Passports chaos nightmares

Halcyon · 20-05-2022, 10:23

Hi,

So as I'm sure you are aware there is a massive backlog with passport applications at the moment. One of the reasons is that a lot of people couldnt go anytwahere during the last two years of Covid restrictions so are only renewing now.

Has anyone here ever had issues?

I applied for my childrens renewal passports back in March as I knew they could take some time. We got the new passports. All good there.

Now, the interesting thing is when you receive your old passport back.
For one of my children, I got his passport back and the birth certificate that we had to send. All good there.

However a week later when when my other son's old passport came back not only was there no birth certificate but there was also a little girls passport in there too! With a sticker with my sons details on the back of the girls passport.

No idea who this girl is but talk about a massive data breach!

How could you even mix up a girl and boy!

Passport agency is being very slow to deal with this. They were meant to send a paid return envelope to get this girls passport back but this hasnt arrived yet.

And they currently have no clue where the birth certificate is!

For such an important document and I.D. you would think they would be more careful. We are fuming!

TheDaddy · 20-05-2022, 12:30

A lot of places don't accept copies of birth certificates as ID either so it is very important that they find it for you, so annoying

jfman · 20-05-2022, 12:41

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...ch-citizenship

Could always get a French one…

Halcyon · 20-05-2022, 12:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

A lot of places don't accept copies of birth certificates as ID either so it is very important that they find it for you, so annoying

Exactly. So my son now no longer has a birth certificate.

They are lucky we are not bad people. I'm sure many new arrivals to the UK would quite like a passport and having been sent this extra one then I could do anything with it.
Luckily I'm not going to do this but same with the birth certificate...Wherever that is, I hope it is not in the wrong hands.

---------- Post added at 11:48 ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfman

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...ch-citizenship

Could always get a French one…

Funny you say that actually as my mother is French so technically I could get a French one.

**Paul** · 20-05-2022, 19:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halcyon

Exactly. So my son now no longer has a birth certificate.

Not really, you can just get another copy.

Halcyon · 23-05-2022, 11:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Not really, you can just get another copy.

It is more the principle. I shouldnt be having to sort out other peoples mess ups.

Taf · 23-05-2022, 11:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfman

Could always get a French one…

As my wife is French, and our twins have dual nationality, I could apply for French dual nationality (€269) without actually living over there.

And recently the cost of the French passport dropped from around €300 to just under €100 (it had increased in price to cover extra costs due to the pandemic).

But it's all a very long trail of bureaucracy that can takes weeks or months. Appointments at the London Consulate are very hard to come by since they stopped the applicants queuing for hours outside the building.