What's happening with passports?

[dakta]

I recently got notified by a european bank that I've used for small scale share trading that they don't accept driving licenses as ID anymore and that to use their services going forward I need to submit a passport to use their services.

That's the polite way of phrasing it - what they actually did was froze me out without warning, so i can't check the status of my account or make any transactions until i upload a passport.

Thing is, apart from when I was 11, (32 now) I've never been abroad. I don't know where the passport is.

To apply for a replacement, I need to submit the old. I can't say I've never had one as I have. Can't really report it as lost or stolen because I've no idea when or where it was lost in the lasr 20 or so years.

So i thought lets speak to an advisor to find the best way out of this conundrum. But there webchat has been down the last number of weeks: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/contact/hm-passport-office-webchat

So I rang their contact number, it forces you to listen to 2 minutes of diatribe, and if you ask to speak to an advisor it just cuts you off with a blunt 'we cant take your call at the moment try again later'. No music, no waiting, just thatmessage followed by immediate disconnection.

So last week I used their webform for enquiries (https://eforms.homeoffice.gov.uk/outreach/Passport_Enquiries.ofml) , - I made the request at the start of last week and have had neither confirmation that it has been received nor a response

I don't want to go abroad, I just want to log in to my trading account! (the bank won't budge)

How can you contact these overpaid cretins? I find it hard to beleive for a simple enquiry such as this I'm going to have to direct it through my MP?

 

[Gloster]

I don’t think that a passport issued to someone before the of 16 can be used for anything in later life except, possibly, getting a new one on its expiry. Are you sure that you actually had your own passport? When I was around that age (late 1960s and early 1970s) I travelled as an additional name on my mother’s passport. Things were slacker then.

 

[AlterEgo]

I don’t think that a passport issued to someone before the of 16 can be used for anything in later life except, possibly, getting a new one on its expiry. Are you sure that you actually had your own passport? When I was around that age (late 1960s and early 1970s) I travelled as an additional name on my mother’s passport. Things were slacker then.

You're showing your age!

Even babies have been required to have a passport or travel document for about ten years IIRC, and children do not travel on their parents' passport any more.

I had my own passport certainly from when I was twelve, and I am 35 now.

OP: The Passport Office is terrible. However, if you are certain you had your own passport, in your own name, it will be more straightforward. I found that when I had to contact them (repeatedly!!) back in August, if you ring at exactly 0800, there is almost no wait at all.

 

[dakta]

Thanks for the replies, yeah I had my own passport as I remember I had to have my photo taken and the parents made a point of keeping hold of them ironically so they didn't get lost.

Can't ask my dad what he did with them ultimately as he's no longer with us!

Bit irritating as I don't actually really want a passport, I just want to check on my investments (which i technically can do with my own spreadsheet and a stock price site such as LSE but if I want to make a change I'm stuffed)

 

[Mojo]

You're showing your age!

Even babies have been required to have a passport or travel document for about ten years IIRC, and children do not travel on their parents' passport any more.

The gov.uk website says that the allowance for under 16s to travel on as an additional name in a parent’s passport was removed on 4th October 1998, so the OP as a 32-year-old, if he last travelled at age 11, would have needed a passport then.

 

[Caboose Class]

Thanks for the replies, yeah I had my own passport as I remember I had to have my photo taken and the parents made a point of keeping hold of them ironically so they didn't get lost.

Can't ask my dad what he did with them ultimately as he's no longer with us!

Bit irritating as I don't actually really want a passport, I just want to check on my investments (which i technically can do with my own spreadsheet and a stock price site such as LSE but if I want to make a change I'm stuffed)

Irritating for sure - but if your bank insists, then you have no other option. Why not just apply for a new passport online? They cost £75.50 and usually take about 8 weeks to arrive. There will come a time in life when your passport will become your best friend!

 

[AlterEgo]

Irritating for sure - but if your bank insists, then you have no other option. Why not just apply for a new passport online? They cost £75.50 and usually take about 8 weeks to arrive. There will come a time in life when your passport will become your best friend!

It's not possible for him to apply online if he doesn't have his old passport.

 

[Sm5]

Did they specify the nationality of the passport ?

As part of the EU Settlement scheme, millions of EU citizens have had to formalize status in the UK. As the scheme closed at June 30th, from 90 days later the clampdown is starting.

Many are finding right to work, have a bank account, credit, rent property etc are being challenged on their status In the UK. As companies seek to weed out legal from now suddenly non-legal EU citizens living here, this risks picking up collateral damage from British citizens whom have never travelled and no passport but having old ID (such as paper driving livences etc) as companies indemnify themselves from having non-legal residents among their papers. Age or length of time living in the UK is no acceptable mitigation here.

It isnt a legal requirement to hold a UK passport, indeed it isnt a legal requirement to carry ID at all. However financial institutions will need to see government ID that proves your right to be in the UK and using UK financial services, a Passport shows both, so is the easy route, but Birth certificate with Driving licence, and proof of address should usually suffice…

You did mention its an EU bank however, and if they are not UK registered, and you are not a legal EU resident (Ie legal resident of an EU 27 country, not including the UK), then the same above applies to you, and they are possibly correct to withhold services, and supplying them with a British passport would prove not your right to access, but actually the opposite… and it maybe its you they need to weed out.

Before buying a passport you may not need, check if your EU bank is registered in the UK, it maybe that you need to dissolve the account and move it to a UK registered bank.

fwiw, your MP (If conservative) is probably a waste of time on these matters as they dont want know anything negative B’related, unless you get a national journalist involved as well... then decisions occur literally overnight (at least in our specific circumstances it did).

 

[Caboose Class]

It's not possible for him to apply online if he doesn't have his old passport.

Then the best thing for him would be to report his passport as being lost (this can easily be done online) and once that is all sorted, then apply for a new passport on line.

 

[dakta]

This is what I've done but i'm not happy about the process, the form requested me to tell them when I lost it, who confirmed my identitiy, where it was lost, what my passport number is before telling me I really ought to make a police report.

Most of those details I couldn't give so had to approximate where mandatory with a mile wide margin for error. Can't see this ending well, though they did say if the had any issues they would make every effort to 'contact me'. Noice.

 

[Sm5]

I don’t think that a passport issued to someone before the of 16 can be used for anything in later life except, possibly, getting a new one on its expiry. Are you sure that you actually had your own passport? When I was around that age (late 1960s and early 1970s) I travelled as an additional name on my mother’s passport. Things were slacker then.

Dont forget a passport could be bought from the post office in the 1980’s.. just turn, take a photo in the booth, walk up to the counter, pay the money and your photo was glued onto a pink paper 1 year passport.

This caught out a friend of mine, white, english male, he was born in the UK
and lived here all his life, He then stopped travelling, whilst at uni and later applied for a British passport years later, He was duly rejected and deported.

He was deported of all places to San Francisco, which is where I met him, watching football with British breakfast, plus beer at 8am one saturday morning in a British pub in Haight st. Timezone differences make this a popular saturday ex-pat thing. Here was a mid 40’s morecambe bay lad, lancashire accent, absolutely clueless about the ways and life in the US, and frankly.. dazed, watching Liverpool.

Turns out he was born to US parents here in the UK. They naturalised to being British, and later died and affairs wrapped up. he never applied for citizenship assuming he was British already, and had no proof beyond a UK issued birth certificate showing US parents, diplomatic service, which wasnt automatic right to be British.. Once the 1 up year passports were withdrawn he at some later stage applied for a full 10 year one, thats when they turned up at his doorstep. This all predates Windrush by 2 decades, but his case is broadly similar. He didnt have sufficient resources to fight & research this, and so folded and accepted deportation to the US.

Despite arguing being British since birth and no ties to the US he was detained, deported without his belongings and had to close his affairs from SF (I was living in the US and travelling to the UK monthly, so helped him at the time). His only choice in destination was given to him by the US Embassy who extended him a loan, but otherwise he wasn't in a good state… though arguably his potential employment chances were now far easier than mine, as I had a restrictive US visa, so we had a few things in common.

Weve been friends 2 decades now, he's set him self up very well. He's a millionaire, nice car, qualified light aircraft pilot living it up a long way from Morecambe, with his own media business. Definitely no plans to return, and has nothing good to say about UK immigration but he proudly says he got his education upto MBA at Warwick paid for by the government before he was removed… He regularly gives paid after dinner talks and includes his experiences in the UK which obviously does little to enhance this countries image.

 

[duncanp]

Dont forget a passport could be bought from the post office in the 1980’s.. just turn, take a photo in the booth, walk up to the counter, pay the money and your photo was glued onto a pink paper 1 year passport.

This caught out a friend of mine, white, english male, he was born in the UK
and lived here all his life, He then stopped travelling, whilst at uni and later applied for a British passport years later, He was duly rejected and deported.

He was deported of all places to San Francisco, which is where I met him, watching football with British breakfast, plus beer at 8am one saturday morning in a British pub in Haight st. Timezone differences make this a popular saturday ex-pat thing. Here was a mid 40’s morecambe bay lad, lancashire accent, absolutely clueless about the ways and life in the US, and frankly.. dazed, watching Liverpool.

Turns out he was born to US parents here in the UK. They naturalised to being British, and later died and affairs wrapped up. he never applied for citizenship assuming he was British already, and had no proof beyond a UK issued birth certificate showing US parents, diplomatic service, which wasnt automatic right to be British.. Once the 1 up year passports were withdrawn he at some later stage applied for a full 10 year one, thats when they turned up at his doorstep. This all predates Windrush by 2 decades, but his case is broadly similar. He didnt have sufficient resources to fight & research this, and so folded and accepted deportation to the US.

Despite arguing being British since birth and no ties to the US he was detained, deported without his belongings and had to close his affairs from SF (I was living in the US and travelling to the UK monthly, so helped him at the time). His only choice in destination was given to him by the US Embassy who extended him a loan, but otherwise he wasn't in a good state… though arguably his potential employment chances were now far easier than mine, as I had a restrictive US visa, so we had a few things in common.

Weve been friends 2 decades now, he's set him self up very well. He's a millionaire, nice car, qualified light aircraft pilot living it up a long way from Morecambe, with his own media business. Definitely no plans to return, and has nothing good to say about UK immigration but he proudly says he got his education upto MBA at Warwick paid for by the government before he was removed… He regularly gives paid after dinner talks and includes his experiences in the UK which obviously does little to enhance this countries image.

Your friend's experience is not good, but similar stories exist about the U.S., whereby people have lived there for decades without acquiring citizenship, and are then deported when they come to the attention of the authorities over some minor issue, or even when they return to the U.S. after being abroad for a while.

If anything, the U.S. Immigration authorities are more strict on these matters than their counterparts in the U.K.

 

[Sm5]

Your friend's experience is not good, but similar stories exist about the U.S., whereby people have lived there for decades without acquiring citizenship, and are then deported when they come to the attention of the authorities over some minor issue, or even when they return to the U.S. after being abroad for a while.

If anything, the U.S. Immigration authorities are more strict on these matters than their counterparts in the U.K.

more competant is the words I would use.

but we are wandering off topic.

 

[ainsworth74]

more competant is the words I would use.

I'm not sure a system which sees toddlers having to represent themselves in deportation court proceedings can be described as "competent".

 

[AlterEgo]

I'm not sure a system which sees toddlers having to represent themselves in deportation court proceedings can be described as "competent".

Oh but that's by design! Bet you a pound that was in Texas.

 

[Sm5]

I'm not sure a system which sees toddlers having to represent themselves in deportation court proceedings can be described as "competent".

I was working from my own direct experiences, with immigration, on several, to be clear, “non-tourist”, immigration matters, on both sides of the pond.

I find US immigration more competant.

Ive not seen such as mess as the EUSS in the US, for example… here for example parents who have lived here 20+ years are getting accepted several months late, and being made homeless, jobless whilst waiting, but after 6 months are getting accepted and restored, only to find their children are being subsequently refused and asked to leave… and cannot attend school.. or hospital, how is this competant…?

You highlight 1 example..

I would suggest a read of the EU Settlement scheme facebook page, the horror stories are being updated hourly, from some very desparate long term residents of this country, who enrolled as far back as February on a process supposed to take 5 days, and have no documents to prove their legality since June 30th, despite assurances…

the papers pick selected highlights..theres 500k more stories on the EUSS still waiting to be read, and estimates suggest it will be mid-next year before those 5 day applications maybe completed.

Now you could argue its a strong robust checking of too many applicants, except that same pages shows some folks dancing on tables from countries a way way away from the EU, who have never set foot in the UK, or even Europe for that matter, enjoying their new UK settled status without need of a visa, and right to bring family due to the loopholes of EUSS… What is more, is EUSS will be processing new applicants for years, long after June 30th Application deadline, is that competant ?

 

[ainsworth74]

I was working from my own direct experiences, with immigration, on several, to be clear, “non-tourist”, immigration matters, on both sides of the pond.

I find US immigration more competant.

Ive not seen such as mess as the EUSS in the US, for example… here for example parents who have lived here 20+ years are getting accepted several months late, and being made homeless, jobless whilst waiting, but after 6 months are getting accepted and restored, only to find their children are being subsequently refused and asked to leave… and cannot attend school.. or hospital, how is this competant…?

You highlight 1 example..

I would suggest a read of the EU Settlement scheme facebook page, the horror stories are being updated hourly, from some very desparate long term residents of this country, who enrolled as far back as February on a process supposed to take 5 days, and have no documents to prove their legality since June 30th, despite assurances…

the papers pick selected highlights..theres 500k more stories on the EUSS still waiting to be read, and estimates suggest it will be mid-next year before those 5 day applications maybe completed.

Now you could argue its a strong robust checking of too many applicants, except that same pages shows some folks dancing on tables from countries a way way away from the EU, who have never set foot in the UK, or even Europe for that matter, enjoying their new UK settled status without need of a visa, and right to bring family due to the loopholes of EUSS… is that competant ?

I find the Home Office and their administration of our immigration system to be incompetent and often abhorrent. My point is simply that I find no indication that the US system is any better when you have one which makes toddlers face legal proceedings without adequate representation.

Oh but that's by design! Bet you a pound that was in Texas.

I believe you would have won that bet!

 

[johncrossley]

Turns out he was born to US parents here in the UK.

Was he born in the UK before 1981? That makes him automatically British.

 

[XAM2175]

Was he born in the UK before 1981? That makes him automatically British.

Check if you're a British citizen

Check if you're automatically a British citizen - it depends on where and when you were born and your parents' immigration status.

www.gov.uk

Born in the UK or a British colony before 1 January 1983​

You’re usually a British citizen automatically if you were born in the UK.
There are 2 exceptions. You will not be a British citizen if your father was either:

• a diplomat working for a foreign country
• an ‘enemy alien in occupation’ - this only applies to you if your father was in the Channel Islands during World War 2 when you were born

The original post mentions that the parents were in the UK as diplomats at the time.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

My own 10 year renewal passport, issued October 2016, notionally expires February 2027. Presumably, in view of what's been mentioned upthread, it'll be of little use for overseas travel after maybe March/April 2026.

 

[johncrossley]

Check if you're a British citizen

Check if you're automatically a British citizen - it depends on where and when you were born and your parents' immigration status.

www.gov.uk

The original post mentions that the parents were in the UK as diplomats at the time.

Ah, I missed that bit!

 

[Sm5]

Thanks for the follow up, but he’s way long past caring to come back at this stage. His exit was around 2001.

he’s really done ok for himself out there.

 

[Trackman]

I don’t think that a passport issued to someone before the of 16 can be used for anything in later life except, possibly, getting a new one on its expiry. Are you sure that you actually had your own passport? When I was around that age (late 1960s and early 1970s) I travelled as an additional name on my mother’s passport. Things were slacker then.

I had my own passport from 7 years old as my parents divorced in the early 70s, This was so I could travel abroad with either of them.

Back to the OP's question:
I had the same problem obtaining a new passport.
I spoke to a lovely and helpful Scottish lass in a call centre, turns out in our case you have to go for a face to face interview to apply.