Has anyone else renewed their passport from the USA? How did you manage getting a witness who is not a notary? The passport renewal form states that I have to have my signature of the form witnessed by one of the following:
Police Officer
Member of the Clergy
School Principal/Vice Principal
Judge/Magistrate
Practicing Lawyer
Accountant
Medical Doctor
Bank Manager/Assistant Manager
Elected Public Representative
who can also verify my identity. I already asked my bank manager and he said they can no longer do that kind of thing and recommended I see a notary BUT apparently notaries require a special form that the Consulate doesn't provide.
Has anyone else done this? How have you got around this issue? I'm not religious so can't go to clergy and the US police scare the crap out of me with their propensity for killing people by accident and throwing people in jail for no reason so don't really want to approach them unless I have to. I have friends who are lawyers but they are not my 'family' lawyer but are employed by a corporation so I think they would have to get their signature of anything cleared by their employer. I don't have a regular medical doctor who sees me.
In general Americans seem completely weirded out by my request and think it's sketchy. A notary would be how this kind of thing would be handled here in the US.
Any suggestions? I am Irish by the way so the passport renewal is for the Irish Passport Office but I think the UK passport application has a similar requirement for a witness, hence I'm throwing it out there to Mumsnet!