Child passport woes

marcia_

Postik said:

smudge56 said:

You don’t need your birth certificate. Just your passport number.  The examiner will look at your passport history and see that you have had a passports at the time of birth.  If you were born before 1/1/83 it makes no difference when your passport was issued as you would be British by birth.

You would think so wouldn't you, but it is specifically asking for MY birth certificate as well as my daughters.  This is despite me providing my passport number.

Caz3121 said:

• have known the person applying for at least 2 years (this is the adult making the application if the passport is for a child under 16)

More incorrect information from the GOV website.  I asked someone today to complete the verification process, and it asked them to confirm my daughter's identity and showed them a photo of my daughter.  It did NOT ask them to confirm my identity, or if it did it still asked them to confirm my daughter's too.

 Its not incorrect advice. Our form was returned to us for 2 reasons, 1st we used his teacher but she is not a personal acquaintance. 2 because said teacher verified his identity not mine.

Postik

marcia_ said:

Postik said:

smudge56 said:

You don’t need your birth certificate. Just your passport number.  The examiner will look at your passport history and see that you have had a passports at the time of birth.  If you were born before 1/1/83 it makes no difference when your passport was issued as you would be British by birth.

You would think so wouldn't you, but it is specifically asking for MY birth certificate as well as my daughters.  This is despite me providing my passport number.

Caz3121 said:

• have known the person applying for at least 2 years (this is the adult making the application if the passport is for a child under 16)

More incorrect information from the GOV website.  I asked someone today to complete the verification process, and it asked them to confirm my daughter's identity and showed them a photo of my daughter.  It did NOT ask them to confirm my identity, or if it did it still asked them to confirm my daughter's too.

 Its not incorrect advice. Our form was returned to us for 2 reasons, 1st we used his teacher but she is not a personal acquaintance. 2 because said teacher verified his identity not mine.

So why is it showing them a photo of my daughter if they are verifying MY identity.  What purpose would this possibly serve?  And why did the teacher verify your child's identity and not yours?  And why when my acquaintance looked did she specifically tell me it was asking her to verify my child's identity?  It obviously isn't at all clear.

sheramber

t is quite clear that what the OP is saying is correct per the website.

From GOV.UK website

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/applying-for-a-passport/guidance-for-paper-passport-applications-accessible

Ask someone to confirm your child’s identity

After you’ve paid and submitted the application, you’ll need to ask someone to confirm your child’s identity.

Let the person know that they’ll receive an email from HM Passport Office telling them what to do. They’ll confirm your child’s identity online - they do not need to sign a printed photo.

You’ll need to know:

• the date of birth and address of the person applying for a passport
• where the child was born and their parent’s names and years of birth (if you’re confirming a child’s identity)

You’ll also be shown a photo and asked to confirm if that’s the person the passport is for.

• If you need to send a UK birth certificate and were born on or after 01/01/1983: it must be a full birth certificate. (This is the one that contains the details of both you and your parents.)

Postik

sheramber said:

It is quite clear that what the OP is saying is correct per the website.

From GOV.UK website

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/applying-for-a-passport/guidance-for-paper-passport-applications-accessible

Ask someone to confirm your child’s identity

After you’ve paid and submitted the application, you’ll need to ask someone to confirm your child’s identity.

Let the person know that they’ll receive an email from HM Passport Office telling them what to do. They’ll confirm your child’s identity online - they do not need to sign a printed photo.

You’ll need to know:

• the date of birth and address of the person applying for a passport
• where the child was born and their parent’s names and years of birth (if you’re confirming a child’s identity)

You’ll also be shown a photo and asked to confirm if that’s the person the passport is for.

• If you need to send a UK birth certificate and were born on or after 01/01/1983: it must be a full birth certificate. (This is the one that contains the details of both you and your parents.)

Thank you.  I finally thought of someone who has known my daughter for more than 2 years and isn't a relative. They don't fit one of the occupations on the list but they have a managerial position so I am hoping it's sufficient. They have done it just now and confirmed they DID have to confirm my child's identity, and answer some questions about the parents.

Now I need to go through the nonsense process of applying for a copy of my birth certificate because in no uncertain terms it is asking for my child's birth certificate AND my birth certificate.

twopenny

I think this has been introduced to prevent non relatives taking children out of the country for nefarious purposes - we haven't heard of that for quite a while so hopefully it's working.
If it makes you feel any better it's there to protect very vulnerable children.

Think I'd better check my renewal as post pandemic and old I'm short of professional friends who've known me for years!

Postik

twopenny said:

I think this has been introduced to prevent non relatives taking children out of the country for nefarious purposes - we haven't heard of that for quite a while so hopefully it's working.
If it makes you feel any better it's there to protect very vulnerable children.

Think I'd better check my renewal as post pandemic and old I'm short of professional friends who've known me for years!

Well, I contacted them on Friday and they said they need a parent's birth certificate because my passport was issued after the child was born.  I suspect this is just something that they made up on the spot.

I contacted them again this morning, and despite it saying on the application "For 1 of your parents, send 1 of the following: full birth or adoption certificate" they now told me this morning they need the MOTHER'S birth certificate because the mother was born after 1982.  I was actually going to order my own birth certificate (I'm the child's father) so it's a good job I didn't as that would have been a wasted £11 and a 15 day delay for nothing.

I still maintain that they don't actually know what they are doing and provide conflicting advice and mis-information.

smudge56

Postik said:

So why is it showing them a photo of my daughter if they are verifying MY identity.  What purpose would this possibly serve?  And why did the teacher verify your child's identity and not yours?  And why when my acquaintance looked did she specifically tell me it was asking her to verify my child's identity?  It obviously isn't at all clear.

It shows the photo of your daughter for them to certify that’s who it is (just like the certification on the physical photos on a paper application). It then asks questions about the parents and how long they have known the person who made the declaration and how they know them.  (How could you say you knew a child for two years if they were only three months old)

smudge56

Postik said:

twopenny said:

I think this has been introduced to prevent non relatives taking children out of the country for nefarious purposes - we haven't heard of that for quite a while so hopefully it's working.
If it makes you feel any better it's there to protect very vulnerable children.

Think I'd better check my renewal as post pandemic and old I'm short of professional friends who've known me for years!

Well, I contacted them on Friday and they said they need a parent's birth certificate because my passport was issued after the child was born.  I suspect this is just something that they made up on the spot.

I contacted them again this morning, and despite it saying on the application "For 1 of your parents, send 1 of the following: full birth or adoption certificate" they now told me this morning they need the MOTHER'S birth certificate because the mother was born after 1982.  I was actually going to order my own birth certificate (I'm the child's father) so it's a good job I didn't as that would have been a wasted £11 and a 15 day delay for nothing.

I still maintain that they don't actually know what they are doing and provide conflicting advice and mis-information.

Don’t bother sending your birth certificates. Your passport number is enough. Believe me.    You are speaking to a call centre when you phone - not always experienced and sometime can’t be bothered looking at proper guidance as they have a time limit for each call. 

Postik

smudge56 said:

It shows the photo of your daughter for them to certify that’s who it is (just like the certification on the physical photos on a paper application). It then asks questions about the parents and how long they have known the person who made the declaration and how they know them.  (How could you say you knew a child for two years if they were only three months old)

But that was my original issue, in that I don't really know anyone who met one of the required professions who has also met my daughter.  People were saying, "They are verifying your identity, not your daughter's, so you can ask anyone you know" but that wasn't true, the person also had to know my daughter.

smudge56 said:

Don’t bother sending your birth certificates. Your passport number is enough. Believe me.    You are speaking to a call centre when you phone - not always experienced and sometime can’t be bothered looking at proper guidance as they have a time limit for each call. 

I don't see that I have much choice, they are specifically asking for one of the parents' birth certificates in the information they have sent to me.  It's not like when I queried it with them they said it's a mistake and not to bother.  It's going to be a 15 day delay in getting this, but I guess the delay could be much longer if I don't send it and then they still insist on it.  I wouldn't put anything past them because the whole process is shambolic.

smudge56

Postik said:

smudge56 said:

It shows the photo of your daughter for them to certify that’s who it is (just like the certification on the physical photos on a paper application). It then asks questions about the parents and how long they have known the person who made the declaration and how they know them.  (How could you say you knew a child for two years if they were only three months old)

But that was my original issue, in that I don't really know anyone who met one of the required professions who has also met my daughter.  People were saying, "They are verifying your identity, not your daughter's, so you can ask anyone you know" but that wasn't true, the person also had to know my daughter.

smudge56 said:

Don’t bother sending your birth certificates. Your passport number is enough. Believe me.    You are speaking to a call centre when you phone - not always experienced and sometime can’t be bothered looking at proper guidance as they have a time limit for each call. 

I don't see that I have much choice, they are specifically asking for one of the parents' birth certificates in the information they have sent to me.  It's not like when I queried it with them they said it's a mistake and not to bother.  It's going to be a 15 day delay in getting this, but I guess the delay could be much longer if I don't send it and then they still insist on it.  I wouldn't put anything past them because the whole process is shambolic.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/649ed76245b6a2000c3d4683/British_citizenship__V17_FOR_GOV.UK_publication_.pdf

Page 21. This is the actual HMPO guidance.