Who would have thought getting a passport in the UK was so annoying.

I have a driving test in May and according to them I need to provide a passport before my test or it's a no go (ridiculous in itself).. So I applied for my passport last week, went to the post office and got the "check and send" service, cost me £85.25 all in all to send my passport application off.

Now here's the annoying part.

I received a letter in the post today from the passport office telling me that they want me to send in my mother's full birth certificate for proof of British nationality.

I was born in the UK. My mother was born in the UK. Her parents were born in the UK.

But nope, even though she has a British passport, apparently they still need documentation.

Thing is, she doesn't have a "full" birth certificate. My mother was born in the 50s and back then they only gave out a small birth certificate (half as long as a full one), so we need to order a full birth certificate.

The General Register Office is the only place that deals in these matters, and have 2 types of delivery.

Option 1: They send the birth certificate on the 15th of the month, costing £9.25

Option 2: They send the birth certificate the next working day, costing £23.40

Obviously I don't have time to wait for the birth certificate, send it off, and wait for them to complete my passport, so I go with option 2.

I'm just so pissed off because my mother is british, i am british, so what's the problem.

It seems like a new thing too because all my siblings are british and have british passports and haven't had this problem.

All in all it's cost me in excess of £130 just to get my passport sorted out. Ridiculous!

This is why I can't be bothered to gt my passport renewed, the whole process is ridiculous, they are so particular about the photo and even then, they can drag their heels at times with the processing.

I think it is criminal the amount they charge too, after all we are all citizens of planet Earth and should be entitled passage around this Earth, passport prices are too expensive, it hould be at least half the amount it is.

a reply to: toxicspikes

To be fair they do need to be pretty thorough these days with the amount of identity theft going on.

Its annoying and yes the loops you have to jump through are very annoying.

Why though do you not have a passport. To me that seems almost strange.

I do agree that the cost is a bit much but i guess somebody has to get paid to do all the admin work at some point.

originally posted by: solargeddon

, after all we are all citizens of planet Earth and should be entitled passage around this Earth,

5% can afford to fly.

What percentage live in a war torn society, decimated by the war to fuel those planes?

a reply to: toxicspikes

Why the hell do you need to have a UK passport to take your test?
What a load of nonsense..
When I took my test in the early 90's all I had to show was my provisional driving licence.

Must be a new requirement-But I would check up before you fork out all that money.
Hang on,I just checked up for you-
Do you have a photo of yourself on your provisional licence-if you do,you DO NOT need a passport.

You must bring:
your theory test pass certificate (or confirmation) if you’re not exempt from taking the theory test
both parts of your driving licence - the photocard and the paper counterpart
You must bring your signed driving licence and a valid passport if you have an old-style paper licence.

www.gov.uk...

Hope that helps.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

As a child I had a passport, but my mother lost that years ago (and it's definitely expired now lol)

I just haven't gotten round to sorting out my passport until now (I'm 23, haven't been abroad since I was a child), so had no need for one really

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

I was thinking that as well for taking my test i only needed my provisional license no need for a passport.

And i am pretty sure that if you are applying for your provisional you can do it with out a passport, things might have changed though since i had to go through all that

originally posted by: Silcone Synapse
a reply to: toxicspikes

Why the hell do you need to have a UK passport to take your test?
What a load of nonsense..
When I took my test in the early 90's all I had to show was my provisional driving licence.

Must be a new requirement-But I would check up before you fork out all that money.
Hang on,I just checked up for you-
Do you have a photo of yourself on your provisional licence-if you do,you DO NOT need a passport.

You must bring:
your theory test pass certificate (or confirmation) if you’re not exempt from taking the theory test
both parts of your driving licence - the photocard and the paper counterpart
You must bring your signed driving licence and a valid passport if you have an old-style paper licence.

www.gov.uk...

Hope that helps.

I've already sent off for everything so too late lol

I do have a photo of myself on my provisional, but when I applied for my test I'm certain it said I needed to bring my passport along with me..

Oh well! At least I'll be able to go abroad now.

Thanks for your help though!

www.gov.uk...

which one of these applies to you?

I just had to do something similar in Canada. Two years ago I wasn't allowed to renew my driver's license without my citizenship card which I have never had to do before in twenty five years. Citizenship cards in Canada can take up to ten months to renew... not sure why but it's about the same time as applying for citizenship in the first place. Take a number and wait in line I guess.

Anyhow, how is it that with computer technology in place, with governments that information gather like crazy and profile, we are always asked to reprove who we are? I can see if you got red flagged for a crime or something but for the average person this is ridiculous.

a reply to: toxicspikes

i had a similar problem when i worked in Holland , because like a lot of birth certificate had copy stamped on it i had to send it back to England for them to place a sticker on the back to say it was authentic .

another grievance i have is when i passed my driving test in the seventies , it said it was valid until i turned 70 but now since the introduction of the card licence i have to pay £10 every ten years to renew it .

a reply to: toxicspikes

According to the government site, you've had bad advice.



Dot Gov page