Getting a passport application witnessed in London

TwoBirds

Hey guys, looking for some advice on this.

I lost my passport a while back and am going through the process of filling in the replacement forms and providing documentation etc. The kicker is the Certificate of Identity section, ie. the one where you need a witness. Usually in Ireland the local Gardai have signed it, no problems. However, the Met Police apparently don't do it anymore, my GP surgery refused, Post Office refused... Reading around on the web, it looks like my only real option is a notary public. (The form I have doesn't stipulate that the witness must be someone whose known you for two years, by the way.) Anyhoo, this notary public buisness sounds pretty pricey, so just curious as to whether anyone has found another route, or a cheapo solicitors who has done it?

Cheers!

exiledelbows

There's a solicitor down by the Passport Office that does it for 20 quid. My OH's a teacher so I got her assistant head to do it. Everyone over here refuses because the UK passport rule is you have to know them for two years, but that's not the case for Irish passports.

Help!!!!

A uk solicitor can sign a Irish passport......just make sure you mention its Irish you have
I got mine done in West Ealing for £5

who the fug

Anthony Gold on Tooley street may do it for £ 5.00 , they are just witnessing your signature

You will need photo ID

Marcusm

who the fug wrote: »

Anthony Gold on Tooley street may do it for £ 5.00 , they are just witnessing your signature

You will need photo ID

That's not true; they have to satisfy themselves as to your identity which they would usually do using an expired or expiring passport.

OP: Do you have a driving licence? Work ID? Do you work somewhere with an inhouse legal department?

who the fug

Marcusm wrote: »

That's not true; they have to satisfy themselves as to your identity which they would usually do using an expired or expiring passport.

OP: Do you have a driving licence? Work ID? Do you work somewhere with an inhouse legal department?

Which is why I said photo ID

ballsymchugh

i can do it for you for free if you want. i'll be in central tomorrow if it's handy. PM me if you want. there's small differences in what i need for the UK and irish passport forms, and even after doing plenty of them before, i can never remember. let me know if i need to put my passport number on the irish form too, as i do when doing the UK one.

i know that sounds really dodgy, but i'm serious!

Louche Lad

TwoBirds wrote: »

Hey guys, looking for some advice on this.

I lost my passport a while back and am going through the process of filling in the replacement forms and providing documentation etc. The kicker is the Certificate of Identity section, ie. the one where you need a witness. Usually in Ireland the local Gardai have signed it, no problems. However, the Met Police apparently don't do it anymore, my GP surgery refused, Post Office refused... Reading around on the web, it looks like my only real option is a notary public. (The form I have doesn't stipulate that the witness must be someone whose known you for two years, by the way.) Anyhoo, this notary public buisness sounds pretty pricey, so just curious as to whether anyone has found another route, or a cheapo solicitors who has done it?

Cheers!

Do you have a UK bank account? I got my UK bank to certify something for me for free a few months ago.

Marcusm

ballsymchugh wrote: »

i can do it for you for free if you want. i'll be in central tomorrow if it's handy. PM me if you want. there's small differences in what i need for the UK and irish passport forms, and even after doing plenty of them before, i can never remember. let me know if i need to put my passport number on the irish form too, as i do when doing the UK one.

i know that sounds really dodgy, but i'm serious!

No need to put your passport number down but the form requires you to apply your "stamp"; in my experience, providing a business card is generally sufficient.

OP: After you have everything together, it's well worthwhile dropping it into the Consulate in Cromwell Road. They will check it and, in my experience of 4 passports across that office and the previous Brompton Road one, means that it issues without problem.

Marcusm

who the fug wrote: »

Which is why I said photo ID

A minor point when you suggested that the only function was to witness a signature which is not even a part of the purpose of the attestation process.

exiledelbows

Witnessing the signature is a part of the attestation process. I'm looking at the passport form right now and your signature in Section 8 has to be witnessed, but they also have to be satisfied as to your identity

StephC2103

Hello,

I had serious trouble getting my passport witnessed over here as I lost all forms of ID (they were in the same bag that was lost). After weeks of a back and forth between myself and the embassy - me trying to explain that no one on the list would sign for me here and them continuously sending me the list - I found out that the post office just down the road from the post office will witness your passport for £20. So you can get it all done in the one day. If you have all the forms you need, just bring your passport and 2 pictures with you, get them signed and stamped in the post office and the passport office is about 2mins away.

Also, the police would not even sign the part of my passport that I had to fill in stating I had lost my passport. The man in the post office also signed that part for me, so don't worry if the police give you a report but refuse to sign the form saying they took the report (makes so little sense it still makes me angry...).

I hope this helps as I had such trouble getting mine and couldn't find any useful advice online!

Marcusm

StephC2103 wrote: »

Hello,

I had serious trouble getting my passport witnessed over here as I lost all forms of ID (they were in the same bag that was lost). After weeks of a back and forth between myself and the embassy - me trying to explain that no one on the list would sign for me here and them continuously sending me the list - I found out that the post office just down the road from the post office will witness your passport for £20. So you can get it all done in the one day. If you have all the forms you need, just bring your passport and 2 pictures with you, get them signed and stamped in the post office and the passport office is about 2mins away.

Also, the police would not even sign the part of my passport that I had to fill in stating I had lost my passport. The man in the post office also signed that part for me, so don't worry if the police give you a report but refuse to sign the form saying they took the report (makes so little sense it still makes me angry...).

I hope this helps as I had such trouble getting mine and couldn't find any useful advice online!

It'll be interesting to see what happens here; do the post office people know you well enough to confirm your identity without assistance?

StephC2103

Hello,

I had serious trouble getting my passport witnessed over here as I lost all forms of ID (they were in the same bag that was lost). After weeks of a back and forth between myself and the embassy - me trying to explain that no one on the list would sign for me here and them continuously sending me the list - I found out that the post office just down the road from the Irish passport office (114A Cromwell Rd, London SW7 4ES) will witness your passport for £20. So you can get it all done in the one day. If you have all the forms you need, just bring your passport and 2 pictures with you, get them signed and stamped in the post office and the passport office is about 2mins away. The post office is just across the road when you exit Gloucester Road tube.

Also, the police would not even sign the part of my passport that I had to fill in stating I had lost my passport. The man in the post office also signed that part for me. If you've lost your passport don't worry if the police give you a report but refuse to sign the form saying they took the report (makes so little sense it still makes me angry...).

I hope this helps as I had such trouble getting mine and couldn't find any useful advice online!

StephC2103

Hi Marcus, no they don't need to know you at all. You just need to show them ID to prove you are who you say you are. I had lost all forms of ID so didn't even have that to show him, I showed him a few bank cards with my name on them and he accepted (although I don't know if he always would. I think he could see the desperation in my eyes).

I think because the problems Irish people have in securing one of the witnesses in the UK, the passport office have worked out some kind of system with this post office so that they provide the service of signing passports.

S.M.B.

Pretty sure that's the post office I used when I did mine a few years ago.

Shame it took about a month of investigation to get it sorted the end.

Marcusm

StephC2103 wrote: »

Hi Marcus, no they don't need to know you at all. You just need to show them ID to prove you are who you say you are. I had lost all forms of ID so didn't even have that to show him, I showed him a few bank cards with my name on them and he accepted (although I don't know if he always would. I think he could see the desperation in my eyes).

I think because the problems Irish people have in securing one of the witnesses in the UK, the passport office have worked out some kind of system with this post office so that they provide the service of signing passports.

That's really shocking and needs to be reported to DFA and possibly Metropolitan Police also. There is no way any reasonable person could determine your identity from a few bank cards. If this was possible, I'd easiky be able to obtain 3 or 4 false passports. That the consulate staff directed you there is even more shocking. It's not that long ago since the London consulate was shipping blank passports out the back door to non citizens.

I appreciate your difficulty with losing all forms of photo ID but this is no system that should ever be considered appropriate.

StephC2103

I know, it's a joke. I was literally emailing them for about 6 weeks after my form was returned until eventually I was told by them to go to that post office. I don't know why they had to mess me about for so long before they could tell me.

Sidenote: My passport was rejected because I got the Managing Director of the company I work for to sign it - he has known me for almost 2 years. This was not acceptable, but a man who worked in the post office, who does not know me, and who signed it without me showing him any valid ID, was acceptable.

The stupidity of the Irish system never fails to confuse and infuriate me.

StephC2103

Marcus,

I have no intention of reporting the one source of help that I received! I would prefer to just give this information to other Irish people in a similar situation, so that they don't have to experience the stress I did. If I was to report this post office, that would eliminate the one source I had for getting a new passport. I literally tried EVERYONE on the list of witnesses and not one of them would sign for me. I'm sure lots of people have the same problem.

What is more shocking than this is the fact that the Irish government have not considered that the mass exodus of people from Ireland should perhaps make them produce different passport forms, relevant to the country the person is applying from.

I've learned the hard way that the nonsense Irish administrative system is too ridiculous to ever change. If they are forcing me to so something risqué so I can get a bloody passport, I will. And I hope I've helped others do the same too.

FTA69

I had an auld b*llocks of an Irish priest in North London refuse me because he said he didn't know me. So much for helping a brother out. (Even though I'm Prod heritage and never set foot in his church in my life.)

In the end I got a cousin who's an actuary to sign my photos and blag that he was an accountant. The consulate seemed to take that handy anyway. It's a total mess the way it is; I had to remind your one to even take my signed passport photos, she was about to go ahead with the unsigned ones.

That's really shocking and needs to be reported to DFA and possibly Metropolitan Police also. There is no way any reasonable person could determine your identity from a few bank cards. If this was possible, I'd easiky be able to obtain 3 or 4 false passports. That the consulate staff directed you there is even more shocking. It's not that long ago since the London consulate was shipping blank passports out the back door to non citizens.

Errah be quiet, it's bad enough getting it done without shutting down the few places that will actually help you.

Marcusm

I don't see how any of you can actually believe that publicisng an easily manipulated means of obtaining an Irish passport helps anyone. Irish passports issued in London were subject to additional scrutiny in many countries following the McDonald passport selling fiasco. I don't want to have to endure that again.

Marcusm

StephC2103

You posted the following self serving rubbish which was sent to the subscribers to this thread by email. This post office are doing a complete disservice to the consulate and Irish people generally by certifying forms without making any reasonable checks on identity. You lost your other forms of photo ID, whether that be work ID or driving licence or similar. There's a reason why a passport has a higher standard of identity check. An issue which you seem to ignore as you can concentrate only on your own convenience.

The approved witness procedures in the UK is broader than in Ireland (clergy or guard) and doesn't have the 2 year rule a ZuK passport form would require. They have tailored it and this post office worker is not assisting anyone with an ounce of common sense or organisational skills but is absolutely allowing people to ride roughshod over the rules.
Rest assured I will report them and I will insist that the consul recheck and verify all passports which have been issued using that witness.

"Marcus,

I have no intention of reporting the one source of help that I received! I would prefer to just give this information to other Irish people in a similar situation, so that they don't have to experience the stress I did. If I was to report this post office, that would eliminate the one source I had for getting a new passport. I literally tried EVERYONE on the list of witnesses and not one of them would sign for me. I'm sure lots of people have the same problem.

What is more shocking than this is the fact that the Irish government have not considered that the mass exodus of people from Ireland should perhaps make them produce different passport forms, relevant to the country the person is applying from.

I've learned the hard way that the nonsense Irish administrative system is too ridiculous to ever change. If they are forcing me to so something risqué so I can get a bloody passport, I will. And I hope I've helped others do the same too."