Applying for first UK passport
Dear Mr Bassie,
I want to apply for my first British passport. Any advice or pointers would be helpful.
Dear LA,
Persons must have British nationality to be eligible for a British passport, and an adult passport is valid for 10 years.
Persons can apply for a first adult passport if they are 16 years old or over, or will be within three weeks and have never had a child passport. Please note that persons can use their child passport until it expires, even if they are over 18 years of age.
Persons should follow the process for getting a first adult passport, if the last passport they had was an old black or blue one.
A standard adult first passport costs £75.50 if the application is made online or £85 to apply with a paper form from the post office. Persons should follow the process online at www. gov.uk for applying outside the UK if they are abroad. If applying from the UK, persons can apply for your first adult passport online or by post.
When applying online, you must also print off the application form and send it to HM Passport Office with your photos and supporting documents; the address can be found on the form. It should be noted that you cannot use the Passport Check and Send service if you fill in the form online.
Persons can apply by post by either getting a paper form from a post office that offers the Passport Check and Send service or contacting the Passport Adviceline to get a form posted to them.
Upon receipt, applicants should fill in Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9. They will need to get someone else, known as your ‘countersignatory’, to fill in section 10 and certify the photo.
Persons should read the booklet that comes with the form if help is needed with the application.
To send in the application, applicants can either post their form, photos and documents using the preprinted envelope that comes with the form or take the form, photos and documents to the post office if in the United Kingdom and would like to use the Passport Check and Send service. After sending in the application, persons can track their passport application. Please note that HM Passport Office will make contact if they need to interview the applicant to confirm your identity.
The new passport will be sent to the applicant by courier or Royal Mail. Please note that HM Passport Office will either:
Post it through a letterbox. Hand it to the applicant personally, if at home.
Leave a card or post a letter saying how it can be retrieved, but it will not say the package is a passport.
I hope this helps. John S. Bassie is a barrister/attorneyat-law who practises law in Jamaica. He is a justice of the peace, a Supreme Court-appointed mediator, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a chartered arbitrator and a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (UK).
Email: lawbassie@yahoo.com.