said no everyone on the list is a no.
Not everyone knows someone.

What I would do is put down a landline, and their work mobile.

keep an eye on your green bar and as soon as it reaches the point of contacting witnesses, hop on the webchat and give them a reason the landline won’t work- they’re away from their office is reasonable for example, or it’s a switchboard and staffing means it’s unlikely to be directed.

It helps if you have a holiday booked in the near distant future- not too soon, as that makes you look like an idiot for not sorting your passport, about a month away is reasonable. I actually did, but I didn’t mention I didn’t need my passport for it.

i did this because my green bar hit the witness point smack bang before the school holidays, so I knew fine well the landline wouldn’t be answered. They took the mobile fine and called the next day, passport with me in a week.

I think uk passports are different as it needs to be someone who has known you for at least two years. So random solicitors are out. Ireland just needs a professional to verify identity.

i have witnessed several uk passport applications- i work for the nhs but am not a listed profession. I just had to state I knew the person and the photos/forms were accurate. They did actually write to me with a copy of everything and asked me to sign and confirm.

Thanks, I think it’s potentially such a pain in the bum that I will pay for a notary.

@Cappuccino5 Sorry I need to ask you a question if you dont mind. I've just realised the identity verification form states that the witness must know me, if a notatry signs it they dont really know me, how did you get round this? was the notary bothered by this or did you know them?

The notary will legally verify your ID to bypass this issue - you have to bring a valid passport or driving license with you so that they can confirm your identity.

Using a notary seems to be very popular with Irish passports - ours didn’t bat an eyelid and (being in NI) said it’s his main income source these days!