h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Offshore offshoots of the UK (i.e. consulates) tend to adhere to regulations with great love and purpose. If you need to use their services to get a passport, remember to allow plenty of time, and to expect the unexpected. I'm planning a trip back to the UK with my family. At the moment one child is 15, and listed on her mother's passport. While we're in the UK she'll turn 16, and will require her own passport, but that passport has to be issued from the relevant consulate, and (you guessed it) they can't possible issue it before the 16th birthday. Neat huh?

Bad luck. My last three passports were from the consulates in Cameroon, Poland and Hong Kong (in that order) None took longer than a week. I got separate passports for my children in Cameroon (in 1982) when they were aged 11 and 7 repectively - have the rules changed? All three passports were processed efficiently . They DID cost more than getting them in England though.

Yes, they cost lots more. The rules? I don't know. Maybe it's just the creative interpretation of them that's improved! I think I'd be OK if I was renewing an existing passport - it's the "rule" that a child can't be on a parent's passport after age 16 that's providing all the "fun" for me. Nice to know the system works in some cases, though.

But actually the kids are all now required to have passports from day 1 (which is a whole other thread's worth, I think). So surely you should be able to get your daughter a passport before you go. Or is there some rule preventing her from having her own passport and being on her mother's? (which seems unlikely, since my kids are on both mine and my dh's passports, when the mine runs out next year I have been told - Düsseldorf consulate - that I can get them passports for when I want to travel with them alone)
It's pretty C**P really.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm sure you're right. I just have to persist in getting the concept through the layers of civil service creative non-compliance. How do they get away with being called "civil"?

Because:
a) we're all far too polite to tell them they're not
b) we're worried that if we do we won't ever get our passports.
c) we have a tradition of such misnomers in Britain (Civil Service, Military Intelligence etc.)

Spot on target - on all three counts.

Sorry to hear about your problems - and Sho and I have trodden the same ground: I was working in Düsseldorf and tried to get my passport renewed at the consulate there, but because I was living in Venlo they wouldn't do it. I had to take a day off work and take the train to Amsterdam (three times as far away) instead. Ridiculous.

I use my newly issued passport to go to mainland China quite often.This involves getting a multiple entry visa. Every time I cross the border this is stamped twice (once by each side) The HK blokes stamp near my work permit (which is on the front page) and the PRC fellas near the visa,( which is on the middle page) Since both sides pass the passport through a computerised reader, none of these stamps is strictly necessary and the queues are sometimes over half an hour long. Therefore, should you be tempted to do the same, take an interesting book with you.

Ah, but you have the kudos (which I remember well from my boarding school days) of having a well thumbed, well stamped passport. Not like the pristine example I have stashed in my ban. And you get to read lots of good books

Hi I just subscribed to this site.Didn't know where to write my question but I'm desperate to get an answer!Maybe u can guide me to the right place. I'm a UK citizen living in Turkey. My passport expired in June. I need a passport renewal and I also have a newborn son who also needs a passport. It's really expensive to get a renewal at the Consulate here so my question is:Do I have to apply in person to the consulate in the UK? What is the fee of my passport and my sons new passport?I also have to change my surname because I got married in 2002 and didn't feel the need at the time to renew my passport as it was really expensive and there was no problem about the surname thing. Can a family member who is a resident in the UK apply for me or in short, can somebody else apply for me?Thanx a lot for your time.

Passports recently got really expensive in the UK - it's now at least £72 for an adult, £46 for a child even domestically. From a consulate it should cost £119/£76.

However, I'd have thought you should really sort this out locally (and as soon as possible) because if the Turkish authorities discover you don't have a valid passport - which they will do if you travel back to the UK - they may deport you.