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?

Exactly this. There really is nothing else to say.

This thread is astonishing. Why don't people read the OP's posts before replying? My friend had a much better career than me, knows more people and has a lot more health care, but he's in the same position - only even worse, he's now retired and can't vote or get his free bus pass. Life ain't easy for us loners!

I had this situation with my toddlers passport, my manager at work signed it, he said he could because he's a director or another company. My dad used to sign them because he was a driving instructor. Do you know anyone who owns or runs a business?

So only the middle class actually know people? Don't be so bloody ridiculous.

No, if no one can do it there are no options, as others have already said.

OK, there are options.

1. You don't take your children abroad.

2. You pay someone to sneak you all abroad on a small boat, and then maybe back again. I am not recommending this.

3. You pay someone to lie about knowing you on these official legal forms. I am not recommending this either.

4. You wait until you do know someone for 2 years who is qualified and willing to sign.

You are going to take option 1 and hopefully option 4. That's it.

WOW people saying you don't believe the poster or giving her shit shame on you how do you know she's not DV survivor that's had to flee to a new area or been relocated for other reasons if you can't advise then move on and OP give the advice line a call good luck

Hope you get it sorted OP.

I’m amazed at some of the responses. You have been very patient with the huge number of posters who have clearly chosen to ignore or not understood your original question.

Both a travel agent or justice of the peace need to have known you for 2 years, it's not quite as simple as you're making out although I'm not convinced OP has tried every possible suggestion as she hasn't asked her DC's friend's parents if any of them could it.

Literally ANYONE can sign for you. It doesn’t need to be someone on the “approved list of professions”. I literally signed the other day for my friends daughter. I’m a professional in that I have a job but not a teacher/doctor/nurse etc. I said “oh will it accept me as I’m not the “approved list of professionals?” - anyway it went through in seconds.

Anyway, no there is no solution for you if you can not find a single person to sign for you. Another parent, a teacher, a neighbour, a friend, a friend of a friend. A friend of family. A colleague? Optician, doctor, dentist, post office person? Literally any person.

Anyway, not sure why I’m bothering writing this because you said you don’t want suggestions - so I’m not actually sure why you started the thread. So what do you actually want? Nobody will have been in this situation before because they will have found someone to sign - it is that simple.

Sorry OP I’m not trying to be harsh but I think you have some social anxiety going on and need to seek help for it. Do your children attend anything socially? Clubs or anything like that?

Ohhhh you mean the people trying to help the OP find a solution to her problem? Right.

It's not only middle class people who have passports. Other, working class people, must have found someone to sign.

Why is this even a question?

What makes you think travelling abroad is a practical option if it's currently impossible for you to approach anyone from your previous life, or get a job, or volunteer, or go on facebook, or pick up your kids from school, or allow your children to do extra-curricular activities? If you can't book a hairdressers appointment, how do you propose to deal with a cancelled flight?

You don't need a temporary escape to another country; you need a permanent home where it's safe to chat to your neighbours and take your kids to football practice. Focus your efforts on that.

It is astonishing the number of people responding who are talking about passports issued by other countries with different processes!

Closely followed by the number of people who think that if the profession is on the list of approved professions the 2 year qualifying period doesn’t apply. When it does. In all circumstances.

And those who think that because someone is professionally qualified to certify documents as being true copies of the originals that this means they can certify a photograph for a passport without knowing the person as they are certifying it as being a photo of the person in front of them. That is not what the countersignatory of a passport is doing though so that is irrelevant! The counter signatory is certifying the identity of the applicant and if they don’t know them from Adam, they can’t do that. Otherwise I could apply for a certified copy of Mum of Spud’s birth certificate, open a utility account in her name and then pop off the JP with these both and a photo of myself and have a passport on her name in my hands with no problem whatsoever. All very Day of the Jackal but fortunately the Passport Office isn’t stupid!

Op specifically puts down what she needs and asks for others who have had the same circumstance.

Replies, no you don’t want that! listen to us we have all the answers you don’t want or need and we will become incredulous when you say thanks but not what I asked.

Just waiting for someone else to suggest a gp!

It's obviously because it's so unusual to be in the position of knowing nobody at all. The only solution is to not go on holiday abroad which is not the end of the world.

No, the replies were that it is almost impossible for someone with children in school and a host of parents available not to know anyone who can sign. OP refused to explain why she doesn't know a single other adult and just to rudely and pointlessly insist she can't do it.

Her situation is implausible unless it's just that she can't be arsed trying to speak to any one who could do it and that's her choice.

Apart from the repeated suggestions of a GP which are incorrect and annoying it is the OP who has made the thread so irritating by being so unwilling to explain why she has no social interactions and is refusing to develop any.

It doesn’t really matter. It could be she doesn’t want people knowing she’s applying for a passport for her children.

The op asked a simple question and asked for anyone who would have an answer other than “but surely you must know, have you tried…” Guess what everyone posted over the next 20 odd pages?

And yet the advice and the approach on this thread are identical to the official advice on the Passport Office website who has an entire page about what to do if you think you don’t know anyone who can countersign your passport. And says in terms, lots of people think this but it isn’t usually true and as a countersignatory who has known you for 2 years is “mandatory” (their words) you need to think creatively to find someone to do it.

Thinking creatively, oh I’ll ask on mumsnet. 10 pages later, maybe not!

I agree, it can be difficult, if you don't have a large social circle (of UK passport holders), and have recently moved - for lone adults. I've been in this situation myself.

However, it is incredibly unusual to be this solitary while you have young children at home. Kids tend to force you into social contact in your community, between schooling, play dates and clubs, childcare, healthcare.

That's what people are picking up on - some offering ideas and encouragement, others concern.

Having a dentist/hairstylist/optician/shop manager or other local business owner is hardly unusual and not limited to someone with a ‘circle of people’ around them.

The OP has repeatedly not answered questions about knowing/approaching people of this ilk, but the idea that she knows no one fitting this (broad) profile strains credulity.

It’s also not only middle class people who have a dentist or know someone who runs a shop. What a silly thing to say.

omg il be ya mate for 2 years and il sign the bloody thing

I have has the same problems as op looking for someone to sign. Until recently I had no one to sign . A dentist can't sign neither can a gp. My child's school won't sign. Just because people have children doesn't mean they socialise with people that can sign.

But they don't have to socialise with them or be close friends, just be recognisable to them from the school run or the occasional brief conversation.

Your children hopefully have friends. Those friends have parents. Other parents from the class who aren't even the parents of your child's close friends are all available.