Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

It looks like maybe only UK residents can now sign for passports, if this is true, this makes a passport renewal difficult.You can only confirm someone’s identity if you:

• are 18 or over
• live in the UK
• have a current UK passport
• 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)
• know the person applying as a friend, neighbour or colleague (not just someone who knows you professionally)

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

It was really easy.
You apply online and then i had my old friend from England who lives there authentic Tecate who my kids are. You just provide their email on the form and they will send them a link to verify your identity. They just need to know the names, DOB and address of the kids and myself.

Supporting evidence was both sets of grandparents birth certificates and a few other easy items.

It took 2 months and was so simple.

We have the kids first UK passports in hand now.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

I don’t think this true if you live outside of the UK. You have only selected a small portion of the rules

https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Thanks for this, the link they provide when applying online and stating that you are overseas etc is https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/...rming-identity Your link is much more useful.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Gov,uk site says this -"If you’re applying outside the UK

Your countersignatory must have a current British, Irish or other EU, US or Commonwealth passport.

If they have a US, Commonwealth, or non-British or non-Irish EU passport, you must include with your application a colour photocopy of the page with their photograph on it.

Your application will be processed faster if they have a British or Irish passport.."

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

is this new because since leaving the UK I have never had my PP renewal signed by a Brit? My US doctor
countersigned in the US, I had my PP renewed a couple of years ago countersigned by a Canadian solicitor.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Hangs head after reading website - I may have been in the US too long - just rechecked - I think it was eliminated more a long time ago.
Thank you for keeping me honest!

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

i think security and the danger of fraudulent applications is always a concern.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Probably is.

Our daughter renewed her passport while living in LA in 2018. She got her boss at work to do the countersigned photo, an Australian American.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

I remember having a teacher friend sign my last renewal about 8 years ago and I had to send the picture page of her passport. This isn't new, but I got a bit concerned when the overseas application wizard stated that they wanted a UK resident to sign.

I'm going to make the assumption that the link Durham_Lad sent is still valid even though the application wizard doesn't direct you to that page.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Are you all renewing passports which have expired years ago?

I renewed my UK passport in Nov 2019, just prior to it expiring and I merely completed the form, paid the fee and sent off my old passport together with form.

Received my new passport back in 3 weeks. No countersignature required for anything.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

was it for your children or you as an adult?
i got my renewal fast but my children were also renewing last time and it took way longer.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

adult.....

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Our adult children had let their passports expire, and with our son it had been expired for over 10 years so when he applied for a renewal in 2016 it required not only a counter-signed photo but proof of birth plus copies of our UK passports. He only had a short-form birth certificate so we had to apply for a full birth certificate. He was living in Texas at the time, us in England, so I got all the paperwork and documents together then when he came for a visit that year we had our good friends who had know him from birth do the counte-signing. His passport was went to him back in Texas a few weeks later.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

But the reality is that that statement is equally true in the US, and I would argue even more so.

While the overall violence is shocking in the US, it is largely confined to either geographic or racial compartments, and often both, confined to black or hispanic gangs engaged in drug trafficking or other criminal activities. The result is that in the "leafy suburbs" of the US you are in no more danger in the US than you are in the UK, and I suspect that you are probably at greater risk in the UK of being assaulted by a knife-wielding thug if you go out to a bar or restaurant at night, than you are of being attacked in most places in the US under similar circumstances.