Asking for the impossible? Total nightmare!

[Upsidedown]

So we have overseas application in for a first adult passport for my husband and son. Husband is a UK citizen by right of birth, having emigrated here 50 years ago at the age of 5 with his family, which also confers citizenship on both our kids. In 2019 we sent for his birth certificate from the Scotland National Records Office as he had misplaced the original (handwritten) birth certificate so that our daughter could get a British passport. This was sent off and (ironically) her passport arrived exactly 2 weeks later and documents were eventually returned. This year we finally got around to applying for a British passport for him and also for our son, and sent the same birth certificate as before and the colour photocopy of his Australian passport as requested. Last night husband received an email asking for his original birth certificate “as we do not accept photocopies” and the passport used to enter his current country of residence “since he is not applying from his country of birth”. This second document can’t be supplied as it no longer exists (travelled on his mum’s passport and have confirmed with her that she no longer has it) and wasn’t even asked for originally. The birth certificate was issued by the relevant authority and was accepted previously for my daughter’s application.

He phoned the passport office and the person he spoke to said she could not see anything on his file that was missing or to indicate there was an issue, and she put in a callback to the person who is handling his case. (Of course the person did not call back.)

It’s a complete bureaucratic nightmare. We are at a loss as to what to do. Has anyone else come across this?

[France22]

The only thing I can suggest is that you ring as soon as lines open then press option 8 then 3. Insist nicely you speak to progress team. Be prepared for phone to cut off. We had 2 phones ringing and waited an hour. Eventually we both got through and received some help. Good luck

[Upsidedown]

Update – he got through and spoke to somebody who couldn’t understand why he’d been sent the email he had and advised him to call again on Monday or try the web chat. They said there is no record on the file that any emails have been sent to him or any additional documents needed.

[Author]

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