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Passport Office | Reference letter

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RagsKasthuri
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Passport Office | Reference letter

Post by RagsKasthuri » Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:22 pm

Hi

I made an application for my British Passport after I naturalised on the 7th September.

After 2 weeks, I have now received a letter from the Passport office asking for the following: Has anyone out there received a letter like this and how to go about it? I see that not everyone is receiving this letter. Why have they chosen my application in particular? Kindly help!

Thanks
Rags

Letter from the passport office:

In order to fight the increasing threat of identity fraud, we need to verify the information provided on the passport application form. To do this we need to know where you have lived over a period of time.

To confirm this, please provide one or more letters on business headed paper addressed to the identity and passport service from one of the following:

- Your bank or building society
- Your employer
- Your landlord or mortgage company
- Your school, university or education authority
- The Department of Work and Pensions
- Your dentist, or only if absolutely necessary, your GP (We ask that you do not trouble your doctor for non-medical reasons if it can be avoided.)
- A Commanding Officer (if you are a member of HM Forces).

The letter must confirm that you have been known to them between September 2006 and September 2009. They must also confirm your current address and all previous addresses known to the organization. Or you may provide evidence such as tenancy agreement that show you were resident between the above dates.

If you provide a letter from your bank, building society, Mortgage Company or local authority the letter must also confirm that you have held an active account throughout this period (i.e. it should have been in use the whole time). If you have been resident abroad please forward the passport used for travel.

Please note we will not accept a bank statement or utilities bill as suitable confirmation.

ChetanOjha
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Re: Passport Office | Reference letter

Post by ChetanOjha » Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:47 pm

If you have used the same bank in last 5/6 years better ask bank to provide you a letter for all the address they have for you in their records. This should help i think.
RagsKasthuri wrote:Hi

I made an application for my British Passport after I naturalised on the 7th September.

After 2 weeks, I have now received a letter from the Passport office asking for the following: Has anyone out there received a letter like this and how to go about it? I see that not everyone is receiving this letter. Why have they chosen my application in particular? Kindly help!

Thanks
Rags

Letter from the passport office:

In order to fight the increasing threat of identity fraud, we need to verify the information provided on the passport application form. To do this we need to know where you have lived over a period of time.

To confirm this, please provide one or more letters on business headed paper addressed to the identity and passport service from one of the following:

- Your bank or building society
- Your employer
- Your landlord or mortgage company
- Your school, university or education authority
- The Department of Work and Pensions
- Your dentist, or only if absolutely necessary, your GP (We ask that you do not trouble your doctor for non-medical reasons if it can be avoided.)
- A Commanding Officer (if you are a member of HM Forces).

The letter must confirm that you have been known to them between September 2006 and September 2009. They must also confirm your current address and all previous addresses known to the organization. Or you may provide evidence such as tenancy agreement that show you were resident between the above dates.

If you provide a letter from your bank, building society, Mortgage Company or local authority the letter must also confirm that you have held an active account throughout this period (i.e. it should have been in use the whole time). If you have been resident abroad please forward the passport used for travel.

Please note we will not accept a bank statement or utilities bill as suitable confirmation.

RagsKasthuri
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Passport Office | Reference letter

Post by RagsKasthuri » Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:51 pm

Hi

Thanks for the reply. I had asked my banks both Barclays and HSBC. They are not willing to provide a letter with all these details. They are only willing to provide us with a Status enquiry letter.

momer79
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Passport Letter

Post by momer79 » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:42 am

Hi RagsKasthuri,

I have heard about passport interview but never heared abt the letter you have received.

There are about 30-40 Identity and Passport Service offices in UK for passport interview , if there is no IPS office near your home (with in 20-30 miles) then you can be asked for any further details by post. ( Thats what i think but i can be wrong)

If you have got your ILR in the uk then you shouldn't be asked for address details but as far as i know Home office database is not linked to IPS database ( which they should do in the future) thats why IPS needs to confirm your address details.

I am applying for British passport in few weeks and i do have all the address details from past 3-4 yrs because i have used them when i applied for ILR one yr ago.

Are they just asking for last 3 yr address details? How long have you been living in UK?

Thanks

tech
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Post by tech » Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:29 am

Are you registered in electoral register ? If yes what kind of register ?
(Edited or public). If you are registered atleast for council tax, this issue shouldn't arise. People live in shared accomodation and don't have any credit history (like paying bills or council tax or mortages) face this issue.

when they do credit check if it comes blank for last 3 years then they ask for address proof 3 years.

RagsKasthuri
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Post by RagsKasthuri » Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:16 am

Aha!!

Thanks for letting me know about it. Yes, I have been living in a shared accomodation and have not been paying any bills.

This is why they have picked my application out of the whole lot :-) I had been wondering why they picked on me out of all the other applications.

Many thanks for letting me know about this. It has made me feel better in a way that its been asked for a reason and not completely random :-)

I have written to HMRC now. I will have to wait and see what happens.

If you have any other idea, please let me know.

Thanks
Rags

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Post by rkudum » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:33 pm

RagsKasthuri wrote:Aha!!

Thanks for letting me know about it. Yes, I have been living in a shared accomodation and have not been paying any bills.

This is why they have picked my application out of the whole lot :-) I had been wondering why they picked on me out of all the other applications.

Many thanks for letting me know about this. It has made me feel better in a way that its been asked for a reason and not completely random :-)

I have written to HMRC now. I will have to wait and see what happens.

If you have any other idea, please let me know.

Thanks
Rags

Hi RagsKasthuri

What documents did u send.
looks like they have sent a similar letter to me as well.

Thanks and Regards,
Ramesh Kudum

RagsKasthuri
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Post by RagsKasthuri » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:45 pm

Hi

I went through the Check and Send Service. All I sent in the initial application was:

- Passport
- Naturalisation certificate
- Appropriate fee

Thats all.

Now for the reference letter they have asked for, I have sent a letter to HMRC and they have said that there is a current wait of 5 weeks to revert back to a letter :-)

I am also speaking to my accountant this afternoon to confirm if he is able to provide me with the required reference.

Were you living on shared acco as well for the last 3 years?

Cheers
Rags

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Post by rkudum » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:56 pm

RagsKasthuri wrote:Hi

I went through the Check and Send Service. All I sent in the initial application was:

- Passport
- Naturalisation certificate
- Appropriate fee

Thats all.

Now for the reference letter they have asked for, I have sent a letter to HMRC and they have said that there is a current wait of 5 weeks to revert back to a letter :-)

I am also speaking to my accountant this afternoon to confirm if he is able to provide me with the required reference.

Were you living on shared acco as well for the last 3 years?

Cheers
Rags
No i wasnt living in a shared accomodation . But currently i am living in my Office provided accomodation . and i provided this address in the passport application. where as all my bank accnts have my old address.
may be this is a issue.

RagsKasthuri
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Post by RagsKasthuri » Wed Sep 23, 2009 1:10 pm

By the looks of it, you have an employer. In this case, it should be fairly straight forward if you provide a letter from your employer covering the 3 years.

In my case, I have got my own limited company. So I am going to try if my accountant can provide me with that letter and the most important thing is if the passport office would accept that letter.

Good luck!
Rags

tech
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Post by tech » Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:04 pm

As far as I understand, they perform a credit check on everybody to establish identity and address. for last 3 years. It is not a random process. But being on public electoral register is important.

There is another scenario where you may have mortgage,credit cards and may be paying bills but if you are not public electoral register (rather on private).still there is good chance you may be asked to provide address proof

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Post by momer79 » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:01 am

Hi tech,

I do have a bank account and i do pay me all bills (electric,gas,council tax etc) but don't have any mortgage or any credit card, does it mean that i will also be asked for last 3 yr addresses?

Thanks

RagsKasthuri
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Post by RagsKasthuri » Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:25 pm

It is clear from tech's message that if you are on the public register paying council tax, water electricity etc, you are on the system.

Having a mortgage / Credit card doesn't mean that your credit check would come back with all the details required.

Hence, it is my understanding that as long as you were in the public register, you shouldn't be asked to provide proof of address.

I also spoke to the Passport office and I am being told that you would be asked for address proof:

- If you have moved too many times in the last 3 years
- If you are not on the public register
- Sometimes randomly pick a few applications for sanity check

This is the information I have been provided by the passport office.

Good luck!
Rags

lboro
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Post by lboro » Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:35 pm

RagsKasthuri wrote:Hence, it is my understanding that as long as you were in the public register, you shouldn't be asked to provide proof of address.
What is this public register? My understanding is that there is only electoral register. And local councils edit this to provide edited version for sale to private companies who wants to get hold of people addresses, but passport services is not a private companies so they will have access to full version of electoral register!

It is not compulsory to be on edited version but it is for full version (if you are eligible to vote in UK)

RagsKasthuri
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Post by RagsKasthuri » Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:49 pm

Oh yeah! I meant to say Electoral Register and said Public register instead :-) I meant the same doh !

Its been confirmed that I am able to provide reference from my accountant.

Hoping to send through all the required documents by next Monday or so :-)

Cheers
Rags

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Post by MUGHAL » Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:11 am

hi there,
did you use/show too many residence addresses in your pp application,
or any thing else ..........?
regards.
mughal

lboro wrote:
RagsKasthuri wrote:Hence, it is my understanding that as long as you were in the public register, you shouldn't be asked to provide proof of address.
What is this public register? My understanding is that there is only electoral register. And local councils edit this to provide edited version for sale to private companies who wants to get hold of people addresses, but passport services is not a private companies so they will have access to full version of electoral register!

It is not compulsory to be on edited version but it is for full version (if you are eligible to vote in UK)

RagsKasthuri
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Post by RagsKasthuri » Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:57 am

Nah, I didn't show too many addresses. I kept it simple.

Just the:

- Passport application form
- Naturalisation certificate &
- Covering letter

Thats it !

Rags

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Post by Casa » Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:10 am

Unless you had the right to vote (EU or Commonwealth citizen) you won't have been added to the electoral register before you were granted BC.

hamed
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hi

Post by hamed » Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:51 am

hi
the same letter came to one of my friend and we been to bank and most of the places and none of provid him with such letter. finaly he phoned the passport office back and spoke with the caseworker and she said you can send a letter from your landlord with your tenantcy agreement . within 5 days i went for interview and got his passport . hope this help

RagsKasthuri
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Post by RagsKasthuri » Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:05 am

Thanks Hamed. Probably thats the last resort in my case as well.

But given that I have lived in 4 different places shared accomodations in the last 3 years, and never had any tenancy agreement as such except for one place, I might have to track down the landlords to see if I can arrange for a tenancy agreement.

Thanks anyways! That information helps. I can getting to understand that there are a few others who had been sent this letter in the past and present.

Things are in progress. I shall update once I have gathered all the letters required.

Cheers
Rags

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address problem

Post by benmba » Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:30 am

I am going to apply for British passport soon. My problem is that my previous address bills are still on my name, council tax, water and gas bills. The new tenant who i can trust pays all the bills for the last 1,5 years on that address.
My landlord in my new address signs the contract, so there sould not be any problem if they(IPS) ask me proof of this address, but when they check the system they will see my name is still on my previous address bills. I do not know if this will cause a big problem. If i change the name on council tax bill, i need to fill the form giving information where and when i moved and how many people live in that address etc. so it may casue a problem if i do it now as i moved out 1,5 years ago. if i dont do it then they may think i still live in my old address when they see my name on the bill.
I dont know what should do exactly but I am thinking of not changing the name on the bills as they been paid regularly and if they need contract from the new landlord i can provide it. But im concern that they might get confused and this might delay getting my passport.
Any idea what should I do ?

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Casa
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Post by Casa » Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:56 am

Are you saying you have nothing registered in your name at your present address...including Council Tax? If so, this could cause a problem with your BC application.

benmba
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Post by benmba » Tue Oct 06, 2009 3:58 pm

No, nothing registered at new address but I have a tenancy agreement contract. I am already a British citizen have naturalization certificate. I do not think people have to register anything on their name at the address they live as long they prove that they live in that address which i can prove it by sending them the tenancy agreement. The problem is that my name still registered in council tax bill in my old address. I want to know if this will cause any problem.

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Post by whirly » Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:22 am

benmba wrote:No, nothing registered at new address but I have a tenancy agreement contract. I am already a British citizen have naturalization certificate. I do not think people have to register anything on their name at the address they live as long they prove that they live in that address which i can prove it by sending them the tenancy agreement. The problem is that my name still registered in council tax bill in my old address. I want to know if this will cause any problem.
benmba (and others): Think of it this way. Go back to the first post in this thread. IPS has a different objective from the Home Office: they are trying to combat identity fraud. They can see that you are now British. What they want to know is that the person applying for the passport is the proper owner of that identity (i.e. you = you!)

So ask yourself this: can you answer any personal questions they might ask that no one else should know? Do you know where you live? When you were born? Which mobile provider you use? etc.

They use public records like the electoral register and credit history to get this information. They treat you like any other British person applying for a fist-time passport.

So just give them what they want! They are not necessarily looking for evidence of good character...they just want to know that you match the photo, signature and information you provided on your application form. If you are who you say you are, then you shouldn't have to worry. Just be consistent throughout - you don't need to over-complicate matters.

Good luck!

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Thanks

Post by benmba » Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:07 pm

Thanks mate (Whirley). I feel much better now. Will be get in touch again when the things are over.

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