British Passport Interview

[7by7]

Chriswatson asked here

With regards to her obtaining her first British passport and it's interview - I see from the link you provided to IPS that there is no way to "fast track" a first-time application, and she will probably be attending the interview in Elephant and Castle (joy of joys)

Will I be able to accompany her in the interview, and, how do they build up her "profile", as she is not on any electoral role or such like? She is presumably on HMRC, NHS, UK Border Agency and bank records but little else. Presumably this is enough? What kind of questions are asked?

Anyone had experience of this recently?

The passport interview is a fairly new development, and I do not know anyone who has had one so the only information I have is that given in Passport interviews.

So, does anyone have any recent experience of a passport interview and so be able to answer Chris's question?

[ThaiVisaExpress]

My wife attended one in Hull they only ask questions which are relevant to her application such as :

DOB

Name

Address

Husbands name/Parents names/place of birth.

This was in April this year it took around 15 Min's and i attended however they took her to a separate cubicle.

Edited December 31, 2009 by ThaiVisaExpress

[Eff1n2ret]

A bizarre aspect of these interviews is that, notwithstanding all the "life in the UK" and knowledge of English requirements to gain ILR or British Citizenship, if the applicant indicates a preference for another language, the Passport Agency will provide an interpreter!!!

Joined-up government, or what?

[knortyboy]

A bizarre aspect of these interviews is that, notwithstanding all the "life in the UK" and knowledge of English requirements to gain ILR or British Citizenship, if the applicant indicates a preference for another language, the Passport Agency will provide an interpreter!!!

Joined-up government, or what?

I guess in these politically correct times the government are affraid to appear racist.

[chriswatson]

My wife attended one in Hull they only ask questions which are relevant to her application such as :

DOB

Name

Address

Husbands name/Parents names/place of birth.

This was in April this year it took around 15 Min's and i attended however they took her to a separate cubicle.

Hmmm...seems pretty much the same questions asked in the application form for naturalisation.

But still wondering what background checks they do. The official info refers to verifying her identity via her electoral roll and credit history, of which she has neither.

However, since I imagine this is also the case with the majority of applicants, I'll not go looking for problems if there aren't any

[khundon]

Wife had one a few months ago. Easy peezy, lemon squeezy. They just ask questions about the passport application.

IMHO it is just another way to squeeze money out of us. Bastards.

5 minutes and it's done.

[7by7]

Kuhndon, whilst I agree that this current government has an appalling record of squeezing as much money as they can from legitimate immigrants by charging fees way above the actual cost of the service provided, this is not an instance of that.

Two points:-

All adult applicants for a first passport are required to attend an identity interview, regardless of whether they were born British or naturalised.

The fee for a first adult passport is the same as for a renewal; see Table of passport fees.

Having said that, it would be interesting to see how much processing a passport application costs compared to the actual fee; currently £77.50!

The stated purpose of the interview, to help prevent people using false identities from obtaining a passport, seems legitimate to me. As to it's effectiveness, IMHO well organised criminals and terrorists will always sooner or later find a way round any measures put in place; but it will make it more difficult for them and probably stop lesser criminals.

[jaiyenyen]

My mum had to attend one of these interviews. She is 78 yrs old, and British. She has never owned a passport before. I think she said she had to provide her parents birth and marriage certificates.

Looking forward to her visit next week.

[OdeTheBear]

They ask questions from the application like parents birthdays, what email address you wrote down etc. Also they buy a report from credit reference agency and ask about items in there like mortgage, credit cards or what ever is in there. Note that the interview is not a test as such, they are only confirming your identity so absolutely no need to rehearse or panic, it really is like a formality.

[Boo]

Yep, they just cross check the information provided on the application form & against other id & that the photo matches.

Also if like my husband, you didn't fill out the form & left it up to your wife, they are happy to accept "don't know" as an answer followed by "my wife fills in all forms".

Hubby was in their 5 minutes & received pp 5 days later.

[ThaiVisaExpress]

Thats about it all they are doing is ensuring they are issuing the passport to the correct person.