[Osem]

Well applying for a passport should obviously be a controlled process as difficult to abuse as possible. There has been a significant amount of fraud going on when it comes to passport applications and presumably the powers that be feel this new process will reduce it. I'm in favour of making the whole process as watertight as possible and would support anything reasonable which achieves this aim. Relying on a countersignatory is open to abuse unless the ID of that person is verifiable. Whether these measures will work and/or there are additional motives behind the scheme, however, is another question altogether and nothing would surprise me frankly.

Given all the hassle people are having getting acceptable passport photos done these days due to the tougher rules, I wonder why they don't just combine the interview with a photo session.