Jscl

I went to one Walgreens, got the UK size photos and when I got home, compared them to the description at the passport website - panicked because the head was so much smaller than the 60-70% of frame they specified.

So I went to a different Walgreens and this time the template made my head huge! Hardly any of my shoulders were in the photo. I felt I was running out of time so sent those photos in with the application.

I now have a new passport with a very big headed picture on it, so it turned out ok. However Walgreen's templates might not be programmed consistently so I'd check what they give you with the written specifications on the website.

martyleach

That's how mine came out to start with. Luckily, I brought the UK passport guidelines with me, and they were able to print out a few copies until it met the specifications.

Just to cover all bases, they gave me 4 UK photos, AND threw in 4 of the US sizes at the same time; and all for the cost of one set - $7

Which was nice.

MsElui

if i remember correctly - the actual printed instructions that come with the passport form from washington actually states something like ' if you get a us format done just leave them uncut and we will trim them ourselves to the right spec'.

shazza777

I have searched the threads and can't find what i am looking for.
My question is.....
I need to change my name on my passport to my married name, do i have to pay the same amount of money as to renew my passport? i have 7 years left on my UK one!

Jscl

I think you pay the full fee and lose the extra time remaining on your current passport. That's what happened to me, although it was 10 years ago and things might have changed.

I just had a look at the website and can't find anything that mentions either a smaller fee or letting you get that time back.

Maybe you can just go by your old name for a few years when travelling?

Bob

Yup, that and bringing a copy of marriage certificate.

Jscl

If you do, make sure you book flights in the exact name on your current passport though - otherwise you're heading for a world of trouble in this day and age.

meauxna

You don't have to do a complete renewal; you can amend the name in your passport: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...port/DG_174166

Jscl

It looks like they charge you the full price though!

shazza777

Thanks guys, i just hope that the passport service over here is as easy as Liverpoool. I have been reading some of the posts and it doesn't look very nice, lol. The down side of it all is that i have to pay $600 at the end of this month to remove my green card conditions, now the price of the passport and that's even before i think of the price of the travel to get back home for 2 weeks

coastieexpat

FYI......

This was actually taken from a
passport application
and a member of staff
copied it,
as it made her laugh all day.....


Subject: Passport Application


Dear Minister,
I'm in the process of renewing my passport but I am a total loss to understand or believe the hoops I am being asked to jump through.

How is it that Bert Smith of T.V. Rentals Basingstoke has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a satellite dish from them back in 1994, and yet, the Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date?

How come that nice West African immigrant chappy who comes round every Thursday night with his DVD rentals van can tell me every film or video I have had out since he started his business up eleven years ago, yet you still want me to remind you of my last three jobs, two of which were with contractors working for the government?

How come the T.V. detector van can tell if my T.V. is on, what channel I am watching and whether I have paid my licence or not, and yet if I win the government run lottery they have no idea I have won or where I am and will keep the bloody money to themselves if I fail to claim in good time.
Do you people do this by hand?

You have my birth date on numerous files you hold on me, including the one with all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 30-odd years. It's on my health insurance card, my driver's licence, on the last four passports I've had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off the planes and boats over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that are done every ten years and the electoral registration forms I have to complete, by law, every time our lords and masters are up for re-election.

Would somebody please take note, once and for all, I was born in Maidenhead on the 4th of March 1957, my mother's name is Mary, her maiden name was Reynolds, my father's name is Robert, and I'd be absolutely astounded if that ever changed between now and the day I die!

I apologise Minister. I'm obviously not myself this morning. But between you and me, I have simply had enough! You mail the application to my house, then you ask me for my address. What is going on? Do you have a gang of Neanderthals working there? Look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I don't want to activate the Fifth Reich for God's sake! I just want to go and park my weary backside on a sunny, sandy beach for a couple of week's well-earned rest away from all this crap.

Well, I have to go now, because I have to go to back to Salisbury and get another copy of my birth certificate because you lost the last one. AND to the tune of 60 quid! What a racket THAT is!! Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot to assist in the issuance of a new passport the same day? But nooooo, that'd be too damn easy and maybe make sense. You'd rather have us running all over the place like chickens with our heads cut off, then find some tosser to confirm that it's really me on the goddamn picture - you know... the one where we're not allowed to smile in in case we look as if we are enjoying the process!
Hey, you know why we can't smile? 'Cause we're totally jacked off!

I served in the armed forces for more than 25 years including over ten years at the Ministry of Defence in London. I have had security clearances which allowed me to sit in the Cabinet Office, five seats away from the Prime Minister while he was being briefed on the first Gulf War and I have been doing volunteer work for the British Red Cross ever since I left the Services. However, I have to get someone 'important' to verify who I am -- you know, someone like my doctor...
who, before he got his medical degree 6 months ago WAS LIVING IN PAKISTAN...

Yours sincerely,
An Irate British Citizen.

Elvira

No it wasn't - the reference to my health insurance card should have alerted you to the fact that this is a pile of horse manure...

coastieexpat

It was meant to be funny, my apologies for sharing , I should have warned the pedantic and humourless not to read it.

Just joking ( again ! )

Mick

Elvira

Chill out............. this one's much better:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...-saved-titanic

coastieexpat

Thanks , that's great !

Sorry I didn't mean to get my feathers ruffled !