Does the passport office contact counter signatories on renewals?

[LorisSlow]

Sent DC child passport off 8 weeks ago for a renewal. Because of their age (10), they needed the photos and application countersigning by an appropriate person.

Do the passport office always contact this person?

I'm only asking cos there's no sign of the passport yet and I'm wondering if this might be what's holding it up?

When I did my DD 10s renewal recently I had to provide the person's email address and they were contacted to verify her identity. The application was not marked as "received" until they had done their bit in response to the email. I've heard of applications being delayed because the countersignatory was slow.

Definitely contact the passport office, and ask your countersignatory to check their emails just in case.

Can you check the application status online? Did you do electronic or paper application?

I countersigned a child’s renewal around two months ago. I received an email the day after I was asked and completed the details. The adult applying for it got an email the same day to say it has been countersigned.

It was a paper application if that makes a difference? When I countersigned a paper application (teacher) no one contacted me!

I do a lot of these for friends and I always receive an email asking me to authorise it. That’s when people do the online form. For the paper form I’m rarely contacted, in my 20yrs signing passports I’ve only ever been phoned once to check I signed it

They send an email for them to fill in

Yes ours was checked recently

I sign a lot of passports and only once have I been checked. They rang my school to confirm I taught there as I'd done a few in a short time.

No. At least not in the past.

I'm supposedly (as in: not what I do now, but in possession of the paperwork) an engineer and have hence been a favourite "professional" to sign for about everyone who knows me.

I have signed >20 pictures, and I've yet to be contacted even once.

Actually, I'm rather disappointed: due to morbid curiosity, I just really wanted to find out what would happen.

I've signed a few and have never been contacted. However, dd's passport was once held up because of this issue.

The passport office claimed that they had written to our counter signatory at his work address. He claimed never to have received anything. On further enquiry, the passport office provided the further information that his employer's mail room had returned the letter that stating that the counter signatory wasn't known at that address. He had worked there for 20 years!!

We ended up starting all over again with a different counter signatory as they wouldn't send it to the work address again and they wouldn't send it to his home address either!

As it's a paper application it sounds like it might just be held up in the general backlog then, I'll ring the passport office tomorrow to get an update.

Well the passport office must be psychic as they've just sent a text saying the passport will be sent in the next few days!

Saves me trying to contact them but blimey, by the time it arrives that will have been 9 weeks waiting.