Home office and lost passports

[Hernancortes]

Has anybody had the misfortune to have their passports lost?
The HO can't find mine....

[sywahu]

no but thats a VERY horrible situation indeed. they should be fined £1000 for all such mistakes!

only then they will get their act together.

[ppron747]

I've no doubt that they can be persuaded to reimburse the cost of obtaining a replacements for any documents they lose - and possibly (with the help of the Ombudsman, if necessary) to compensate people for loss of the use of the document(s) if a value can be put on it. But as to sywahu's suggestion of a fine, the money to pay it would end up coming out of the pockets of people who pay fees to the Home Office. Some people here, who pay fees to HO, might not agree that that is such a good idea...

[Cornelius Svenhamo]

Whether you receive compensation for the lost passport depends on whether the passport was lost whilst in the care of the Home Office or whether it was in the care of Royal Mail (while being returned to you).

If your passport was lost by Royal Mail, the level of compensation depends on whether you sent a pre-paid Special Delivery envelope with your application. If you didn't, Royal Mail are only liable for compensation claims up to £30 (they are protected by the Postal Services Act), if you did, then you will be able to claim up to the limit you confirmed while paying for the pre-paid special delivery envelope.

I am not aware of the procedures for recovery of costs incurred if your passport was lost while in the actual care of the Home Office, my apologies!

Good luck with your claim

[Dawie]

I guess the lesson here is never ever trust the home office with your passport and avoid doing a postal application whereever possible.

The £500 for a face-to-face interview seems like money very well spent when you consider the risk of losing your passport!

[ppron747]

I guess the lesson here is never ever trust the home office with your passport and avoid doing a postal application whereever possible.

The £500 for a face-to-face interview seems like money very well spent when you consider the risk of losing your passport!

With respect, no it isn't, and no it doesn't.

The fact is that very few passports or other documents go astray in the Home Office, compared with the vast number of applications they receive - the Ombudsman's Annual Report would be full to overflowing with such cases, were document loss a widespread problem.

The difference in cost between a postal and a personal application can be around £200, and I do not think that this is anything approaching a reasonable price for an "insurance premium" against the remote possibility that documents might go astray.

The actual lesson to be learned is that people should keep a careful record - and copies - of every important document they send, and make sure they send them by secure means.

As I indicated in April (in the post to which Cornelius Svenhamo replied only yesterday...) IND will almost certainly reimburse people with the costs of obtaining replacement documents, when they are responsible for the loss of the originals. I have seen this happen, with IND and with other government departments. If they don't, the Ombudsman will be likely to recommend a consolatory payment on top of reimbursement, so they know from experience that it is in their interest to act reasonably over this sort of thing.

[Dawie]

I agree it is a rare thing to happen. But when it DOES happen it can be devastating to some individuals lives. Bare in mind that not all countries issue passports as easily and quickly as the UK authorities do. In many countries a bribe and a wait of over 3 months (sometimes up to a year) is required to get a new passport. Passports are often used as tools of repression by some governments with only the privileged few lucky to get them.

Also bear in mind that a lot of immigration history is stored in passports, including much detail that has never been recorded anywhere else. You would be surprised how many times a persons passport is stamped but their details never entered in any computerised system of any kind including when entering many Western European countries. The details are often used when assessing people for ILR applications and naturalisation applications. Also when applying for Schengen visas to visit the rest of Europe, the Schengen countries will look at your previous history of Schengen visas in your current passport and any old passports to assess whether or not you are worthy of getting a multiple entry tourist visa which can make your life a lot easier.

It's all very nice and rosy that IND will reimburse you for your lost passport, but I'm afraid there are some instances where no amount of money will compensate you for the information that has been lost in your passport.

[Jeff Albright]

It's all very nice and rosy that IND will reimburse you for your lost passport

It is not nice and rosy but it is the duty of someone who allowed the chicken-up. I am just going through this process myself. I have made it clear that I expect them to sort it out. They just keep quiet.

, but I'm afraid there are some instances where no amount of money will compensate you for the information that has been lost in your passport.

That's surely, true, hence there can be no excuses as such. The matter must be sorted out at once and you have to be firm with them. IND Complaints Unit could be quite helpful in these instances.