: First British child passport — name shortening, follow-up doc request, impossible proof-of-address requirement

Hi all — looking for advice from anyone who's been through something similar.

The setup
My son was registered as a British citizen earlier this year. We then applied online for his first British passport. His full legal name on his Certificate of Registration, Egyptian birth certificate, and Egyptian passport is 31 characters in the "first and middle names" field. The online form only allows 30.
Name shortening procedure

Before submitting, I confirmed the procedure via HMPO webchat (three separate advisers on different dates, transcripts saved):

• Enter a shortened version in the form (one middle name shortened to an initial)

• Submit a parental consent letter signed by both parents

• After payment, contact HMPO with the PEX number to add an examiner note

• The full name will appear on the observation page of the passport

I followed all of that. Examiner note added (confirmed by adviser). His sister's application went through with the same type of bilingual Egyptian birth certificate, no follow-up.

The follow-up letter (for son only)
A letter has come back asking for three things:

• Signature verification — handled by sending both parents' signed passports

• His full birth certificate — already sent in the original envelope, sister's was accepted with no comment

• Proof of his current UK address, dated within the last year, showing his name and address — this is where I'm stuck

The proof-of-address problem
Today's webchat adviser told me the proof of address "must show the name exactly as it will appear on the passport" — i.e. the shortened form. But that name does not exist on any real-world document, because the shortening was only created to fit the 30-character form field. His birth certificate, Certificate of Registration, NHS records, and passport all show the full name.

The HMPO letter itself only says the document "must show his name and address" — without specifying which version of the name. The adviser added that interpretation.
Making it worse, we moved address two months ago. So I have:

• NHS letter from January (old address), full correct name

• NHS letter post-move (current address), but NHS shortened a different middle name to an initial in their system without me asking

• Council letter for both parents at new address confirming the move from the old one

No single document shows the current address AND the unshortened full name AND my son's name in isolation.

My current plan is to request a letter from his school showing his full name at our current address, as schools tend to handle long names better than NHS systems. But I'm unsure whether HMPO will accept a full-name proof of address, or whether they'll insist it matches the shortened version exactly (which, again, exists nowhere).

My questions:

• Has anyone successfully had a name shortened on a UK passport? What proof of address did you provide, and did HMPO accept the full name?

• Was the webchat adviser correct that the shortened name must appear on proof of address, or was that an over-application of a general rule?

• Anyone bundled multiple letters to tell a "chain of evidence" story (old-address letter with full name + new-address letter + council confirmation of move)?

• Worth waiting 72 hours for the online enquiry form reply, or just phone the Adviceline?

Many thanks in advance.

Call the helpline and ask to speak to a senior case manager. I doubt people on the webchat are case workers.