applying for a British passport while living in maurituis
 

Hi, wondering if anyone can help me please. I've been living in Mauritius for 8 years now. I've decided to apply for my child's British passport. He's 4 years old. I've learnt that you now need to apply online (fill in the forms and pay for the fees online too). I downloaded the guild lines for a child British passport. I'm stuck on thecountersign section. the requirements for the countersign is that the person must hold a British passport and that s/he must know the child for at least 2 years. My problem is I can't seem to find anyone who knows my child for 2 years and HOLDS a British passport. I was hoping that the countersign(in my case) could at least hold a mauritian passport. So I phoned the passport office in the UK but the lady told me that I must go along with the policy. Appreciate the help people!

Re: applying for a British passport while living in maurituis
 

hi I have just successfully got my son his british passport. I am a british citizen working and living in Nigeria. My wife is Guinean and our child was born in Guinea-Conakry. Regarding the counter-signatory the guide-lines state that the person need to know you, not your child for at least two years. It also states that fewer checks are required if the counter-signator is a british passport holder. I selected somebody who is british, lives in the uk and has known me for more than 20 years. He has never met our son, however could identify him from supplied photos, facebook and Skype. At the interview we were asked if he has ever met our child to which we responded no as we could not travel to uk, but pointed out that the counter-signator was within the guidelines and was awaiting their call. Three weeks later they issued our son's passport and never even contacted our counter-signator.

Re: applying for a British passport while living in maurituis
 

The countersignatory can hold a British, Irish, EU, US or Commonwealth passport in that order of preference. As Mauritius is a Commonwealth country then a Mauritius passport holder could countersign. If the applicant is under 16 then the countersignatory is declaring they have known the person signing the parental declaration for at least two years not the applicant.

More information on Page 11 of the guidance notes:

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...ance_10.13.pdf

Re: applying for a British passport while living in maurituis
 

Paul - please kindly advise how long it took for your child's passport to arrive having applied from Nigeria

Re: applying for a British passport while living in maurituis
 

Hi, I made my application in September 2014, eventually got called to the Deputy High Commision in Lagos for interview in January 2015 and received my son's passport from the Deputy High Commission in February 2015. Good luck if you are about to go down the same route

Re: applying for a British passport while living in maurituis
 

Goodness...that's a long time. Do you know if there's a way she can gain entry into UK via other means and we apply from there instead?

Re: applying for a British passport while living in maurituis
 

no, if the child does not have uk passport then the only way she can go there is for you to get the child a visa. However if you go down that route it will mean that you will using a non-british passport and once you do that the authorities may deem that there is no need for a british passport. If you look around on this forum you will see that 6 to 7 months is quite normal.

Re: applying for a British passport while living in maurituis
 

Thank you! That's very helpful to know.