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Hi everyone,
I had applied for my daughters first UK passport. Today HMPO got back with "Your passport application is on hold. This is because the person you chose to confirm your identity does not meet the criteria."

I have never faced this before and thought this was simple. The person, our family friend, who did the identity confirmation for our 5 month old girl is a British citizen, holds UK passport, and works as a Scientist in Social Health in NHS.

Any suggestions for what to do next?
Cheers.

Your referee should be from a list of certain professionals: https://www.gov.uk/countersigning-passp ... ignatories

Don't see your chosen referee's profession in the list, but if he's there, please specify, which one.

From what I remember this list is for guidance and not exhaustive, like it says on the page examples of recognised professions.

I am myself a scientist in a private company, but since I am not British, I have never verified anyone's identity for citizenship or passport application. But my fellow colleagues (scientists) who are British have done it and it has been accepted.

ktyagi wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:19 am

From what I remember this list is for guidance and not exhaustive, like it says on the page examples of recognised professions.

I am myself a scientist in a private company, but since I am not British, I have never verified anyone's identity for citizenship or passport application. But my fellow colleagues (scientists) who are British have done it and it has been accepted.

I'm sure you want the passport issued. No need trying to justify what happened with some other person. All you need to do is find someone on that list and resend to the HMPO.

FYI, your professional referee doesn't have to be British.

ktyagi wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:19 am

From what I remember this list is for guidance and not exhaustive, like it says on the page examples of recognised professions.

I am myself a scientist in a private company, but since I am not British, I have never verified anyone's identity for citizenship or passport application. But my fellow colleagues (scientists) who are British have done it and it has been accepted.

Citizenship has different requirements for referees; one of them has to be in a recognized profession, while other is just a British citizen who is over 25. Your colleagues might either be used as just a "British citizen" referee for naturalization or they're member of a professional body.

Since your referee was rejected, it's clear this approach and referee doesn't work. You can try again with another colleague, if you wish, but I would suggest you to not take the risk and make sure you got someone who's certainly on the list.

Hi again,
I was mistaken. First of all i used a friend, who knows me and the child very well. I did not use a colleague. This friend is a scientist but also a fully qualified doctor too. So that could have been the issue.

Btw, for passport application this is the requirement as stated by HMPO
"Ask someone to confirm your identity online
Who can do this
You need to ask someone who:

is 18 or older
and lives in the UK
and has a current UK passport
and works in or is retired from a recognised profession
"
So they have to be British. If not it will take longer for the application to process. And only one is required not two. May be because the applicant is already British and is only 5 months old? I dont know.

Among examples of professionals here is the link:
https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/hel ... g-identity

Where it says:
You cannot confirm someone’s identity if you:

are a doctor, unless you state you know the applicant well (for example they’re a good friend) and you recognise them easily from their photo.

How can i prove the last point?

ktyagi wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 12:55 pm

And only one is required not two. May be because the applicant is already British and is only 5 months old? I dont know.

Naturalization needs two; passport application needs one.

Is it possible to contact back, i.e. contact HMPO and explain that the referee is our family friend and knows us very well?

If I restrict to the list of professions in recognised professions list, and consider all the other requirement, there will not be any one left.

Just to close this thread in case others come looking answers for a similar question.

I called HMPO and was told that there is some sort of a bloody stupid computer algorithm that rejects doctors automatically. They suggested to forward my request to HMPO for manual handling. I immediately shot an email to HMPO help asking for an explanation for deeming our referee ineligible. I wrote that the referee is a fully qualified medical doctor but is not working as a GP or practicing medicine but works in NHS social health policy and that they are a close family friend and can recognise all the members of my household from our photos. Therefore their reference should be allowed as described in the guide.

I got a reply saying that my application has been transferred to manual handling and an examiner will get back if they need anything else. 2 working days later they contacted the referee for more details. And then a day later application was approved!!

I will add again, referee needs to be from a recognised profession and the list indicated in the guidance is of examples and not exhaustive. If a referee is rejected I suggest to stand your ground and ask for explanation.

Ticktack wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 12:08 pm

ktyagi wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:19 am

From what I remember this list is for guidance and not exhaustive, like it says on the page examples of recognised professions.

I am myself a scientist in a private company, but since I am not British, I have never verified anyone's identity for citizenship or passport application. But my fellow colleagues (scientists) who are British have done it and it has been accepted.

I'm sure you want the passport issued. No need trying to justify what happened with some other person. All you need to do is find someone on that list and resend to the HMPO.

FYI, your professional referee doesn't have to be British.

Justification and asking for explanation worked. Thank you for help. Cheers

ktyagi wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:04 pm

Ticktack wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 12:08 pm

ktyagi wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:19 am

From what I remember this list is for guidance and not exhaustive, like it says on the page examples of recognised professions.

I am myself a scientist in a private company, but since I am not British, I have never verified anyone's identity for citizenship or passport application. But my fellow colleagues (scientists) who are British have done it and it has been accepted.

I'm sure you want the passport issued. No need trying to justify what happened with some other person. All you need to do is find someone on that list and resend to the HMPO.

FYI, your professional referee doesn't have to be British.

Justification and asking for explanation worked. Thank you for help. Cheers

Nice work, congratulations.