Don’t have anyone to sign passport

[BlueBurys]

I really want to take my children abroad but don’t have anyone to do their passports. Has anyone been in this situation and what did you do? (Don’t need any suggestions of who can sign it I’m aware and have looked through the list but don’t have anyone that can do it) is there anything else that can be done if you’ve been in this situation?

Dentists can sign them

You aren’t trying to be a dick, but it seems like op is 😂

you can try to be helpful but I think most of the time people just don’t want it, they just want to complain.

To the op: to be stuck with nobody to sign a passport you would basically have to have no acquaintances. Your kids have friends/class mates right? Their friends have parents? You’ve had a job at some point presumably to have money for a holiday so have current/former colleagues? The kids have a dad? Does he have friends/acquaintances/colleagues. I refuse to believe that you don’t have any family members, or have an empty Facebook friends list, and no contact numbers in your phone that have any kind of job…because that’s essentially all you need.

So blatantly obvious.

Does the owner of the local shop not know you long enough?
I know you didn’t want advice on that but it can just be that simple

@BlueBurys contact the helpline tomorrow and ask them what to do. I'm surprised there's nobody in your children's lives who can sign applications. Most people can ask someone - health visitors, extracurricular activity leaders, friends' parents, etc. Doctors aren't able to sign applications, but nurses can - if your children are registered with a primary care provider and receive vaccinations, etc, they may have been seen by nurses within the past couple of years. I think people are struggling to imagine a lifestyle in which no suitable adult has known your children for long enough, given the amount of input and connections most children have with services and communities.

Even if the helpline comes up with a solution, it's probably advisable to start making connections with people who can help with these sorts of things, with your children's friends' parents, etc. Otherwise, you and your children are going to miss out on support and opportunities in the future.

You aren't getting 'hate' or 'jumped on', you're getting reasonable suggestions from people? Your reactions are a bit OTT, you're actually laughing at people trying to help in some of them?

You're asking for people who have been in a similar situation BUT you are demanding that they not even try to suggest any options you haven't considered.

I've been in a similar situation (not originally from this country so my only contacts initially were people I knew from various groups/ clubs) and my neighbours were happy to do it for us.

You say there is no parent WhatsApp group but that's not the only way to get in touch with parents of your children's friends. Or do your children also not attend school? Have they ever been to someone else's house? Those parents only need to say they've known the children x years, they do not need to be best mates.

You're saying you've looked through the list but you just need someone with a passport to do it.

I did have my suspicions early on I won't lie

You need to get them countersigned but the suggested list isn’t exhaustive, any business owner who submits accounts can sign for instance, anyone who works for the government, do you know your local vicar?

my DD had to have paperwork countersigned for the military and a friend of my parents did it, they don’t have to be your friend.

obviously you can call them but they will tell you that you need to find someone.

OP can we try looking at this in a different way. Can you tell us the jobs of anyone who has known you longer than 2 years? Friends, neighbours, people you have regular contact with professionally (eg wraparound care workers, club leaders, housing officer, shopkeepers, work coach), parents of your DC’s friends, friends of your DC if you have adult DC. Don’t forget, it could be someone who has known you for a very long term but haven’t seen recently, as long as they can still recognise and identify you easily eg a former neighbour, your DC’s former childminder, a friend of your parents, your former boss etc.

You are wrong. Doctors are specifically excluded.

Who can countersign

Eh? Why is that spiteful?

You either work, so your employer can sign it (but you said you have no employer)
Are unemployed and on benefits (you said you don’t have a work coach so unlikely)
Are unable to work due to disability (as is the case with my adult child, that’s not an insult!) in which case you will have a SW who signs off on the eligibility for those benefots
Are supported by family (unlikely as you said they don’t have professionals in their social circle and the father of your kids isn’t on the birth certificate and not in their lives)
Are self employed (but don’t have any suppliers or any B2B relationships)

what other options are there unless you live on fresh air? And each of these scenarios would give you someone who can help you get the passport you say you want.

Are you trying to permanently take your children out of the country, and don't want anyone to warn their biological father about your plans?

These do it - easy ones first

friends
neighbours
parents of DC’s friends
employer - this is an easy one
nursery staff
organisers of breakfast/after school clubs
after school activities - dance, sport, music, cubs etc

I can (and have) countersigned several Irish passports. They don’t insist on a landline .. or at least, I gave a UK mobile and it wasn't an issue, not did they mention that it was when they rang me)

They do (apparently) ring for every new applications - and apparently they give the witness three attempts to answer. And you can call them back (well, I have, anyway).

I have signed UK passports too. They rarely call but when they do, their questions were more in depth than the Irish Passport office.

I would say neither system is "harder" because the Irish Passport process does not require the witness to have known the applicant for 2 years.
So there's pros and cons to both systems.

They cant do it anyway.

But the OP doesn’t have ANY of these apparently…

Could be a blessing in disguise really.
If you don't get the countersignature you can't get passports and you can't go abroad with the children.
You were in two minds about "tunisa" as you decided it's not safe.
So now you don't have to decide whether to cancel or not. You'll have to cancel and so you can stay at home in the UK where it's safe.

Yes. I had a quick look at past threads and that seems not to be understood. I'm a solictor and a notary public but unless I've known someone personally for at least 2 years I can't countersign.

You can pay a solicitor to do it.

Only if the solicitor has known her for 2 years. Otherwise not.

Lots of people DO post threads like this, because they have misunderstood the form and the requirements. And then 999 times out of 1000 they realise that the guy who MOTs their car counts as he's self-employed and vetted as a MOT tester, or that their mum's neighbour who they have known 20 years used to work in a bank, or that Jimmy's mum from school is a nurse, or that their child's Brown Owl will do it, or any number of other scenarios happen and that actually, not knowing a MP or solicitor is not a barrier to travel.

If you are REALLY claiming that you know nobody, speak to nobody, are in contact with nobody who has known you for more than 2 years then you clearly have bigger issues than getting a passport.

It's not an unreasonable suggestion and not a judgement on you. If people are unable to work due to disability, or have children with disabilities or additional needs, they may have a disability social worker.

Link for the Tunisia thread please? 🍿😂