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Original poster

does your baby have a passport??

42 replies

bundle · 18/08/2004 09:32

if not get one NOW as I messed up and can't go on holiday on friday with dh and dd1...me and dd2 are going to have to wait to see when her passport arrives (i was misled how quickly i could get hers from the passport office phone helpline and now it's too late)

OP posts:

motherinferior · 18/08/2004 09:40

AND get/download TWO lots of forms as they're a pig to fill in.

acnebride · 18/08/2004 09:40

oooh that's grim bundle, here's hoping that it turns up tomorrow just to surprise you. have a great holiday once you get there, assuming that you will go once it arrives.

CountessDracula · 18/08/2004 09:44

Bundle I got one on Monday on the same day from the passport office in Victoria - can you not do that? I went in at 1pm and picked the passport up at 5pm.

hmb · 18/08/2004 09:45

And remember that children's passport only rin for 5 years not the normal 10. This caught out my neice who missed part of her holiday because of it (she was 18 at the time)

Heathcliffscathy · 18/08/2004 09:48

oh no bundle can't you get down to your nearest passport office like cd said...actually is there a clause about not being able to do this for first passports, i think i might have read in the small print... so sorry about this. my ds's passport is half filled out on the dining room table...MUST get dh to get someone at work to do the witnessy bit...

hoxtonchick · 18/08/2004 09:54

oh bugger, bundle. hope it arrives soon. xx

honeybunny · 18/08/2004 10:04

Bunble-do as CD said, book an appt with a big PO and they can get you one in a day. Get refs from your GP if you can (they have to verify that the pic of your babe is a good likeness) or a friend in one of the jobs specified- JP, GP, vicar etc. You can def speed up the process if sophable is right about 1st time passports. ie 24/48hrs I think if you pay thru the nose, but worth it to go on hols!

CountessDracula · 18/08/2004 10:05

It cost £80

Frieda · 18/08/2004 10:42

Bundle ? don't panic ? ring up the passport office and get an appointment. Once you've got one, the system is very fast and efficient (you'll need 2 x passport pix of your baby on a white background, one countersigned by someone ? see section 10 of the passport form).

Passport form available from main post-office or download (can't do links, but there's a thread I started about 10 days ago under 'other subjects - called helllp, passport panic with a link that Hulababy posted). Honestly, once I'd calmed down it was very straightforward and quick (if a tad expensive ? it cost £71 and was ready in 4 hours.)

Good luck!

motherinferior · 18/08/2004 10:54

Er - I think she's been through all that. She went, physically, for an appointment at the passport office in Victoria yesterday and was told at the passport office that no, the information she'd been given about getting a same-day service for a baby was wrong.

MummyToSteven · 18/08/2004 10:56

Not yet - and holiday in 5 weeks - eek. DH is going to upload passport photos of baby tonight, and then get them printed off. Fingers crossed that if i pay a few quid extra at the post office I can get the two week service!

motherinferior · 18/08/2004 10:56

And when I went to Victoria a month ago I wasn't offered a same-day service either. In my case I had to take some forms away (there was tippex on them), and come back with clean forms in the afternoon, stump up the money, and wait several days till dd2's passport arrived by registered post (although it took less than the promised week).

I think that there probably was a same-day service, which has now been closed down.

clairabelle · 18/08/2004 10:57

Hss it changed then I certainly went to the passport office and got a same day one for my dd but it was 4 years ago, Mrs Organised that I am not.

katierocket · 18/08/2004 10:59

this might help UK passport office
doesn't look promising though

motherinferior · 18/08/2004 10:59

MTS, the two-week service is 'not guaranteed' but you should be OK. The one-week service from a passport office IS guaranteed, but someone has to be in to sign for the documents (which actually means that early delivery can be a bit of a b*gger).

Honestly, I've been through the hoops soooo recently, this does seem to be the case at the moment.

Not counting the times when dp was rejected for taking dd1's passport application (we're not married) and the time I had to get dd1 re-photographed at the office itself, although the staff did kindly waive the signature requirement for the pics.

I was reduced, last time, to asking the bloke behind the counter whether he was a member of his union and attempting to butter him up by telling him I write his union mag. To which, erk, I should return.

clairabelle · 18/08/2004 11:01

What do you do if it's an emergency then? Say God forbid you had to visit a sick relative or something and had to take your baby/ Ther must be some way of getting one.

katierocket · 18/08/2004 11:02

if it's an emergency you're buggered I think. Seriously I think they have really tightened up the rules recently and not sure there is such a thing as 'exceptions'

motherinferior · 18/08/2004 11:02

Don't think so. Honestly.

Blu · 18/08/2004 11:11

Bundle - really sorry to hear this.

Clairabelle, honestly, I think bundle's advice based on bitter experience is good: anyone who might have to travel at a moment's notice should get a passport. if you did have to travel for urgent family business, the last thing you need to be doing, anyway, is extra paperwork!

Also, having lost my passport in NY, I would suggest keeping a photocopy of your passport - and certainly the number of all familiy passports, somewhere separate when you travel.

Blu · 18/08/2004 11:12

I was on Eurostar and the couple sitting opposite with their newborn baby were led away to be sent back because the baby didn't have a passport.

katierocket · 18/08/2004 11:38

oh and when you get a first passport for baby you have to take the full version of the birth certificate with names of parents etc.

Frieda · 18/08/2004 11:53

Sorry ? didn't realise you'd already sent for the passport. What a b????r I do hope it arrives in time, or you can join your dh later.

JanH · 18/08/2004 13:08

You can't get any first passport on the same day, child or adult - on the list of charges it says N/A in the same-day box for both. (If a child has previously been on an adult passport then I think it's technically a renewal and you can - but don't quote me.)

You can do the one week by appt service for a first passport, £70 adult, £60 child.

Re the Post Office counter 2 week service, MTS, some reassuring inf for you:

DD2 is in this situation, she did a Post Office application late on Thurs 5th with Thurs 19 as EDD, we rang up today (Liverpool office) and they said it was printed yesterday, will go to courier today and should be delivered tomorrow (ie Thurs 19!) sometime before 6pm. If we ring them tomorrow - have got a Liverpool number now, not the PO 0870 one - they will give us a ref no to check with the courier.

DD2's holiday starts on Sat btw! eek. Luckily DH will be in all day tomorrow. If it doesn't come she will have to throw a sickie on Firday.

JanH · 18/08/2004 13:16

Nope, I'm wrong about the same day "renewal" - just reread the fees sheet and it says "when previously included on parent's pasport" under "First child passport" - prob because there wouldn't have been a photo of the child on the parent's one. Not that there can be many of those left - they introduced compulsory child passports in 99 I think.

The service is much quicker than it used to be though and they are much more careful about checking refs etc after 9/11 so it's pretty good really (except when you are in bundle's position )

notthecod · 18/08/2004 13:26

I always have an up to date passport as
1 . I heard about a friends of my mums dh who only escaped nazi geramny ( as a Jew) as he had a passport for a school trip.
and...
2. another friends FIL was arrested asn imprisoned in jamaica asnt hey couldn't get out there fast enough

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