"Almost" Got It... (Passport Query)
Sep 25th 2004, 8:11 pm
#16
99.99999% there !
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2004
Location: Essex, England, UK
Posts: 378
Re: "Almost" Got It... (Passport Query)
Thanks everyone for chipping in with some good comments.
I took my son down to the post office this morning and got his new photos sorted and did the "express" service at the counter. They reckon that it's a 10 day turnaround tiime but hopefully they should arrive back with us quicker than that.
Was spending most of last night trwaling through the www.passport.gov.uk site to find info. My god !, has anyone noticed how stringent the rules are these days on what can pass for a valid passport photo :scared:. Has to be within specific dimensions, must be facing the camra with eyes open ,mouth closed, etc. It was an ordeal to get my son to close his mouth for long enough to have the pictures taken
Debsy - thanks for the tip on notifying our case officer. Will do this as soon as the nippers passport arrives.
Cheers everyone (nice glass of shiraz in hand) !
I took my son down to the post office this morning and got his new photos sorted and did the "express" service at the counter. They reckon that it's a 10 day turnaround tiime but hopefully they should arrive back with us quicker than that.
Was spending most of last night trwaling through the www.passport.gov.uk site to find info. My god !, has anyone noticed how stringent the rules are these days on what can pass for a valid passport photo :scared:. Has to be within specific dimensions, must be facing the camra with eyes open ,mouth closed, etc. It was an ordeal to get my son to close his mouth for long enough to have the pictures taken
Debsy - thanks for the tip on notifying our case officer. Will do this as soon as the nippers passport arrives.
Cheers everyone (nice glass of shiraz in hand) !
Sep 30th 2004, 7:43 pm
#17
99.99999% there !
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2004
Location: Essex, England, UK
Posts: 378
Re: "Almost" Got It... (Passport Query)
BEWARE - A WORD OF WARNING
Hopefully my recent experience may prevent someone else from making the same mistake
The original problem at the top of this thread was that I recently receieved the email from our DIMIA case officer that our visas had been granted (woo hoo!). I was over the moon until I read the accompanying "London Visa Evidencing Information Sheet" which was also provided. This quite clearly states that "You will need to ensure that each person granted a visa has their own passport".
Damn (or something like that
) I thought. My wife and son are on a joint passport. I did try to confirm this statement with Australia House in London but my email just bounced back and they do not publish their phone number on their web site.
I posted this thread on the forum hoping that others might have had a similar problem and could offer advice. The general consensus seemed to be to go ahead and get the seperate passport for my son as Australia House would not accept joint passports, an opinion which seems to be backed up by their published Information Sheet.
Fast forward a bit. I sent my wifes/sons joint passport off the UK passport office on Saturday to get it seperated out. I also dropped a quick line to our case officer to keep her in the loop with what I was doing.
Just today I received a note from our case officer which states in absolutely crystal clear terms that I should not have sent the joint passport off as this has now screwed up the information that has been sent from DIMIA to Australia House in London.
I was told that "joint passports are perfectly acceptable by Australia House" and that I would have been told by DIMIA if this was not the case. I was also told that I have introduced at least a 4 working day delay into the process as the passport info now has to be returned from Australia House to DIMIA, amended and then returned back to Australia House before the visas can be stuck in our passports.
All of this saga and we're due to fly out to Brisbane on 16th Oct ! :scared:
As I said, hopefully my story will save someone else this nightmare experience !
Hopefully my recent experience may prevent someone else from making the same mistake
The original problem at the top of this thread was that I recently receieved the email from our DIMIA case officer that our visas had been granted (woo hoo!). I was over the moon until I read the accompanying "London Visa Evidencing Information Sheet" which was also provided. This quite clearly states that "You will need to ensure that each person granted a visa has their own passport".
Damn (or something like that
) I thought. My wife and son are on a joint passport. I did try to confirm this statement with Australia House in London but my email just bounced back and they do not publish their phone number on their web site.I posted this thread on the forum hoping that others might have had a similar problem and could offer advice. The general consensus seemed to be to go ahead and get the seperate passport for my son as Australia House would not accept joint passports, an opinion which seems to be backed up by their published Information Sheet.
Fast forward a bit. I sent my wifes/sons joint passport off the UK passport office on Saturday to get it seperated out. I also dropped a quick line to our case officer to keep her in the loop with what I was doing.
Just today I received a note from our case officer which states in absolutely crystal clear terms that I should not have sent the joint passport off as this has now screwed up the information that has been sent from DIMIA to Australia House in London.
I was told that "joint passports are perfectly acceptable by Australia House" and that I would have been told by DIMIA if this was not the case. I was also told that I have introduced at least a 4 working day delay into the process as the passport info now has to be returned from Australia House to DIMIA, amended and then returned back to Australia House before the visas can be stuck in our passports.
All of this saga and we're due to fly out to Brisbane on 16th Oct ! :scared:
As I said, hopefully my story will save someone else this nightmare experience !
Sep 30th 2004, 8:41 pm
#18
BE Forum Addict
Joined: May 2003
Location: GC
Posts: 3,353
Re: "Almost" Got It... (Passport Query)
Originally Posted by EssexNobby
BEWARE - A WORD OF WARNING
Hopefully my recent experience may prevent someone else from making the same mistake
The original problem at the top of this thread was that I recently receieved the email from our DIMIA case officer that our visas had been granted (woo hoo!). I was over the moon until I read the accompanying "London Visa Evidencing Information Sheet" which was also provided. This quite clearly states that "You will need to ensure that each person granted a visa has their own passport".
Damn (or something like that ) I thought. My wife and son are on a joint passport. I did try to confirm this statement with Australia House in London but my email just bounced back and they do not publish their phone number on their web site.
I posted this thread on the forum hoping that others might have had a similar problem and could offer advice. The general consensus seemed to be to go ahead and get the seperate passport for my son as Australia House would not accept joint passports, an opinion which seems to be backed up by their published Information Sheet.
Fast forward a bit. I sent my wifes/sons joint passport off the UK passport office on Saturday to get it seperated out. I also dropped a quick line to our case officer to keep her in the loop with what I was doing.
Just today I received a note from our case officer which states in absolutely crystal clear terms that I should not have sent the joint passport off as this has now screwed up the information that has been sent from DIMIA to Australia House in London.
I was told that "joint passports are perfectly acceptable by Australia House" and that I would have been told by DIMIA if this was not the case. I was also told that I have introduced at least a 4 working day delay into the process as the passport info now has to be returned from Australia House to DIMIA, amended and then returned back to Australia House before the visas can be stuck in our passports.
All of this saga and we're due to fly out to Brisbane on 16th Oct ! :scared:
As I said, hopefully my story will save someone else this nightmare experience !
Hopefully my recent experience may prevent someone else from making the same mistake
The original problem at the top of this thread was that I recently receieved the email from our DIMIA case officer that our visas had been granted (woo hoo!). I was over the moon until I read the accompanying "London Visa Evidencing Information Sheet" which was also provided. This quite clearly states that "You will need to ensure that each person granted a visa has their own passport".
Damn (or something like that
) I thought. My wife and son are on a joint passport. I did try to confirm this statement with Australia House in London but my email just bounced back and they do not publish their phone number on their web site.I posted this thread on the forum hoping that others might have had a similar problem and could offer advice. The general consensus seemed to be to go ahead and get the seperate passport for my son as Australia House would not accept joint passports, an opinion which seems to be backed up by their published Information Sheet.
Fast forward a bit. I sent my wifes/sons joint passport off the UK passport office on Saturday to get it seperated out. I also dropped a quick line to our case officer to keep her in the loop with what I was doing.
Just today I received a note from our case officer which states in absolutely crystal clear terms that I should not have sent the joint passport off as this has now screwed up the information that has been sent from DIMIA to Australia House in London.
I was told that "joint passports are perfectly acceptable by Australia House" and that I would have been told by DIMIA if this was not the case. I was also told that I have introduced at least a 4 working day delay into the process as the passport info now has to be returned from Australia House to DIMIA, amended and then returned back to Australia House before the visas can be stuck in our passports.
All of this saga and we're due to fly out to Brisbane on 16th Oct ! :scared:
As I said, hopefully my story will save someone else this nightmare experience !
At least you wont have to bother getting another one for five years now.
