>be brit who wants to travel >apply for passport >need

>>1255379
>doctor cant do it
why not? your gp?

I'll sign it. I've probably been talking to you here for more than 2 years. Where are you located?

Can't you get an old school teacher to sign it?

Alternatively, you could ask someone on the United Kingdom subreddit. There are problem plenty of helpful people on there. 4chan is good for advice but Reddit is better if you might need someone IRL.

What the fuck is the rationale behind a countersignature for a passport?

>>1255405
Criminals used to apply for passports with dead peoples' names. With countersignatures, they need to convince someone else to also break the law with them, which is surprisingly difficult when it comes to lying to the government.

>>1255382
not allowed to
>>1255388
they need to have known you for 2 years on a somewhat personal level

Go and visit your old school? A lot of your teachers will probably remember you. Try linkedin if you can remember their names.

>>1255430
No like ive said anon, ive tried every possible avenue. They also have to known you for the last 2 years not just any 2 years

>>1255433
wtf have you been doing with your life?

>>1255436
Not OP, but I've been travelling for the last 6 years of my life, and I haven't known anyone for 2 years since I was in secondary school. I would be in the same position if I ever lost my passport.

Apply for your passport via the same day service.

It's more expensive but as you physically hand the form to someone, you don't need to have it countersigned.

>>1255379
just fucking give your mate a tenner and tell him to do it (lying) XD

>>1255421
DUDE you can LIE

is this some copypasta?

i swear i've seen this before. and even then i offered to help out, but op seems like he doesn't want to be helped. so i don't get why this thread is here again. i don't think you would make it out of the uk anyway, if you refuse this much help.

>>1255490
No first time. And it is a pretty common problem, I'm posting this to bring attention to this retardation. basically the only way round it is to lie it seems, and then you risk being arrested.
>>1255440
Nope! Still need countersignature on photo
>>1255436
Just havent been in same place and havent built relationships.

>>1255490
This is dumb. The whole point is they make it impossible for some people to get passports without breaking the law.

>>1255433
>They also have to known you for the last 2 years
If you don't talk to your friends for over two years, does that really mean they cease to know you?

>>1255522
No but you can't use friends, you have to know a person from a professional capacity. they are supposed to ring them while they're at work, hence GP's refusing to do it now.

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>>1255490
I actually googled UK passport application requirements myself, and my god, the rules are incredibly autistic. I don't blame OP for being frustrated.

The reference has to know you on a personal level for over two years, and they have to have a decent job. So if you have an old friend who is a lawyer or teacher, that's valid. If you have a friend who owns a comic book store, that's invalid.

>>1255528
Yeah maybe I confused people, you can use friends, just all my friends happen to be on the doll/ work agency jobs.

>>1255379
You could use a pharmacist or local copper or go to the town council or local MPs office and get them to do it.

Most local MPs will have their staff do it (government officers) because they don't like to piss off voters obviously.

>>1255379
I got my local shop keeper to do mine

>>1255530
Do they have an OBE or an MBE?

>>1255530
Contact your MP, say you'll vote for him next week if he signs you on. :DD

>>1255406
It is shockingly difficult.

Some of my friends lives are complete shit, like even worse than mine but I've never been able to convince them to rob a bank with me.

Guess I'm more of a Trevor than a Michael...

Theoretically whats to stop you using another number and pretending to be an employed friend of yourself?

>>1255925

Strictly speaking they're no longer an MP. When Parliament is dissolved for an election all MPs lose their jobs.

>>1255379
Do they actually check?
seriously, they might not check beyond googleing your co-signee

they can't check how long you've known someone for, how could they?
just find a legit person who you've known for a few months, preferably from your home country

>>1256028
I don't think theyd google, the jobs are specific enough it should be fairly easy to find if someone works there.

>>1255528
Why is this so hard? As if they fucking know how long someone would know you, like what the fuck. Just ask your workmates or your dentist.

go to solicitor specializing in Middle Eastern clients, you know which type
Eventually one will know you for two years.

Is there nobody your parents know that might be willing?

>>1255528
it has justice of the peace as a recognized profession

is that the same as in Australia where it's just volunteer oldies

then that's easy to get

Brexit wasn't such a bad idea after all for Europe.. these requirements are bonkers.

>>1255387
Why is only one anon offering to help OP out? Shame on the rest of you, if you are in the UK. Can't /trv/ do something nice for once other than shitposting about 3rd world immigration and barebacking trannies?

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>>1256114

>>1256109
>>1256393
>>1256028

dont lie to police, doctor or priest

>>1256393
I'd help him out (living in the UK), but I'm not a Brit. So I'm 99% sure that these rules also include the fact that all guarantors or whatever must be Brits.

>>1255379
Are you joking or have you never had a fucking passport before in your entire family history?

>>1255528
>comic book store
You can't even make £85,000 in a year with a comic book store in the UK?
>director/manages/personnel officer in a vat-registered company

Not OP but I can advise a bit here having been in a similar spot.
>>1255454
The countersigner is the one who would have to do the lying. I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable doing that or asking someone else to.
>>1255433
>They also have to known you for the last 2 years not just any 2 years
Are you sure about that?
>https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passport-applications/when-to-sign-what-to-do
>Your countersignatory must:
>have known the person applying [...] for at least 2 years
It doesn't say the last two years specifically. My countersignature was a bank manager who I hadn't seen in years.
>>1255490
It seems to be a fairly common state to be in, especially for people like us who spend all their time on Vietnamese knitting boards.
>>1255526
>you can't use friends
Not quite- someone who is "a person of good standing in their community" works. They want someone with status to lose. Almost anyone who isn't a random druggie on the dole would be okay.
>>1255544
>Most local MPs will have their staff do it (government officers) because they don't like to piss off voters
Now this is an interesting idea!
>>1256028
You need their passport number, for one thing.
>>1255437
>I would be in the same position if I ever lost my passport.
Same! I guess I could ask that manager again, but I'd feel very uncomfortable about it.

>>1255379

Get your local vicar or priest to do it.

>>1255530
>all my friends happen to be on the doll/ work agency jobs.

Are you on the dole? if so good news, the person you see at the job centre is a permanent civil servant, if they have delt with you two years or more (even off and on) they can sign, my brother in law works at the job centre and gets asked to sign passport forms quite a bit.

>>1257583
>uncomfortable
your fault for having soxial anxiety or some dumb shit

>>1255437
>I would be in the same position if I ever lost my passport.

When updating or replacing a passport you only need to get new photos signed and only then if your appearance has drastically changed.

Just ask a random "Oriental" roaming you streets to lie for you. They are used to it.

>>1257694
That's not quite my reasoning... he realistically barely knew me, he let me mail in the form instead of taking it to him in person, and generally trusted me enough to take a risk without even hesitating. Great guy and I wouldn't want to bother him again, especially if it was my own damn fault that I had damaged it or whatever. I make sure to keep my passport in a nice waterproof travel wallet thing at all times.

I would personally only be willing to sign for someone I really had known well for multiple years.
>>1257735
No, that's only the case if you still have the old passport and it's in reasonable condition. If it's lost/stolen/badly damaged, you gotta get a countersignature.

OP here, thought this thread had died. Update: Couldn't see anyone running for parliament (understandably busy), bank wouldn't do it, have only lived in this town for just under a year anyway
>>1257635
was on it, not anymore, and hadn't been on it for 2+ years
>>1257632
They literally have to know you somewhat

I think I'll have to wait another year and ask some people or until one of my friends get a decent job (unlikely) unfortunately.

>>1258806
Pick a friend who is on a "work agency" job and hasn't been arrested for anything/otherwise would look dodgy in any way. Phone HMPO, describe them, and ask if they would be suitable as a "person of good standing in their community".

They do /not/ need to be a bank manager/airline pilot/another of the suggested professions.

>>1256415
I don't think so.
Australian passports have the same shitty reqs, and I live abroad. My foreign doctor in a foreign country would sign for me and it works.

>>1258806

Is anyone you know a plumber, electrician or similar sort of professional? If so have they got any people who work for them? If so and they're not as dodgey as fuck they'll have a registered company, which makes them eligible to sign your passport.

According to the passport website:
> 2. Accepted occupations for countersignatories

>Your countersignatory must either:

>- work in (or be retired from) a recognised profession
>- be ‘a person of good standing in their community’

The second one of those should be easy to find even if you don't know anyone who works in or has retired from a recognised profession.

For passport purposes ‘a person of good standing in their community’ means:
-No criminal record
-Not an alcoholic or a druggie
-Not the sort of person who if you google the first reaction of a civil servant is not going to be "Oh ffs" (they will look you up online and you'll be interviewed as well to check you're not bogus)
-Not a jihadi or member of an neo nazi group or other extremist group.

Should be easy if one of your parents friends back home is at least vaguely sensible they can vouch that they've been a family friend for at least 2 years and have seen and conversed with you on a number of occasions.

It might also help you out to know that when you say:
>>1255433
>They also have to known you for the last 2 years not just any 2 years

You're getting the wrong end of the stick. We've all been there when filling in a long form in leagal-ese but no, it is not the last 2 years, just any 2 years, sure they should be fairly recent (say within the last 5 years since they last saw you, although there is no rule about that). They'll get asked things that relate to the form and the photo they signed to check they've read it and that they do know you like "does Anon have ginger hair?" or "Where was Anon born?". If they kept a photocopy of the form it'll all be on there.

>>1259041
none of that lol, like I've said. You think I'd have made an oversight like forgetting my friend was a plumber etc..? Not lived in any place for too long, come from children homes/ halfway house so no family friends, few friends and only one friends has a job and it's factory job through agency.

>>1259641
>only one friends has a job and it's factory job through agency
Are they otherwise in "good standing" (no criminal record etc)? They would surely be worth a try.

>>1259641

Any long standing member of staff from a childrens home should be fine for you to use as your countersignature, even if you don't get along with them or they hated you or you hated them as long as you didn't act like a complete thug they should be fine vouching for you as you'd both be adults by now. They have to have a criminal record check to work there so should be 'a person of good standing in their community'.

Same goes for any social workers who may have known you or dealt with your case over your time in care (they're permanent civil servants).

Temporary foster parents might be ok too depending on how long they have known you.

The two years of knowing you doesn't mean daily contact for all of that two years either. For example if you were in a childrens home for 3 months then housed with a foster family for 18 months before returning to the childrens home for 3 months and it had the same person working there as before then that person would count as having known you for 2 years.

You might be able to get something you can work with from that and I hope you do, good luck.

Anyone you know, ask them to fill the form, not read it.
They're asking for a fellow Brit to vouch that you're the person you claim to be. Nothing more.
Anyone signing will do.
Don't make it more complicated than the simple thing it is.

>>1259920

Used to be the case, but now they do all sorts of checks as well. Expect to have an interview as part of the process too.

>>1259920
They will phone or mail the countersignatury, asking them to describe you and explain how long they've known you. The less prestigious their occupation/background, the more detailed their checks will be.

>>1255379
Yo OP I paid a solicitor to do mine. £20 I think.

Unfortunately I'm a chef so not professional enough

>>1261244
You didn't know them at all? And they happily wrote down that they knew you for 2 years?

>>1261244
>>1262058
I'm more surprised that a lawyer (Brits are weird and call lawyers "solicitors") would assist in a fraudulent passport application for such a low price.

>>1262227
That's probably because he was a fraudulent lawyer as well.

>>1255379
basically if your parents dont sort you out with a passport when youre young its a massive ball-ache, still how do we know you dont want to go receive terrorist training?

>>1262058
You do understand that this is an archaic requirement that basically states that only certain people of a certain 'class' are trustworthy enough to look at a photo and say hmm yes that does look like him

It's even more retarded when you consider the other types of appications you are able to make and be approved for without this lunacy