Any way to get around passport renewal fees?

balletshoes

Louisdf wrote: »

Sorry but the fee IS a rip off. And to all those that say, you accepted the price well it's not as if you can go to a competitor down the road who will give you a faster/cheaper service. We are effectively being held ransom unless we pay their unreasonable £77 fee for sheets of paper. Secondly, to the people that say if you can afford a holiday you can afford a passport this is an unreasonable assumption. You need a passport for everything nowadays- starting work, opening a bank account, getting a credit card, getting alcohol/ asprin if you're under 25, getting a library card, enrolling at University... So it's very difficult for most working people to go long without a passport even if they stay in Britain.

No - but you may need photo ID - which can be a student ID card, work ID card if its current, driving licence etc etc etc. You definitely do NOT need a passport to join the library or enrol at university. And unless you're using your passport as a travel document, you may be able to use an out-of-date passport as ID.

Louisdf

balletshoes wrote: »

No - but you may need photo ID - which can be a student ID card, work ID card if its current, driving licence etc etc etc. You definitely do NOT need a passport to join the library or enrol at university. And unless you're using your passport as a travel document, you may be able to use an out-of-date passport as ID.

Rubbish- when I started work at Sainsbury's, they demanded to take a copy of my passport, as proof of being able to work in the UK. If I didn't provide this, I wouldn't have been able to work. To enrol at the University of Birmingham, we needed to show a passport or drivers licence. And what a surprise, you have to send off your passport to get a provisional driving licence.

Once again, can anyone name a high street bank that will let you open an account without an in-date passport?

lucylucky

Louisdf wrote: »

Rubbish- when I started work at Sainsbury's, they demanded to take a copy of my passport, as proof of being able to work in the UK. If I didn't provide this, I wouldn't have been able to work. To enrol at the University of Birmingham, we needed to show a passport or drivers licence. And what a surprise, you have to send off your passport to get a provisional driving licence. (other methods can be used for identification)

Once again, can anyone name a high street bank that will let you open an account without an in-date passport?

Try doing some more research, or learn to use a search engine

http://www.moneymadeclear.org.uk/pdfs/proving_your_identity.pdf

balletshoes

Louisdf wrote: »

Rubbish- when I started work at Sainsbury's, they demanded to take a copy of my passport, as proof of being able to work in the UK. If I didn't provide this, I wouldn't have been able to work. To enrol at the University of Birmingham, we needed to show a passport or drivers licence. And what a surprise, you have to send off your passport to get a provisional driving licence.

Once again, can anyone name a high street bank that will let you open an account without an in-date passport?

I'll have a google for the bank question later - but as to the other 2 - if you didn't have a passport, your national insurance number, p45 or p46 would have done at Sainsburys for proof you can work in the UK (maybe you didn't ask about that as you had a passport so just gave it them when they asked for it?) My OH doesn't even have a British passport, and his P45 and national insurance number is all he's been asked for in the past year when he's changed jobs.

To apply for a provisional driving licence, if you don't have a passport, your birth certificate is perfectly acceptable as proof of ID.

Louisdf

Also, why do they only charge £49 for a child's passport? It costs the same to process as an adult passport, so they should be priced the same. More proof that IPS are a bunch of money-grabbing scumbags who see the British public as cash cows.

balletshoes

Presumably they charge less for a childs passport because its only valid for 5 years, not 10? I suspect it would be thought of as even more of a "rip-off" if a childs 5-year passport cost the same as an adults 10-year one.

timbo58

a high price but not a rip off: 15 years ago I looked at going on a day trip from Kerkyra (Corfu) to Albania, Albania wanted the equivalent of £10 for a visa for a few hours of being bombarded and harrassed by their beggars at the port and getting an entry stamp in my passport.
Considering £10 could at that time buy you a decent 2 or 3 course meal for 2 adults and 2 kids, THAT was a rip off!

jtr2803

Louisdf wrote: »

Sorry but the fee IS a rip off. And to all those that say, you accepted the price well it's not as if you can go to a competitor down the road who will give you a faster/cheaper service. We are effectively being held ransom unless we pay their unreasonable £77 fee for sheets of paper. Secondly, to the people that say if you can afford a holiday you can afford a passport this is an unreasonable assumption. You need a passport for everything nowadays- starting work, opening a bank account, getting a credit card, getting alcohol/ asprin if you're under 25, getting a library card, enrolling at University... So it's very difficult for most working people to go long without a passport even if they stay in Britain.

Well surely with this argument you would have to agree that £77.50 is very good value if it enables you to work/travel/study/buy alcohol...all the things that some people in this world would give a limb to be able to do. Try being a little more grateful that we have the money and means to be able to travel the world - there are plenty of people out there who can't.

Louisdf

jtr2803 wrote: »

Well surely with this argument you would have to agree that £77.50 is very good value if it enables you to work/travel/study/buy alcohol...all the things that some people in this world would give a limb to be able to do. Try being a little more grateful that we have the money and means to be able to travel the world - there are plenty of people out there who can't.

What a ridiculous argument you are making! We shouldn't have to pay £77 for 35 pieces of paper allowing us to work. No wonder so many people are scrounging off the welfare state, when people are being robbed just so they can work!

Louisdf

Oh and if the passport fee ISN'T a rip off, then why can't the UK Border Clowns break down the cost of this £77.50? Oh wait, they need to pay themselves each a huge bonus because they have done such a great job! And of course they need to pay for their plush offices in Kensington/Mayfair.

Oh and any arguments about 'ensuring national security', are nullified by the fact that every week, thousands of illegal immigrants waltz in without any problems, passports are frequently NOT checked, people take banned items on planes all the time, drugs/guns get into this country realtively easy ect. But if you're in a wheel chair, don't worry the UK Border Clowns will search you and ask you to get out in case you are a terrorist.