Passport for son who’s had no contact with bio dad

[Plvyunbcf56778]

Hi there

I have a son who’s 10 years old and has had no contact with his biological dad for at least 3 years.

he doesn’t want to see my son and my son doesn’t want any contact either.

In order for me to apply for a passport for my son, would I need him to counter sign the passport or could I apply for the passport with relevant documents and information without his input.

just for context:

there are no court orders in place for contact etc

we live in Wales

My son has a different surname to myself.

any help would be appreciated on this, as I’ve been told conflicting info that if I apply as I’m the main care giver and if I call them and explain the situation face to face and take along documents for a face to face application I can apply and obtain a passport without any input from a parent who doesn’t have anything do with my child.

I've always just written "unknown, no contact" where required. I can put the name but that is all I know at this point. Never had any issues with this.

Do they contact the dad do you know?

Do you have your own UK passport? If so it's very easy. They just want evidence your DS is entitled to the UK passport which he would get via you.

My sons father isn't on the birth certificate, so I just put father unknown. Its not true, but there isn't a box for refuses to legally acknowledge child and to be honest it makes admin easier.

If he's not on birth cert, I'd recommend doing this.

He’s on the birth certificate and I’ve never held a passport

would it be easier if I got a passport and then applied for his and then ticked the box for unknown no contact?

I’m worried that if I apply for this passport and because he’s on the birth certificate I’ll need him to countersign the form.

I think when I didn't have a passport we ended up having to apply by post. Only one parent needs to complete it from memory.

Only if you want a different name from his birth certificate.

@RandomMess okay that’s good, so I won’t need any contact towards the bio dad at all? They won’t contact him either?

will it be an issue going on holiday then

Thank you everybody this is giving me hope that I can finally get my son a passport and go abroad on a holiday with him

If you are going to need a passport anyway I would do yours first, far easier for the child one once you have yours.

I speak from bitter experience 🤣

I just didn't fill in fathers part. I think there was an additional information part and I just wrote no contact with father since birth, no idea where he lives. It was fine and passport issued.

Okay that’s my plan then obtain mine first then my sons, I’m really pleased to hear I can do this

I used to work for the passport office.

Agree you get yours first and then his passport afterwards. The fathers details should be added (ie name and DOB) but if you don't have an address or number for him then just put unknown. It's not that unusual unfortunately for fathers to be completely no contact with their children.

The passport office will not routinely contact him. In my experience it's Only if they have concerns that your son is not a British national or they suspect possible child abduction.

Are you sure it is this simple in the UK? My children have both UK and US passports. It would be completely impossible for me to renew their US passport without their father's consent and he is not even a US citizen.

I would call the passport office and check.

Interesting, but will be a relief for the OP.

Sounds like, as with so many things, the UK takes the sort of pragmatic approach the US can never quite manage.

I'm in the UK, ex is on the birth certificates and I was able to apply for passports without him being contacted. The renewals were fine too. I had to put his name and DOB on the form but was able to add a comment saying we have no contact. I have a different surname to the DC's. We've never been abroad mind you.

They won't contact. Hubby applies for DSD's done 3 times now. All they do is ask for her birth cert to confirm he has pr. Never contacted her mother.

Thank you guys for all your help on this I have to be honest it’s a huge relief and I’m picturing the look on my sons face when I tell him we can finally go abroad for a holiday

@AnneElliott I've got a question if that's OK. My son (born in UK) gets his British nationality from me (born in UK). As he has no legal father, he'd also be literally stateless otherwise (which is illegal). So why, when applying for his first ever passport, did I have to give details of his grandparents as further proof of British citizenship?

I'll try and answer the question to the best of my ability @Hubblebubble but I worked in the passport office some years ago.

Basically your son gets his citizenship from you, but that's not predicated anymore on you being born in the UK (this changes in 1983). So the passport office have to be certain that you were a British Citizen at the time of his birth in order for him to have British nationality by descent.

Although it's illegal to make someone stateless it's not a requirement of any country to issue citizenship by virtue of the place they were born. If for example you were a foreign national and just loving or visiting here at the time of his birth, your son would likely have rights to your foreign nationality if that makes sense. So he wouldn't be stateless unless you were? That's the reason why they ask about grandparents.

Sorry living rather than loving here!

@AnneElliott thank you :) that does make sense!