http://www.pledgebank.com/passport Comments on 'apply to renew my UK passport on 15th August 2005' en-gb team@pledgebank.com 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 2 hourly http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_16219 Those that have comment notification on may be interested in this: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/04/early_passport_renewal_blocked/ Register article. They'r etrying to stop us... http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_6989 Telegraph: "Passport prices soar again to pay for new security measures By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor (Filed: 18/11/2005) The price of a passport is to go up by more than 20 per cent to £51 to pay for security measures - including face-to-face interviews for every new applicant starting next year, the Home Office said yesterday. ..." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/18/npassport18.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/11/18/ixhome.html http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3253 Applied on 15th - haven't heard anything yet http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3197 Having signed this pledge I did my application at my local post office at 5pm on Monday the 15th Aug as promissed, my new passport came back this morning, Thursday 18th Aug, already !! My old passport still had 26 months to run, and I have been given an additonal 9 months validity on my new one because my old one had not yet expired. Sadly the most extra they will give is 9 months, but its another 9 months I wont have to have a biometric passport ! http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3195 I just recieved my new passport in the post this morning. It took exactly 6 days from when I handed the application in at my local post office. The notes concerning the machine readable page state that "There is no hidden information and there will be no means of adding information to the page after the passport has been issued". Also, as I am born and bred English, I have 'European Union' at the top of the front cover. But should I hold any other form of British nationality, the EU reference will be ommitted. So, there's 'British', and 'almost British', eh? That should prove interesting. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3170 When I last renewed my passport (1994) I lost the unexpired time on my previous passport. Now, however, they will add up to 9 months from your unexpired passport onto your new one (assuming you send it in, of course). I do not need a passport immediately, but I signed up to this pledge and I have applied. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3157 I have just sent off my renewal application at the local Post Office. Along with the main form, there is a supplemental form requesting additional information such as NI number, driver number, previous address, employer details, bank details, etc. - all the kinds of information that would be particularly useful to seed the National Identity Register. Please note that the Post Office will accept an application for renewal even if you do not fill in or include the supplemental form. They will also accept cash so you do not have to help UKPS to link your bank details to your passport number. Thank you to everyone who signed the pledge! http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3144 Kathryn, when you "renew" your passport, you will have to send off your old one which will be cancelled. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3136 I just wanted to add that we the people have a rare opportunity to stop the government in its tracks. A mandatory biometic passport cannot claim to be effective if even a moderate number of people resist. Are they really prepared to arrest, say, a thousand (or even two or three) otherwise upstanding and law-abiding citizens? Time is also on our side as resistance is continuing to grow. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3130 A passport lasts for about 3650 days. Assume that (pulling a figure at random) 20 million of us have them; there must be 5000 getting issued or renewed daily. I've signed up to this pledge and am going to renew mine now, but I doubt that there will be a visible bump in the renewal stats. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3100 ...in addition - there is no 'valid' or 'in-valid' reason for wanting a new passport. For the record, my one was I felt embarrassed by my old picture - but then, who isn't? http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3099 You don't need to 'renew' it unless it's running out of time. Just tick the 'change' box instead of the 'renew' box, then send the form in with two copies of your photograph, the fee, and your old passport (nomatter how much time is left on it). Nothing needs to be countersigned unless your appearance has changed dramatically. Better still, have it all checked at a post office for a small additional fee, then write a cheque at the counter for the total amount (payable to the Post Office) and you should get it back within two weeks. I was told at the Post Office that one person got theirs back in four days! I did mine this morning. I'll let you know how long it takes me. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3071 My application is already in the system, even though there were a couple of years still left on it. Other 'problems' do come with changing a UK passport. I am now travelling around Europe without a passport due to it taking 2 to 6 weeks to get a new one, why so long? The only time I need a passport in Europe is when I travel to or from the paranoid UK. I have even been to Switzerland, outside the EU, several times this year without needing a passport. In Holland you get a new passport by going to the local council with your old passport and 2 new photos, half an hour later you walk out with the new one, Germany does add an extra step, you need to have the application countersigned by a solicitor, but once again half an hour in the local council offices and you have a new German passport and a French one if you want it. All German citizens are entitled to a French passport as well, also vice versa. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3070 What does it mean to RENEW a passport? My passport doesn't run out for some time so do I get a new one or renew my old one? http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3068 This is a great idea and I can see why we should do it but I notice from the UK Passport Office's website at http://www.passport.gov.uk/biometric.asp that it is only the facial recognition biometric they are piloting from this Oct. The really objectionable stuff only comes later. "In line with recently established European Union standards, the UKPS is also considering the inclusion of fingerprint scans in our biometric passport from 2008." This is because the EU regulation only requires facial biometrics immediately and fingerprints "within three years" and all the EU countries are waiting for technical committees to work out the details for fingerprinting. But it gets better: the UK is actually exempted from this EU regulation because we opted out of the so-called "Schengen Agreement" guaranteeing free movement of people in Europe (see http://europa.eu.int/idabc/jsps/documents/dsp_showPrinterDocument.jsp?docID=3669&lg=en for details)so the government can't use the EU to blame for doing this. It's a pretext for introducing ID cards. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3060 Btw, the pretext for ID cards (and wars) has always been FEAR, as opposed to rational argument. There is much talk on the internet about a possible biological or nuclear terror attack in the US in late august- this is because we know they are gearing up for a so-called "terror excercise/drill" of that nature at that time. As we know, the attacks of 9/11 and 7/7, both happened inexplicably, simultaneously, with identical "drills" to the actual events. If this takes place again this month, the FEAR factor will be cranked into overdrive. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3058 I am currently living and working in the U.S, with a visa that runs til jun06, on a UK passport that expires in july06. Really don't want a BIO passport or ID, but I probably won't be back in the UK for a few months, plus, I can't risk invalidating my current visa. Rather annoyed. Is there anything I can realistically do?? By the way, EVERYONE, who arrives in the U.S. at passport control already has to submit to fingerprinting, and a digital mugshot- try refusing- you'll end up in Guantanamo bay. The UK and USA are at the fore-front of the Orwellian Global Dictatorship society which is rapidly become a reality, meanwhile people are eating crisps and watching big-brother on channel4. W A K E . U P . http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3054 Nick W, I am planning on filling in my application form on the 15th, although I may do it at the post office so that I can send it off on the same day. Kathryn, it will ask if you are renewing a passport. Tell the truth, there is no need to lie on the form. http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3053 When you apply for a new passport, does the form ask whether you hold a current passport? If so, what's good to say? http://www.pledgebank.com/passport#comment_3052 Bob McMurray: Thanks for the info. Maryon Jeane: "it shudders me that these are the people, this is the office, this is the system which will be dealing with our entire identities should this nefarious bill come to pass." You've hit the nail on the head. Having worked for government organisations (not in the UK, but they're all similar) I firmly believe that the level of competance, security and even honesty is frighteningly low.