Passport Office fuck up (1st child passport) means Christmas is cancelled...

[Umlauf]

... and DSs Christening.

He was born at the end of September. Knowing it would take 6 weeks to apply for his passport I rang the passport office before his birth to triple check what we would need. Was given a list over the phone.

Rang back after his birth to confirm again as was ready to send everything off. Was told to add his four grandparents' birth and marriage certificates to envelope. As these now had to be ordered urgently they were at a cost of 25 pounds each (Spoke to 2 different people at both gave a different list of required contents, but went with the longest list.)

Obtained birth certificates exactly 6 weeks before our flights home for Christmas. Rang a fourth time to go through everything. Everything ticked off and ok to send, hurrah!

Yesterday we get an email to say they need his Spanish birth certificate as well as the international one the previous four people said was the correct one. This needs to be officially translated first which takes 3 days. By the time its done there will be 3 weeks until our flights, not to mention the one week postage time either way..

We're not going are we. Our friends and family aren't going to meet DS, all DHs (and my!) Christmas presents are there, I'll have to cancel his Christening... The total costs of the palaver comes to over a grand now taking the flights, passport crap and car hire into account.. Plus my grandfather is pretty ill and I'm not sure he'll even get to meet his first and only great grandchild now..

How do I complain? On the phone they keep fobbing me off. I'm really upset. I know its a first world problem, but still!

[NomDeClavier]

I think Spain now has minimum residency rules on jus solis nationality applications, which means you must have been born in Spain and resident there for 1 year before applying for Spanish nationality and therefore a Spanish passport. Also if the parents are there for military or diplomatic reasons nationality may be denied.

I feel for you OP, but you just need to ring the numbers again and again and again. You are at the front of the queue, they're just waiting for paperwork. You should be able to find someone to notarise a translation on the spot, courier it to the passport office and ring and bug them until they have the passport done.

I'm not sure why you needed grandparents' birth and marriage certificates unless only one of you is British and born outside Britain?

[Umlauf]

me neither, nom, indeed the first person we spoke to was sure we didnt need the grandparents`birth and marriage certificates at all, insisting their passport numbers were more than enough, which delayed the application by 4 weeks.

The BC is with the translator now and I'm hoping she will have done it by tomorrow as she knows how urgent it is and we will courier it as soon as we have received it.

Do you know for sure they keep you at the front of the queue while they wait for paperwork? I had a horrible feeling we would be put to the back again.

They wont speak to me as its DHs name on section 8 of the application, but he is going to ring up 1st thing tomorrow and ask them for more accurate timescale and about the possibility of him going to belfast for a one day appointment.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Unfortunately none of the staff in the UK are used to handling passport applications from overseas and are quite clueless on how to deal with them, especially if it's something as complicated as a baby born overseas to British born parents.

We got our passports back in two weeks, Umlauf, applying via Paris before they shut the passport office, but while they were issued in the UK. So the Paris staff did all the checks and the printing was done in UK. It is a ridiculous situation, I agree.

[differentnameforthis]

We applied for dd's 1st passport from here (Australia) & it came quicker than all of the renewals for me, dh & dd1, by about a week. So they can be quick.

Our post office check every application though, and if there is something wrong, it won't get sent, so we don't have to move heaven & earth to sort out issues once it has been sent.

Once the post office have checked it, they send all info to New Zealand who process it & send details to the UK. Passports are sent direct from UK.

[differentnameforthis]

If your child was born in Spain, would it not be quicker to apply for a Spanish passport for him assuming he is entitled to one? You can then apply for the British one at your leisure.

The issue with this is that they could get held up entering the UK if baby has a different passport. We were told by immigration here that easiest was to get dd 2 passports. Australian one & UK one, so she could travel in & out of each country easily on the corresponding passport.

We offered up all our UK passports at border control on return from hols recently & because dd2 doesn't have a visa in hers, it looked liked we were in for a long wait (we would have got through on the UK one eventually, but after they checked her status, which would have taken time). I told dh to give them her Oz one (he forgot about it as we have been travelling for sometime & were exhausted) and we sailed through. As a UK citizen, she doesn't have a right to be here on her UK passport. Hence, she has both!

[Gigondas]

I don't know about front of queue but it was very quick when we has to resend dd2 application with an additional document. It was back in less than a week.

[NomDeClavier]

I've not been held up travelling on a different passport to DS - within the EU it's unlikely to be a problem. I have had to provide scads of extra documents but I travel with a file of stuff anyway including copurs of my birth cert and marriage cert, his birth cert, the livret de famille and authorisation from DH to travel alone with DS stapled to a copy of DH's passport. All those notarised copies you get done for other stuff have to be put to good use somehow

[MrTumblesBavarianFanbase]

differentname my kids have German passports and I have a UK one - its never, ever been a problem.

[differentnameforthis]

Well I am in Australia, so perhaps that was why I was recommended to get her both?

[MrTumblesBavarianFanbase]

different that is probably why, for the visa reason you explained - as Umlauf is in Spain and therefore the EU she wouldn't have the same problem.

However it seems a Spanish passport will be just of much of a problem to get in a rush, simply because the documents have been sent off to apply for the UK one!

Our kids are on German passports mainly because they only cost €14 and you go in with the birth certificate and your own passport (even if not German) and registration certificate, and fill in one form on a Monday and pick them up on Friday, at your local town hall - the up side of everyone having to be registered with the town hall where they live!

[HotCrossPun]

You cannot get a childs first passport on the one day premium service.

The quickest service you can get is the one week service. But you have to be in the country to submit the application and while the application is processing. Which helpline number are you calling OP?

[runningmad]

Well OP's baby is NOT Spanish nationality, so it will indeed be a problem getting a Spanish national ID card or passport!!!! In a year it can happen.

No problems at all travelling on a 2nd nationality, if it's EU, if a "controllable" national like USA, not a good idea if you're also British and don't present the proof of it on entry to the UK, as you get treated only as USA. But for EU nationals, fine, problem is the OP's baby only has one nationality and it's the worse arguably to have if trying to get proof of it as a foreign born of that nationality.

[runningmad]

The need for grandparents' certificates is on the instructions for all overseas born first passport applications now, I'm sure of it, and it was not there a few years back, because I remember a thread about it last year, I had to go and read the instructions myself I didn't believe it and from where we live in the EU, indeed it is there. It's due to the "British otherwise than by descent" and "British by descent" which can differ and is absolutely crucial to get right, for the baby's future in passing on British nationality, I bet it is also there because of fraudulent applications.

[PetiteRaleuse]

They've closed the Paris passport office? Ffs. I'm going to flounce from Britishness and finally get French nationality like my kids have. I was going to get them UK nationality but looks like far too much faff. Sorry OP that you are going through this I have nothing useful to advise, I hope you find a solution. Could your family come to you?

[Umlauf]

The grandparents birth certificates are needed if the parents are born after 1983. It did say that in the supporting documents form but we were told by a customer services person just to put the passport numbers in (I now know not to listen to customer services people!!!) Could have sent the whole lot a fortnight earlier otherwise!

Another stupid rule is the countersignatory, who should hold a British or commonwealth passport and have known you for 2 years. Was have lived in Spain only one year, and as the baby can't travel, nobody back home had met him. So mil had to have a couple of days off work to fly out just to sign his photos not that she complained much about meeting her new grandson

We spoke to the passport office and we are still at the front of the queue like you said nom so it looks like they will do it as soon as the new birth certificate is received and not take a further 6 weeks. I can't quite relax yet but nor have I relinquished all hope!

It could be a Christmas miracle yet!!

[CiderwithBuda]

Hope you get it. It's so stressful.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Umlauf - the countersignatory can't be related to you. So they might ask you for another c/s if they notice that MIL has done it.

[Janek]

Is the counter-signatory allowed to be related to the baby? Sorry for the wuestion, it may not be helpful...

[peppapigmustdie]

Your mil will not be allowed to countersign. No relatives. On the form where it asks how they know your dh if she has written mother you might be back to square one.

[galwaygirl]

Wow it all seems very complicated!

runningmad yes it was two years ago we used out local Swedish consulate to get an emergency passport for a baby. Didn't realise things have changed so much.
I have to say I find the Swedish system great when applying from within especially for the baby as they take the photo there and then and it's turned around within the week.
Although in the UK DH had to travel from Scotland to London to apply for his passport renewal - and get his fingerprints taken. So that was a total pain!

[Umlauf]

Oh no they're not, but she came with her friend and DHS godmother who did it. Sorry wasn't clear! That would've been really shitty!

[CiderwithBuda]

Oops. Didn't notice you said MIL signed. Yes - agree with others that relatives can't sign.

And they do sometimes phone to check. DH has signed a few and been phoned to check.

You might be back to square one.

[titchy]

You could have just posted the photos to the counter-signatory though couldn't you? It's someone who has known YOU for 2+ years. Doesn't matter whether they've seen the baby or not!

[Umlauf]

Yes could have, but due to time constraints didn't want to wait for post there and back. And mil really wanted an excuse to visit the baby! And the godmother was up for a little holiday!

The photos were the least of our worries in the end. They do have to swear the photos are a true likeness of the baby though so I think technically they are meant to have seen the baby even if all babies look pretty much the same

[BaronessBomburst]

Do you or any of the grandparents hold Irish nationality too? When we last looked the passports were still being issued at local embassies - although this was a few years ago. Could be quicker.