Passport Service Cuts Hit Expat Applications
Updated: 12:14pm UK, Wednesday 11 June 2014
By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent
The backlog and workload problems at the passport office are causing frustration and anger - not just for people based in the UK, but for Britons living all around the world.
Until a few years ago, British citizens living abroad could simply wander down to their embassy and apply for a passport. It would be issued within a day or two. Job done.
The system was then changed largely because passports had become more sophisticated - with biometric technology for security. Embassies didn't have the equipment to produce the new biometric passports.
So, regional offices were set up within certain embassies around the world. For those of us living here in Beijing, Hong Kong became the regional hub.
We could apply via the British Embassy in Beijing, the application would be sent to Hong Kong and the new passport would be issued there. A little more bureaucratic but still entirely workable.
But in December, "cost saving" measures were made to the application system. All regional offices were shut and Britons globally were told they must apply for their replacement passports in the UK.
They now have two options. Either they can travel to the UK and then apply for the "one-day" service. That could cost a huge amount in air fares.
The alternative is to send their application form, together with their old passport, to the UK Passport office in Liverpool - a process that the Passport Office says will take "at least six weeks".
That means that for at least six weeks the applicant is unable to leave wherever it is they live. For many, that's entirely impractical. For some, it will impact on their business.
With a bit of research and a half-hour long distance phone call to the passport office, I have discovered that it is possible to send a copy of your old passport rather than the original, but only in "exceptional circumstances" determined on a "case-by-case basis".
However, this leads to its own problems - the moment the new passport is issued (back in the UK) the old one (still in the hands of the applicant) is cancelled.
So in the time it takes to send the new one to the applicant overseas - several weeks - they are unable to travel because the passport they hold will be flagged as 'cancelled' at immigration.
Confusing? Frustrating? Certainly.
The stories we're hearing are mounting up - a British bride-to-be, living in Hong Kong, has been waiting for her replacement passport for eight weeks. She still doesn't have it. Her wedding, in Bali, is in two weeks.
A Briton living in South Africa who's taking a group of South African children to the World Cup, had been waiting 15 weeks.
A British businessman living in Hong Kong told us he'd waited 10 weeks. His new passport has just arrived but the passport office forgot to send back his old one which contained his visas. He is therefore still unable to travel.
The bottom line is this - not all that long ago, Britons living abroad could get a replacement passport in a day or two.
Now they are being grounded for "at least six weeks" and in many cases, far longer.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Urgent Passport Cases 'Fast-Tracked For Free'
Dengan url
http://yojanganmenyerah.blogspot.com/2014/06/urgent-passport-cases-fast-tracked-for.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Urgent Passport Cases 'Fast-Tracked For Free'
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Urgent Passport Cases 'Fast-Tracked For Free'
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar