leeminky

Hi everyone,

I need to renew my daughters passport. As it is all being done in Paris now, it all costs €91 + €26 return postage + postage. To call for info it will cost €0,69 per minute + VAT charged to your credit card + international call fee by operator.
Obviously I believe I am paying through the nose already, so maybe one of you knows the answer to my questions?

1. Q1b. Was the child registered as a British citizen, British Dependent/Overseas Territories citizen, British overseas citizen, British Subject or British protected person?

The help-form doesn't help at all. Yes my daughter was obviously registered at birth, but is that what they mean? Because they then want number of citizen documents. Ahhhh.

2. Q2. Mothers citizenship at time of birth and if she was not a British citizen (I am Dutch, hubby English), the immigrationstatus in the UK.

Do you think Dutch citizen, EU member in the UK would suffice?

I would be more than greatful for any info provided....

Please help me...

mydogbitjesus

Hiya.
I renewed my UK passport through Paris a few months back. It was pretty straightforward as i just had to enclose my original passport and that proved nationality etc.
Was your child born in Holland or the UK? I'm assuming UK and that you would have a birth certificate from the UK, so answer to Q1b would be "yes".
I think your answer to the second question would be alright. You have a Dutch passport and Holland is in the EU so don't think they will be asking any more questions. Even if they needed more info they would just contact you anyway to clear it up.
I'm not a visa/ nationality/ passport expert so my advice is strictly Caveat Emptor! But these kind of questionaires can seem a bit more intimidating than they really are in practice.
Best of luck.
P.

leeminky

Thanks for your response. I actually just fished out her birth certificate, so hopefully that'll do the trick. It is just so annoying that you can't call anyone unless you have a creditcard (which I don't). And even if I did, the charges are outrageous.
Thanks for your help......
How long did you have to wait? After sending it obviously and how much did it cost to send (aangetekend)?

I'll keep you posted!

mydogbitjesus

hey. it didn't seem to take long... maybee a few weeks... think it says on the form an estimate of time, but like i said, if your renewing one it's much easier.
I went to the local post office who did a registered tnt post thing, didn't cost much, but have kind of completely forgotten now!! can't have been bad or i would have remembered.
Just do the registered post if you are enclosing precious documents.
Cheers,
P.

leeminky

I will do it through the postoffice indeed. I can't see it being much (at least nothing compared to the €26 they want for sending the thing back). Appreciate all the info however :-) Photos tomorrow, have the GP sign them Friday, send everything off Saturday :-)

leeminky

On my husbands details I have to tell them the date (not so hard) and place of issue. We lived in Holland already, so it was done by the consulate. Behind "authority" it says FCO. So what do I write down? My guess is FCO, but I need to be sure..... Sorry for all the (sometimes) silly questions (I am blonde :-) )

mydogbitjesus

foreign and commonwealth office is what fco means i'm pretty sure.
That's what's on my new passport under Authority, just FCO.
Remember... no smiling for the pics allowed these days! ha ha.
good luck.
P.

leeminky

I feel like asking my daughter to stick her tongue out, but that's not allowed either

I put a complaint in yesterday about the fact that without a credit card I can't call for any help. The answer was "If you could ask a friend, member of the family or a colleague for permission to use their Credit Card. This person must also be present during the call to give our Call Handler confirmation that he/she does give permission for their Credit Card to be debited for the cost of the
telephone call".

Are they for real ?????

Toontje

Welcome to the world of bureaucracy!

leeminky

Tell me about it. However, yesterday I received a call from Paris and this lady answered all my questions. Through email however, I had another.... "you can't complain if you have never called" message. How dumb are they....

Never mind, questions answered, photos taken, form filled out, so waiting for GP to do the countersignatory and off we go :-)

Casa Santo Estevo

Do they not have to be a British citizen? That is was is stated in the notes of ALL passport applications.

leeminky

If you do not know a British national or other Commonwealth citizen locally with those qualifications, a citizen of the country in which you are residing may complete and sign the form, providing he/she has a similar standing in that country and has known you for 2 years and the Consul considers his/her signature acceptable.

A couple of years ago, when this was all still done in Holland they accepted the GP no problem. Hopefully this will be the same this year :-)

mydogbitjesus

my pic was signed by someone i knew here that is a fine upstanding Dutch citizen with a Doctorate and i had no problem!
P.

leeminky

When we still lived in the UK, the GP would do it for us as well, but charged us for the pleasure. Over here..... not a problem.