ILR & British Passport?????? URGENT HELP

[ghazibaba]

Hi,
I need some urgent advise.
Came to UK through an agent, applied asylum, took couple of years to get accepted, got ILR, completed time, passed test, got citizenship.
Applied British Passport... and now the passport office is asking for the travel doc or passport on which I entered, which I do not have?
They are asking an explanation and statement.
Please help, its URGENT

[ppron747]

I'm not sure what advice you want, ghazibaba...

Why not simply give them what they are asking for? I assume that IND are fully aware of the situation, or they wouldn't have (a) given you ILR or (b) naturalised you. There's nothing the Passport Office can do to you that IND couldn't already have done. I can't see there's a problem...

[ghazibaba]

thanks
so a simple explanation would serve the purpose?
i hope so.

[JAJ]

Hi,
I need some urgent advise.
Came to UK through an agent, applied asylum, took couple of years to get accepted, got ILR, completed time, passed test, got citizenship.
Applied British Passport... and now the passport office is asking for the travel doc or passport on which I entered, which I do not have?
They are asking an explanation and statement.

Just tell them you don't have the passport/travel document and that's that. If you have a naturalisation certificate it's pointless and unreasonable for them to be asking for an old foreign passport anyway.

If they don't issue you a passport in reasonable time, then write to your Member of Parliament and ask him or her to raise the issue with the Home Secretary.

[ghazibaba]

thanks

[ppron747]

Alternatively, you could get your passport some time this year by complying with their entirely reasonable request to be satisfied as to your identity. There is simply no point in getting confrontational with them.

[JAJ]

Alternatively, you could get your passport some time this year by complying with their entirely reasonable request to be satisfied as to your identity. There is simply no point in getting confrontational with them.

Paul
Asking for the passport on which someone "first entered the UK" is not a reasonable request considering that many people do not have this document. And there are other ways to prove identity.

[ppron747]

It is a normal requirement imposed both by the UKPS (or whatever it is called this week) and FCO posts that people applying for their first British passport outside the country of their birth should produce the passport on which they travelled to that country, or an explanation as to why they cannot.

If it is an unreasonable request, it is one that the vast majority of people are able to comply with.

But - as you wish...

[JAJ]

It is a normal requirement imposed both by the UKPS (or whatever it is called this week) and FCO posts that people applying for their first British passport outside the country of their birth should produce the passport on which they travelled to that country, or an explanation as to why they cannot.

If it is an unreasonable request, it is one that the vast majority of people are able to comply with.

While it's understandable that some evidence of identity should be required, it just seems curious why they would ask people to be able to produce a document from maybe 10, 20 or 30 years ago. If they will happily accept an explanation that the document is lost (which it often will be) then that's fine.

What I can't really understand is why they would want a document like this rather than more contemporary evidence of identity, such as a driving licence, national ID card or foreign passport.

[ppron747]

The point of the exercise is to try and see that the person before them is the person who left Slobodia (or wherever). I think the rule of thumb is really that the ID documents should be as NON-contemporaneous as possible, because it is obviously more difficult to be satisfied as to the bona fides of someone who is 3000 miles from the country they were born in. A two year-old driving licence proves nothing, except that the person can drive.