need to send for new passports for my OH and myself - do i have to do this online ? could someone explain in simple terms what to do etc.,
basic language please and no fun comments - too tired at the moment to deal with that
also is there a specific p/office to post to or do i have to send to glasgow where the originals were given
any help graciously accepted
Make sure you do it a.s.a.p., after a âno-dealâ Brexit youâll need six months on your passport to enter the EU.
It is all online now. Having just recently renewed our passports, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the UK gov website is fairly well thought out with a sequence of steps that walks you through the process, and even testing the fitness of purpose (well the size and whether or not a face can be recognised) of the passport photo that you have to upload as an image file. Once submitted, the whole application process can be tracked via SMS/email updates, and other than having to send off your old passport (for which you received 2 reminders by email / SMS from the passport office), it took less than 3 weeks to receive a new passport. I found that to be incredibly efficient compared to my last renewal nearly 10 years ago, where I had to physically make an appointment at the embassy in Paris and go there to file my application. The only negative really was the fact that the passport office subcontract out the delivery of your old and new passport (you receive both separately) to DHL, who quite frankly are one of the laziest and worst courier services in France. My wifeâs passport got left with a neighbour, with no indication to us of where it might have been delivered, just that it had been delivered, and mine got delivered to a drop off point 20 km away, with neither the drop off point nor myself being informed about it until after the fact. Perhaps other areas in France have better DHL service, but quite frankly, the service in this area is a shambles.
agree totally with what you say re DHL - in fact living in a ruralish area none of carriers deliver here - or we get a phone call asking us to meet them miles from the house to collect their delivery
none of them interested in taking down directions in french
my biggest problem is that i have only just been told that my new laptop wonât upload photos - hence a problem with filling in forms online - just wondered if there is anyway of printing forms to send everything via mail
Have you read the U.K. government link. The answers to all of your questions are there.
Iâm a bit surprised at the statement âmy new laptop wonât upload photosâ, perhaps there is something we can help with there ?
Perhaps what I should say is that I bought this new laptop from my computer chap and what he has only just told me is that one is a 32 bit and the other problem is 64 bit and neither the twain shall meet
Maybe a little foresight on someoneâs part who shall remain nameless then I wouldnât have a problem !
Ah, I believe you are referring to scanning your pics onto the PC directly via a connected scanner. OK. You donât actually need to do this. I scanned my photobooth photos to a USB key that I can plug into my scanner. The online web application process also allows you to submit a picture taken with a smartphone that you can transfer to your PC, just as long as the picture respects the guidelines for passport photos. My wifeâs photobooth pictures were so out of proportion (despite them being âofficially conformâ to the French passport standard, that they were rejected by the UK online application photo checker, so we took a few with her smartphone and uploaded them instead. No scanner needed.
Take a picture with an appropriate white background and no shadow using a smartphone.
Either upload the pic to an online cloud/drive storage, and then download from there to your PC hard drive
OR
connect your phone to your PC and copy over the image from the phone to the hard drive.
OR
use your smartphoneâs browser to fill out the online application process instead of using your PC, and upload the picture directly from your phone.
This does assume you have a smartphone though.
Iâm afraid it does and we do not â but thanks
So beg, buy, borrow or steal, or âCall a Friendâ ?
Nice one
Do you live near a biggish town that will have a place to do digital passport photos? Might be worth the 7.50�
Beware that some of those machines donât produce acceptable output for the UK online application process. My wife and I used the same photomaton, allegedly certified to produce only passport/ID conform digital and hard copy photographs, albeit on different days, and hers were not accepted, whereas mine were. For some reason, the booth had an issue on the day my wife used it, and produced a weird kind of zoomed in facial effect which made her face fill virtually the whole screen (despite several attempts at readjustment in situ), this led to the photos being declined by the UK online application server, so we had take some of her against a white wall instead with her phone.
There are a few shops with those machines and there is a photography shop in eymet who does all kinds of photos â not good ones unfortunately
My scanner is pretty off and on as well at the moment hence my problem
Had finally decided to get the forms downloaded and send everything by post but have got confused as to what else is needed by the passport office to back up identity etc â notes are a bit confusing as to what â and obviously I need to send our current passports
What did you send ?
Any help appreciated
And thank you for the help so far â we live fairly rural â which is great â but cannot get delivery companies to deliver â we donât exist! and they will not take directions in French great! too much trouble for them
Rgds nina
Do you have a friend, or a friendâs child, with an ipad or other tablet? If so, pop over the their house and do it all on their tablet. It took us a couple of goes to get the photo right as the automatic check is very picky (too much space around head, not enough space, to many shadows, uneven background). However it was easy.
@freddie We only sent our current passports, that was all that was requested as hard copy communication for us. I imagine a lot will depend on the particular circumstance of the person applying, i.e. mainly under which citizenship rules they are applying and the original issuing office for the current passport.
Give them a ring if you have any concerns.
From outside the UK: +44 (0)300 222 0000
They will send new passports back via registered post so you will need to sign for them.
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Actually, you donât. See my earlier posts. My wifeâs was left with a neighbour. Mine was dumped by DHL at a ârelaisâ 20KM from home.