karllm wrote:Just wanted to renew my daughters british passport. The home office sent us a letter asking to prove that we(parents) were british residents for 5 years prior my daughter was born. We've already provided all required documents 5 years ago, the first time we applied for my daughters British passport. So now my daughter has had uk passport for 5 years and to renew it HO asks us to prove what we've already proved. Why ?
There have been reports that some years ago, the Passport Office issued British passports by mistake to U.K. born children to parents who had not in fact acquired Permanent Residence before the child was born. This particularly affects parents from the 2004-EU intake (excluding Malta/Cyprus) who were subject to Workers Registration Scheme requirements between 2004 and 2011.
Possibilities include:
1. The Passport Office have realized the first passport was issued by mistake (in other words- the evidence you supplied was not enough to show your daughter is British) so they need to treat the renewal like a first time application.
2. The Passport Office have asked for this evidence without looking at what they already have on file.
3. The Passport Office have lost the documentation you submitted 5 years ago.
It may help if you can give details on:
- when did you arrive in the U.K. and in what capacity (worker, student, etc.)
- what EEA state(s) are you from.
- If you were subject to Workers Registration Scheme rules, did you comply with these.
- when was your daughter born.
Likely worst case- if it turns out that your daughter is not British, she can most likely be registered as a British citizen-
but it's important this is resolved as soon as possible
This refers to some off-topic judicial speculation that does not amount in any way to a change in the law. In any case- it's unrelated to the question at hand since it refers to those born before October 2000. More fully discussed at:
british-citizenship/eu-citizens-childre ... 29847.html