Trying to renew Irish Passport in UK!

KarlMcc

I've just gone through the process. I was forewarned by the London Irish passport office and this group and so it turned out. Dr said no they don't do it, so did the bank and Post Office and so did the police station. In the end found a local notary that had even done some Irish passports before. Turns out Irish passports seem to be the strictest and they DO check with your witness! Anyway that cost me £45. Add to that the £5 for photos and the £70 application fee, so I've shelled out £120 and I've still postage and return postage to add on too!! And now the wait begins.

twitcboy

KarlMcc wrote: »

I've just gone through the process. I was forewarned by the London Irish passport office and this group and so it turned out. Dr said no they don't do it, so did the bank and Post Office and so did the police station. In the end found a local notary that had even done some Irish passports before. Turns out Irish passports seem to be the strictest and they DO check with your witness! Anyway that cost me £45. Add to that the £5 for photos and the £70 application fee, so I've shelled out £120 and I've still postage and return postage to add on too!! And now the wait begins.

Which Notary did you use? I'm having the same problem now and it's a right royal pain in bum!

twitcboy

eamon wrote: »

I renewed mine in 2012 via the London Embassy. Not being a regular church goer the priest reluctantly said no, at my GP's you don't have an allocated doctor. Anyway I reread the form again and it said that a Notary Public would suffice. So I went to a local solictors got the documents signed and all for £5. I did bring along supporting evidence which he never looked at. When I need my next renewal I'll be doing the same again.

Hi Eamon. Which solicitors did you use? I can't seem to find any in London who do it?

InsideInsurance

I found my main bank (Barclays) refused to do it but Natwest were happy to do it once they saw that it didnt require them to confirm that they knew me for X years as the British one does but it took a few times of me repeating myself to different people for the assistant manager to agree.

These day's I'd just use my accountant. I used a solicitor in London to do the original affidavit to acquire my citizenship, it was somewhere in walking distance of the City but cannot remember them by name - was just a tiny office not a big brand firm

sgun

we asked a teacher, passport was back very quickly no queries...

CJIreland

Hi

Great reading all the info.

I see on the website it's 6 weeks turnaround time.

Is this accurate as in the Republic it's only 10-12 days.

Seems a huge difference.

Thanks:D

Chrishazle

Posted wife's application 5/12, showing on their website target issue date 13/1, so yes, it is 6 weeks!

sgun

Well, husbands took about 9 weeks which we thought was quite quick given UK ones were taking up to 3 months! Might be different now though.

Chrishazle

I have a feeling that the London renewals are actually sent to Dublin rather than being issued in London. Emailed them the other day to see if process could be speeded up (BIL in hospital in Cork, potential problem!), reply implied we'd need to get Dublin involved.

"the only way to treat an application as urgent is if
1) the issue date 13/1/2015 has passed and you have proof of travel to e-mail in at that stage.

2) as there is a sick relative if you do not hold any form of photo id to travel to Ireland ie drivers licence/work id card/other passport etc which can be used on all other forms of transport to Ireland except Ryanair .
(they insist on a valid passport).
we will need to have a letter from the hospital regarding the sick relative stating the urgency of a visit from their next of kin asap.

does ***** have any form of photo id to travel to Ireland on ?
it can be used with --- aerlingus/all other airlines except ryan air or the ferry ?
if she does not please arrange a letter from the hospital showing the need for her new passport asap.
we can then ask Dublin to treat the application as very urgent.
if **** wishes to speak to Dublin directly the phone number is
0207 373 4339"

sgun

Blimey, well done from getting an answer from London at all! They do send them to Dublin. Ours showed it had been "issued" after 6 weeks but after 8 we called Cork who were more helpful than Dublin. Passport was then processed within the week. As I said, we thought that was quite quick given the UK passport delays but we did have to email them proof of a Ryanair flight.

It's not too helpful if Ryanair is the only airline that flies from your closest airport is it? Are they suggesting that you should hunt around for an alternative airline from a different part of the UK? Husband did comment on how hard they make it to get back into your own country!