ID Problems - Passport Application

[sheothebudworths]

START HERE - Cancel a lost or stolen passport

 

[Epona]

START HERE - Cancel a lost or stolen passport

Will I be able to apply for a new one without ID or referees if I do that?

 

[RubyToogood]

Passport services if you're disabled

Free services and facilities to help you with your passport application if you're disabled

www.gov.uk

If you scroll down a bit there is a section for deaf and hard of hearing applicants about how to make an appointment in person at a passport customer service place to have someone help you with the application. You can ask for the appointment using the online enquiry form.

 

[xenon]

i'm fairly sure the post office thing is an 'in person' thing at main post office branches, not over the phone

Yep it is. This was a renewal but I paid for that service, because I needed help with the Photo Booth as well. Was fine. And worth the money. And admittedly, if you haven’t got the money, it’s a moot point.

 

[Epona]

I am sorry that I am getting so anxious about this - I am not intending to be rude to anyone, I am just stressed about the whole thing. I've had trouble with ID for so long now that I always anticipate (due to previous experience) I am just going to get to some point in the forms which is along the lines of "computer says no" which has happened to me over many things in the last 20 years.

I have been a non-entity for a long time now - I had a what could loosely be termed as a nervous breakdown many years ago as a result of losing a relationship and then losing my job and racked up massive debt just trying to survive in the aftermath of that (I couldn't claim benefits for 6 months because I resigned due to bullying at work and put my basic needs on credit cards and bank overdraft until those were cut off) - that is all now paid off, but I lost my bank account and services to my flat were getting cut off here and there. Then OH and I got together and that has been an improvement in that we love and like and get along and find one another funny, but he put a lot of stuff into his name to get services, and I feel like I am not my own person any more. And he is no more capable of survival than me, he's filled our flat with loads of crap and it looks like something out of those hoarder tv shows.

I now have a bank account again which was a massive thing for me after 15 years without one. I want to get a passport and do some casual part time work, I want to not be a non-entity or person with no identity any more.

 

[ruffneck23]

I was in the same position as you a few years ago , I called and discussed it with the passport office ( if you are unable to speak to them , do you not have any friends who can sit there with you ?? ) it's really not as hard as you seem to think it is... solution, went to Guildford registry office and got a new birth certificate and got photos signed by my doctor). Please dont panic , you're not the first , or ever likely to be the last having issues with this.

 

[Epona]

Thank you, I know I am getting overly worked up about this.

When I went to do a joint UC claim in 2019 I was called back in 3 times while our claim was pending because I didn't have sufficient proof of ID - how in the hell do homeless people get benefits ffs.

(I was doing a joint UC claim with OH who had lost his job in particularly nasty circumstances, I don't normally count as unemployed though when he is working, I am "economically inactive" and not claiming benefits. Also the fuckers cancelled our claim the minute he got 16 hours of agency work so we had no income for the 6 weeks neither of us were working, which completely floored us.

 

[Epona]

Thank you for the suggestion RubyToogood but I think having to get an appointment to see someone in person would be worse, that is more difficult than phone stuff.

I don't know if anyone gets what high functioning autism/aspergers communication is like, you need to have time to comprehend, compose and respond - that isn't easy with any sort of immediate/live or face to face chat (by whatever format). Especially in a situation where you are in a strange environment and do not know what to expect.

It is a really difficult thing to explain to people because most people do not understand and it can be quite isolating.

 

[Epona]

I almost need a pre-format (or "social story" is what they call it for ASD kids iirc) - like I want to see what questions I will be asked or what sentences are likely to be used in this sort of conversation before they come up. I will have trouble understanding speech or even written questions if it deviates from what I expect of a particular conversation, and I get quite stressed when I do not know what I might expect.

I'm 50, this sort of social training wasn't provided for me when I was kid as it might be now. The fact I have somehow muddled through and had any employment in my life says a lot about my tenacity tbh.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

I'm 50, this sort of social training wasn't provided for me when I was kid as it might be now. The fact I have somehow muddled through and had any employment in my life says a lot about my tenacity tbh.

I’ve got no advice other than stuff that‘s already been mentioned. The last few times I did in-person renewals at the passport office. But I do have the utmost respect for your struggles with challenges I, for one, can hardly imagine. Good luck.

and these challenges are not being discussed as part of voting rights.

 

[Epona]

I’ve got no advice other than stuff that‘s already been mentioned. The last few times I did in-person renewals at the passport office. But I do have the utmost respect for your struggles with challenges I, for one, can hardly imagine. Good luck.

and these challenges are not being discussed as part of voting rights.

I know, the fear that my ability to vote could be taken away because I don't have the means to get appropriate ID is absolutely horrific (yes sometimes that is a moot point and there is no-one to vote for, but the point is that I should have a RIGHT to vote whatever) - It is a move that will only benefit the right wing.

It has already had an impact on my ability to have any independence as a person in my own right, get a bank account, get a passport, get work etc. Stripping from me the right to vote too would (even if there is no-one good to vote for) be horrendous

 

[Epona]

And even though I am in a decent relationship, it makes me feel trapped that I do not have ID and have to rely on my husband for many things, not least buying alcohol. At one point when I was working I had to have my wages paid into his bank account because I didn't have a bank account of my own and didn't have enough ID to open one!!!

I do now have a bank account (thanks to Barclay's online security thing which basically worked out who I was from me putting in details about my mortgage, which is in my maiden name and I cannot change, but no other service could offer that same thing at the time), but I am still a long way from being an independent person while I lack a passport.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Thank you for your suggestion! I don't think it is that sort of thing, it is more that I don't know which form to fill in. I get the absolute Fear from Govt Gateway online forms having been locked out of doing my tax self assessment previously and I just do not understand how things work any more.

(I just feel like my understanding of all this has passed, and I am now at the point where 40 years ago I would have been the equivalent of someone's grandma and they are trying to show her how to set the timer on the VCR)

Would it help if one of us made the enquiries about the route you need to take with the Passport Service, and relayed the details back via PM? I'd be happy to do that if that would make the process less stressful for you.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

And that means I need to go and get physical photos and have them signed off.

It's just too much for me to cope with, I'm autistic and horribly depressed and it's just too much for me to work out the stages I need to go through. The thought of a live chat with anyone (web based or otherwise) about it is just horrific because it is an issue that is causing me some stress.

I believe you can use a digital one.
You upload an appropriate photo to the government site then you get a link that a person who can validate it (like me) goes to.
Actually I'm not sure about the struck through bit. You may only include the email address of the person doing the confirmation as part of the online application.
At that point the person is shown an image and they verify if that image is of you or not.

 

[ruffneck23]

ok so at the post office in Green St in Newham they have a passport photo machine (make sure it has an orange seat) , it will automatically send the photos up to the passport office digitally, and give you a reference which you put in to the passport application website and your photo is already there

It does work as my brother used the one in the Friary in Guildford the get his passport done.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

ok so at the post office in Green St in Newham they have a passport photo machine (make sure it has an orange seat) , it will automatically send the photos up to the passport office digitally, and give you a reference which you put in to the passport application website and your photo is already there

What new-fangled trickery is this? When I got my new passport a couple of years back I did it the old fashioned route - printed form, and got the photos that make me look like a serial killer countersigned physically.

 

[ruffneck23]

What new-fangled trickery is this? When I got my new passport a couple of years back I did it the old fashioned route - printed form, and got the photos that make me look like a serial killer countersigned physically.

They have been around for a while ( I used to build and configure the older ones but plans for them went back as far as the early 2000's), my bro did his in 2018 long after I left the company, but it needs to have an orange seat.

 

[Athos]

This situation is addressed specifically in this guidance.

You need to go here, and go though the steps, which includes first reporting your previous passport as lost.