Passport nightmare - looking for advice
- Thread starter uncle_rufus
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Hmm, yes seeing the beginning of that - their phone lines are only open in the week, between 15:00 and 17:00... 2 hours?!
We did actually consider this too, but she's already changed her name on the vast majority of other documents/services so it would mean a lot of hassle to change all of those back as well (maybe not as much as the above, but still)...
Soldato
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LOL SOUTH AFRICA
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Afraid not - the old passport expires in February so she can't travel on that... and also we've just spoken to the UK passport office about the option of renewing it under her maiden name and they said that because she has applied once in her married name now they aren't able to accept a re-application in the maiden name (as this has notified them of the legal change in the name)... The SA Consulate we did finally get through to but they said there wasn't any sort of proof of application they could provide for the UK passport office...
The UK office have at least referred the case to a higher-up examiner to try and see if there's something they might be able to do - our best hope is that given the circumstances they might be willing to grant the new passport anyway (possibly in the married name but more likely in the maiden name), with an understanding that the SA stuff must be sorted out by the time it needs renewing again...
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It's certainly an option (although I think it's more complicated than simply renewing the passport, she would need to also register the marriage in South Africa and a few other things)... but also dealing with the SA government is likely to be pretty difficult and could take a lot longer than you think!
As a Saffer, I'll echo the sentiments of my other fellow Saffer's in this thread by wishing you the best of luck in dealing with the SA Embassy over this. You might be in for a long wait...
I left SA when I was 17, and I left on a British passport because my mother is from the UK. I haven't, however, had to change my name so I've never had any issues with any renewal. Everytime I've been back to SA I've been asked why I have a British passport and not an SA passport though, because the passport lists my place of birth as Port Elizabeth, Republic of South Africa. I still class myself as a Saffer though
I was born there and grew up there for the first 17 years of my life and those influences stay with you!
I left SA when I was 17, and I left on a British passport because my mother is from the UK. I haven't, however, had to change my name so I've never had any issues with any renewal. Everytime I've been back to SA I've been asked why I have a British passport and not an SA passport though, because the passport lists my place of birth as Port Elizabeth, Republic of South Africa. I still class myself as a Saffer though
I was born there and grew up there for the first 17 years of my life and those influences stay with you!
As a Saffer, I'll echo the sentiments of my other fellow Saffer's in this thread by wishing you the best of luck in dealing with the SA Embassy over this. You might be in for a long wait...
I left SA when I was 17, and I left on a British passport because my mother is from the UK. I haven't, however, had to change my name so I've never had any issues with any renewal. Everytime I've been back to SA I've been asked why I have a British passport and not an SA passport though, because the passport lists my place of birth as Port Elizabeth, Republic of South Africa. I still class myself as a Saffer though
Not passport related, but as a few Saffers have been gently digging out their homeland, thought I’d share this.
When I was driving a Black Cab in London quite a few years back, I picked up an Afrikaner by the BBC in Portland Place.
He asked for South Africa House, which is in Trafalgar Sq., a virtual straight line, Regent St., Picc Circus, Haymarket, left and right into Traf Sq, drop off on left. (Traf Sq was still a gyratory then).
As I was going down Haymarket, he leaned forward, and said in that unmistakable accent, “You do know where South Africa House is, don’t you?”
I replied “Is the Pope a Catholic? Relax.”
Just before I got to the corner of Haymarket and Pall Mall East, he said, “Well, I suppose he is, but what does that have to do with whether or not you know where South Africa House is?”
Two seconds later I stopped outside the building, which as usual in those days was surrounded by crowds protesting about Nelson Mandela.
As he got out, he said, “Which is the building?”
I gave up, took the fare, and stroked the accelerator.
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And here I am with an update...
Just got back from London after seeing Metallica at the O2 last night (**** yeah!!!
) and then headed to the SA Consulate on Whitehall first thing this morning...
We arrived just before opening time to a crazy huge queue, perhaps 40 people... No matter; we made some small talk and hung out with our queue-mates as we very slowly crawled our way along to the door. After a little under an hour of standing in the queue we were nearly there and a smiley man in a suit came along the queue and greeted us, we found him very friendly and reassuring; he quickly checked what we were there for and mentioned that we would need several copies of various documents and numerous passport photos - all of which my organised wife had with us, about 4 copies of everything you can imagine; birth certificates, marriage, drivers license, passport, etc. but it looked like it was going to work out. Ten minutes or so later and we were shuffled over to the counter to a very grumpy looking man...
Mrs. Rufus: "Hello, okay so I moved here when I was a minor and-"
Grumpy Man: "Wat are you here for?"
Mrs. Rufus: "Oh... well you see I have just gotten married and-"
Grumpy Man: "No... wat are you here for?"
Mrs. Rufus: "... To renew my SA passport, but it's a littl-"
Grumpy Man: "Give me the form"
He glances down the form momentarily then points to a statement on it, it's a bit about having a certificate which proves you are British National, but my wife was never given anything like this (or if she was she doesn't have it, as she was very young when she came here and her Mum passed away quite a few years ago now and we've no idea where she might have kept something like that):
Grumpy Man: "Do you have this certificate of nationality here?"
Mrs. Rufus: "No I don't, but you see it's beca-"
Grumpy Man: "You must apply to get this certificate from the UK Passport Office at this address"
Mrs. Rufus: "But see here I have my unabridged Birth Certificate which clearly shows that my Mother was born in the UK, giving my nationality by descent, and I have my UK Passpor-"
Grumpy Man: "A passport does not provide your citizenship, you must get the certificate"
He shoves the form along with a piece of paper giving the UK Passport Office address back through hatch to us and motions for us to move away... and that's that... The Smiley man also informed us that since my wife never had a SA i.d. book (as she was too young) she will likely have to apply for that first (taking ~6 months) and then apply for the passport (taking ~4 months). So basically we're done I think... with that long a lead time she might as well just do the renounciation (~12 months) and we'll just have to cancel our honeymoon, losing the ~£2k we've paid for flights/pre-booking in the process
Our only hope, and it is a small hope, is that somehow the renounciation doesn't take as long as they say, as we can hold onto the booking without paying any extra until June next year and cancel it then... but it's not looking good
Just got back from London after seeing Metallica at the O2 last night (**** yeah!!!
) and then headed to the SA Consulate on Whitehall first thing this morning...We arrived just before opening time to a crazy huge queue, perhaps 40 people... No matter; we made some small talk and hung out with our queue-mates as we very slowly crawled our way along to the door. After a little under an hour of standing in the queue we were nearly there and a smiley man in a suit came along the queue and greeted us, we found him very friendly and reassuring; he quickly checked what we were there for and mentioned that we would need several copies of various documents and numerous passport photos - all of which my organised wife had with us, about 4 copies of everything you can imagine; birth certificates, marriage, drivers license, passport, etc. but it looked like it was going to work out. Ten minutes or so later and we were shuffled over to the counter to a very grumpy looking man...
Mrs. Rufus: "Hello, okay so I moved here when I was a minor and-"
Grumpy Man: "Wat are you here for?"
Mrs. Rufus: "Oh... well you see I have just gotten married and-"
Grumpy Man: "No... wat are you here for?"
Mrs. Rufus: "... To renew my SA passport, but it's a littl-"
Grumpy Man: "Give me the form"
He glances down the form momentarily then points to a statement on it, it's a bit about having a certificate which proves you are British National, but my wife was never given anything like this (or if she was she doesn't have it, as she was very young when she came here and her Mum passed away quite a few years ago now and we've no idea where she might have kept something like that):
Grumpy Man: "Do you have this certificate of nationality here?"
Mrs. Rufus: "No I don't, but you see it's beca-"
Grumpy Man: "You must apply to get this certificate from the UK Passport Office at this address"
Mrs. Rufus: "But see here I have my unabridged Birth Certificate which clearly shows that my Mother was born in the UK, giving my nationality by descent, and I have my UK Passpor-"
Grumpy Man: "A passport does not provide your citizenship, you must get the certificate"
He shoves the form along with a piece of paper giving the UK Passport Office address back through hatch to us and motions for us to move away... and that's that... The Smiley man also informed us that since my wife never had a SA i.d. book (as she was too young) she will likely have to apply for that first (taking ~6 months) and then apply for the passport (taking ~4 months). So basically we're done I think... with that long a lead time she might as well just do the renounciation (~12 months) and we'll just have to cancel our honeymoon, losing the ~£2k we've paid for flights/pre-booking in the process
Our only hope, and it is a small hope, is that somehow the renounciation doesn't take as long as they say, as we can hold onto the booking without paying any extra until June next year and cancel it then... but it's not looking good
Surely it is worth looking into whether the airline etc would let you change the name used to book flights etc - and then investigate whether you can renew her UK passport in her maiden name (which by all accounts shouldn't be a problem).
This would probably be your best shot at a decent solution in the time you've got available.
This would probably be your best shot at a decent solution in the time you've got available.
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That is an option, and the UK passport office said if we can prove she is still using her maiden name (which currently she is for our household bills as I hadn't gotten around to changing the details yet) they could potentially do it... but changing the names on the flights would cost us around £1,900... and I don't think we can afford it on top of the already quite expensive holiday...
perhaps you could appeal to the customer service department and explain the circumstances, honeymoon, passport issues etc?
You’re probably kidding, but if not, go to Stellenbosch, Western Cape Province, I thought that I’d stumbled into a recruitment drive for extras for Olaf de Fleur Johanneson’s Icelandic movie, “Polite People.”