My passport’s up for renewal. I’d like to avoid the hassle of finding a countersignatory if possible. This page says I don’t need one:
[quote=“http://ukinhongkong.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/passports/what-passport/renewing-passport/steps-to-renew”]Countersignature of the form and photographs is not necessary for those people over 16 renewing a passport, unless your appearance has changed significantly since your previous passport was issued.
…
Countersignatures on the back of your photographs are not necessary and the countersignature box on the application form does not need to be completed if your appearance has not changed significantly since your previous passport was issued.[/quote]
However, the notes for the smart passport form (linked from the same page) don’t mention that a countersignatory isn’t necessary in this case. So, just to be sure, has anyone successfully renewed a UK passport in the last year (after the switch to processing in London), without getting the form and photos countersigned?
I did search but only found old threads:
[url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/passport-renewal-in-taiwan/60743/1 renewal in Taiwan[/url] (2010)
[url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/uk-passport-processing-fyi/57755/1 passport processing - FYI[/url] (2010)
[url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/any-qualified-british-teachers-living-in-taipei/18972/1 qualified British teachers living in Taipei[/url] (2005)
Yes. I didn’t need mine countersigned and I got mine last November. I had no issues - if you go to the Post Office and use their Check and Send service they will walk you through it.
[quote=“Super Hans”]Yes. I didn’t need mine countersigned and I got mine last November. I had no issues - if you go to the Post Office and use their Check and Send service they will walk you through it.[/quote]Thanks, Super Hans. So it sounds like you did that while still in the UK. Has anyone renewed without a countersignatory from abroad? On a British expats’ forum, I read of someone applying from Australia who was asked to get their form and photos countersigned.
Your signature alone is fine, even when requesting a new passport overseas - provided it’s a straightforward renewal and you supply the old passport for cancellation.
By the way, does anyone remember what they put in the “Issued by” field for the “Previous Passport” area? I’m not sure whether to put the code of issuing state (GBR), the Authority (HKG), or something else. The notes don’t mention this. Normally I’d just call and find out but at 72p a minute plus international call fees it could get expensive.
OK, for future reference, I did phone the exorbitant helpline and for my money a very helpful guy told me that either “FCO” or “GBR” would be OK for “Issued by”. He also confirmed what everyone here said - no need for a countersignatory provided I haven’t gone major physical changes since my last passport photo. (I guess an increase in ear and nose hair doesn’t count, so I should be alright.)
[quote=“Joesox”]OK, for future reference, I did phone the exorbitant helpline and for my money a very helpful guy told me that either “FCO” or “GBR” would be OK for “Issued by”. He also confirmed what everyone here said - no need for a countersignatory provided I haven’t gone major physical changes since my last passport photo. (I guess an increase in ear and nose hair doesn’t count, so I should be alright.)[/quote]Got it back already. Took less than three weeks. Not bad at all.
Thanks for letting us know how you went Joesox - this thread popped up on a google search.
A colleague at work ended up sending her stuff to HK four times & losing all the costs each time so feeling nervous. I had my pics done in the UK though so hoping they’ll be accepted.
Only minor quibble was that they sent my new passport back DHL with no informaton about the old one. Cue major meltdown here as it had my visa in it. It came separately a few days later - they send two packages for security.
To renew a U.K. passport in Taiwan, you need to apply on-line, download a declaration form, fill it in and then send that with your existing passport and 2 photos to the processing center in Liverpool. You also need to fill in some information on-line and pay on-line. You’ll get a codename and password, so you can key in to the live feed as you stress out waiting for the status to change to ‘received docs’ to ‘dispatched’. It can’t be done in person at the U.K. ‘trade office’ like before. I got mine back after a 7 week wait. That’s right 7 weeks. A few days ago there was an article in The Guardian about a huge backlog of applications causing delays, and the comments page was a classic whinge-fest. So Her Majesty’s Passport Offices are inundated with applications sent in from all the people living or travelling overseas who can no longer apply at their local embassy in addition to everybody else in the U.K. I would get on it asap if you have any plan to travel in August at the earliest.