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Post by kerouac2 on Apr 14, 2023 15:31:21 GMT
They need money for the coronation. Oh, and maybe social services.
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Post by tod2 on May 23, 2023 16:33:27 GMT
I spent an exhausted weekend hunting down the required documents to present to His Majesty's Passport Office. Requested were the usual Birth/Marriage/Passport copies. Taken by surprise, requested were copies of my parents wedding photos.....which I'm sad to say there are none as my parents got married by Special License during November 1943. Luckily I did manage to track down the Marriage entry in the church marriage register. Same goes with my mothers birth record but my father is a different story. His birth was never noted and all I could send them was an Affidavit requesting a Late birth registration. Then the Coup de Gras - Please send copies of your parents passports at the time of your conception. Wha? Also please send photos of you at the time of your birth up to today. I sent the one and only photo of me as a baby. It was photographed in a studio in Kenya somewhere when I was 2 months old - I presume for my grandparents to oooH and AAH over. The next photo they got was of my sister and I being held aloft by an uncle when we were around 5 yrs old. And that was the sum total of photos as a child. The next lot were teenage (1 photo) and then family travel photos.
Sorting through hundreds of photos took me the best part of Sunday and I had no idea what I was looking for in a photo to please them.
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Post by mickthecactus on May 23, 2023 16:45:33 GMT
That does sound pretty ridiculous.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 23, 2023 16:50:09 GMT
Fortress England is clearly raising the barriers.
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Post by mickthecactus on May 23, 2023 17:17:29 GMT
We don’t take any riff raff you know.
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Post by bjd on May 23, 2023 17:28:39 GMT
Well, Tod is obviously not riff-raff but those English requirements of photos are completely ludicrous.
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Post by mickthecactus on May 23, 2023 17:51:59 GMT
With respect to tod I think it’s designed for much younger applicants.
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Post by lugg on May 23, 2023 19:14:18 GMT
Thats is so ridiculous Tod ...hope you have managed to maneuver through the mire
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Post by bixaorellana on May 23, 2023 21:27:21 GMT
I am stunned. After all these years of mocking Mexican bureaucracy & its seemingly made up requirements, this takes the cake. The system here seems simple & streamlined by comparison. I can't imagine what pictures of anyone as a baby would prove about anything.
I'm wondering if it isn't some functionary in the system who came up with this crap & that it's not at all the usual requirements. When I applied for social security, there was a document I had to get from a state office in Texas. I phone my social security office to check on some detail, but the lady who handled my case wasn't there that day. The man to whom I spoke in her office was adamant that the document had to be faxed with a cover paper bearing my name & social security number. I questioned this, but was huffily told that it was required procedure. The man in the Texas office was appalled, pointing out what we all know -- that the SS# in tandem with ones name should never be sent over fax like that. Nonetheless, he complied. When my case lady at the social security office found out about it, she saw red. I'd love to know what she said or did to the pompous twit who demanded my document be faxed bearing name & number.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 24, 2023 4:12:08 GMT
When I was getting my mother's new French papers, the woman at the office made up a ridiculous rule and got all huffy when I called her out on it. "You'll see!" she exclaimed. Well, we sure did not.
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Post by onlyMark on May 24, 2023 6:18:50 GMT
I can only believe these are not set in stone requirements but things they would like that would help the application. Do I remember right that it is for your first UK passport? That is probably why and also because you are not a UK resident. Your whole situation is quite different. This coming week I will be consulting with a passport firm who hopefully can help me further. Are they 'helping' and is it they who are asking you for this stuff or is it direct communication with the UK passport office?
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Post by tod2 on May 24, 2023 11:28:02 GMT
Yes Mark. I am dealing with an International Agency that is assisting my application, but they are receiving these questionnaires from His Majesty's Passport Office. I had to write a short letter to the Passport Office explaining why I did not have passports for my parents at the time of my conception - and as they put it "To confirm that your parents were in the same place at the right time" (Their words not mine). What was strange as well - to me anyway - was they asked for was the ORIGINAL UK Birth certificate of my husband's father, and the ORIGINAL marriage certificate of my husbands parents. Do you know I actually had both!! Lastly I was asked to send photo copies of any old passports I have held showing the identity pages and if British passport I also needed to send copies of the first 5 pages. I sent them every passport I have ever held so added up to 6 South African passports in all. It amused me to see how I have changed over the years of travel!
One of the questions at the beginning of my application was "Have you ever renounced your British Citizenship?" This makes me think that in actual fact I have had British Nationality all along. Hey Ho , keep those fingers crossed for me all of you!
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Post by kerouac2 on May 24, 2023 14:01:29 GMT
Even though I was considered a French citizen from birth, I still had to obtain a "certificate of non-renunciation" when I turned 21 (age of majority at the time) to get my documents renewed. What is particularly silly about this is that you write to the government asking them to check their own files to make sure you are not in them. It seems to me that they could have done this all by themselves.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 24, 2023 17:09:59 GMT
It sounds very promising for you, Tod!
Re: writing pointlessly to the govt. ~ for all the many years I dragged myself through the (now streamlined) process of getting permanent residency, I had to write a personal letter each year stating why I wanted to be in Mexico. Apparently my willingness to put up with the Byzantine system, the obstructive, incompetent, or downright eccentric immigration people, the money & paperwork I had to pony up, etc. was not proof enough that I wanted to be here.
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Post by mich64 on May 24, 2023 21:02:14 GMT
What an ordeal Tod! Best wishes on all of your hard work and how wonderful that you have kept all of those documents, I think it would have been enjoyable going through them all.
I am a Canadian Born Abroad as my father was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force. I have my birth certificate from the town in France where I was born along with my Born Abroad certificate. I have had some minor problems through the years, getting my driver's license, my age of majority card (we used to need it once we turned 19 to get into Bars serving alcohol) and even my first passport but my father did register us all once we returned to Canada so problems were quickly resolved. I belong to a website of "Air Force Brats" and read of some people who have had really difficult experiences even though they have the same documentation, but did not register the births once bringing their family back to Canada. Fortunately, most situations do get resolved but not after lengthy experiences resembling what you are going through Tod
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Post by whatagain on May 25, 2023 4:14:42 GMT
Not on passport but my father discovered that officials had decided to put in his file that he started a divorce procedure with my mum. He got apologies about that, and apologies about the fact it could not be corrected...
I am pretty sure my mom's passport has been destroyed and as for a pic of myself, i hope my parents burnt the one taken of me naked on a lamb's skin.
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Post by tod2 on May 25, 2023 8:41:38 GMT
And the plot thickens..... My latest email has asked me to obtain copies(UnAbridged) of the ORIGINAL (Abridged)Marriage and birth documents I have submitted. How can a copy of an original be more acceptable? I am hoping they decide because we are so old and it does not matter if our parents names are not on the certificates all will be in order. This is what happened in 2013 in The Department of Home Affairs. And changed more than once since. www.sabase.co.za/unabridged-and-abridged-birth-certificate/
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Post by mickthecactus on May 25, 2023 10:12:53 GMT
Totally daft. Do you ever question some of these requests?
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Post by kerouac2 on May 25, 2023 10:16:27 GMT
I have birth certificates in both my birth name and my adopted name. They even changed the name of the father on the new edition even though my mother didn't meet my stepfather until 15 years later! And as for my French birth certificate which is required for my French documents, it took me about 15 years for the French authorities to accept my "new" name without going to court and having all of the adoption papers translated. I basically just wore them down over the years. But funnily enough, when they finally transcribed the new information, they made a mistake on my stepfather's first name and turned him into Janus rather than James. Now whenever I need someone on which my parents' name appears, he is always called Janus because they don't believe me when I say it is a transcription error. I don't really care anymore since the error will die with me.
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Post by onlyMark on May 25, 2023 14:44:23 GMT
For many years I had two UK passports valid at the same time. One for travelling and one for getting necessary visas in. The second one sorted out by the expedition company I worked for. In 2011 one was running out so I asked for a new one. It was refused unless I could prove, by something official from the company, that I still needed it. The company went bust several years before so that was a dead end. I had to send it back and now just have the one UK one.
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Post by tod2 on May 25, 2023 15:51:03 GMT
Totally daft. Do you ever question some of these requests? No way Jose'! I am keeping my head down and complying (under very total duress) with all that is asked of me. It looks as if they will go ahead with my application and put my request for new Unabridged documents from S.A. to materialize in about a month... When and if I ever get to enjoy my British Passport I will do so like a mad woman...
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Post by tod2 on May 26, 2023 14:40:41 GMT
My husband got his list of requirements for his British Passport application. It is as complicated as mine so we have called in the cavalry. This means handing over everything to an Agency who specialise. It will cost more money but will give my nerves a rest. It does not ask him for family photos, but it does ask for certified colour copy of each page of his South African passport, even the blank pages.
A lot of what is required duplicates for me - like his parents details. They also want me to forward them with my application.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 5, 2023 15:39:41 GMT
We still in the midst of the application documents. Cost another R15,000-00 for an agency to procure the documents from the archives in Pretoria on top of the R40,000 odd to UK agency. His Majesty's Passport Office has asked me for a Copy of the Marriage Register we signed on 15 December 1970. The church had its last service in 1971. The Minister who married us is now a lecturer somewhere. He left the clergy soon after marrying us. Where are the church records? Who knows? What I did send them was a beautiful photo of Mr.Tod standing next to me while I signed may maiden name for the last time. Oh, and the Minister was on the other side beaming down on me.
Patience is called for. Lots of investigating on the internet and hoping like hell all will be well!
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 5, 2023 15:53:12 GMT
Tod, you seem very capable of wearing them down, just like I did with the French authorities several times over the years.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 6, 2023 13:07:11 GMT
That's if they don't do my head in first! I have been running around phoning here, there and everywhere for the last 2 hours with no result. Oh well. tomorrow is another day and an attempt to wear them down......
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Post by tod2 on Jun 6, 2023 16:10:20 GMT
After this long time hunting for answers I finally switched of my computer and went to fix dinner. Just filling a pot with water my cellphone rang. I was going to ignore it as there is always someone selling something but I answered and got the shock of my life! It was the Archivist from The University of The Witwatersrand - called Wits for short. I had no response from her telephone earlier and she saw my call and phoned me back. What a lovely lady and so knowledgeable. She took my particulars and told me she looks for old church records all the time. Can I be at the end of my search? Can I? OMG I dearly hope so.!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 6, 2023 16:47:43 GMT
What encouraging news, Tod!! Surely you will be rewarded for your tenacity.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 6, 2023 16:50:54 GMT
It is one of the reasons that I never criticise bureaucrats. They generally seem dull, but they can be lifesavers.
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Post by fumobici on Jun 7, 2023 18:01:46 GMT
It is one of the reasons that I never criticise bureaucrats. They generally seem dull, but they can be lifesavers. Italian bureaucracy in particular is frequently derided, but for every Italian bureaucrat with a bad attitude I've dealt with, there've been many more that were helpful and nice.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 8, 2023 7:08:07 GMT
Bad luck for me....Got an email back saying they have notes taken from church meetings etc., but no sight of a Marriage Register. I was very disappointed but have thought of one more avenue. I have contacted by phone message and email, an old boss we both worked for in the Estate Agency Business. He was the one who suggested St Andrews when neither of us were church goers. I don't hold too much hope but he was a member of the Board of Governors so may well know where to look for old records.
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