Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

A friend of mine who is a resident here has lost her British passport on a night out (it was the hen party and the 15th tequila that did it!!) and is going on her honeymoon in 10 days! Does anyone know how we can get her a replacement one FAST.....of course you can never get to speak to a 'real person' at the embassy and I've been scouring the web for hours!

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

I believe your best bet is the British High Commission in Canberra.
The site says you can apply in person but they don't prioritise. There is a helpline, but read the charges first. I'd try calling and explaining, leaving out the mention of tequila. ;)

You'd then need to figure out the Aussie visa too. Again I'd recommend a call to get the right info, rather than guessing. I would think that they'd have her visa details on file, so the actual stamp in the passport isn't the be all end all, but what do I know?
http://www.immi.gov.au/contacts/index.htm

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

It's rather curious as to why she was carrying her passport in the first place. They should not normally be carried around.

New passport comes from the British High Commission - but be warned, replacing a lost passport takes longer than a simple renewal. She will need to apply as a first time applicant.

And a replacement visa stamp will need to be obtained from a DIMA office.

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

Yeah - my freind lost his passport 3 days before flying back to the UK - he had to go to a building near the airport - not the high commision though - and the kept him waiting for 2/3 hours and then he had to come back the following day to collect his new one

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

I remember ealrier in the year when we were doing a reccie in Brisbane when we went out on the friday night quite a few over zealous power tripping doormen asked us for foto id...(which at my aged I thought was a tad stupid).
However we did get knocked back from a couple of places for not having any id (at least that was the excuse, they might not have just wanted us in the place ! )

As some of people dont have photo id driver licences then the only other thing is a passport.

I guess one alternative is to get a fotocopy of yer passport stamped by a JP.
or dont go out clubbing

Cheers

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

I carry my passport everywhere, as I don't drive. I'm in my 40s but have been asked for ID in pubs so it has to go with me when i go out drinking. Several people in the past have suggested an ID card as issued by Queensland Transport but they helpfully told me that a) I had to be a citizen and b) I was too old anyway!!!

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

ditto......

have always had to carry my passport as well..... tried with UK driving licence a couple of times and got turned away as they didn't believe it was real. only thing the dodgy bouncers would accept was a passport

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

I hope she can sort it out in time for her honeymoon.

Over here I always carry my driving licence everywhere as I get asked for ID all the time even though I'm 28. When we were in Oz 4 years ago, I used my UK driving licence for ID and it wasn't a problem anywhere.

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

no my licence has never been a problem in melbourne.... only with the dodgy QLD bouncers!!!

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

Why not get a learner drivers licence?

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

Because I still have to pay for and pass the written part of the test in order to get it, and pass an eyesight test. One of the reasons I don't drive is that when I'm tired I don't feel my eyesight is up to driving standard. I also has to be renewed every year, for a fee of course :)

I find it funny that I have never been asked for ID in pubs before I came here, not even as a teenager, yet now I am old and haggard they all want the proof!!

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

Are ID requests in Pubs and Clubs a big thing in QLD?

I've been in Vic about 2.5 years now and not been asked once.

:)

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

No offence but is the barmaid wearing glasses thicker than the bottom of your pint glass? :D

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

So what's the go?
Has your friend called the BHC or DIMA yet? Please let us know how she gets on and if there's anything we can learn from it.
Thanks.

Re: Help! Resident Lost British passport
 

I recently lost my passport and sent it all off to the BHC and they inform you that it will take 10 days to process. After about six weeks had gone, due to the fact that I was not planning to fly for a while and also knowing that anything Aussie takes 4 times as long to do as any other country in the world I did not panic.

After sending them a gee up, they sent the whole form back to me and said that it was unacceptable due to the blue background on the passport photo :rolleyes: . As I had these pictures done in a passport booth for passport photos I was a bit annoyed to say the least. To cut a long story short, I sent it all off and informed them that it was now needed urgently due to their somewhat lack of action over the weeks it took them.

Well I received it back in 5 days and was quite impressed with this going by their last attempt. One point to remember though is that they do not supply your visa to stick in your passport, you have to go to your local DIMIA office which I did and was too easy. They had a quick look at the new passport and just handed me the visa to stick in.

Tony