Immigration Corner | Replacing a child’s lost passport

Dear Mr Bassie,

I seem to have lost my child’s British passport. Please advise me how I should go about obtaining a replacement passport.

LB

Dear LB,

Persons can apply for a replacement passport if their child’s passport has been lost or stolen. They must cancel a lost or stolen passport as soon as possible as this will reduce the risk of anyone else using it.

Supporting documents

To replace a child’s passport, a person will need any valid passports from a different country that the child might have and any court orders, for example, that describe parental responsibility or residency arrangements).

Apply Online

The application for a replacement child passport should be made online. The cost is £49 and it can be paid with a credit or debit card. Persons will also need either digital or printed photos of the child and any supporting documents

Persons will need to ask someone to confirm the child’s identity. They should let the person know that they will receive an email from HM Passport Office telling them what to do. They will confirm the child’s identity online and please note that they do not need to sign a printed photo. HM passport office will advise who can confirm the child’s identity and what they will need to do.

Apply by post

Persons can apply by post by either getting a paper form from a post office that offers the Passport Check and Send service or by contacting the Passport Adviceline to get a form posted to them.

Persons should fill in sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 9 and 10 of the form and the child will need to sign section 6 if he/she is 12 years old or over. Persons will need two new printed photos of the child and should follow the rules for printed passport photos.

To send in the application, persons can either:

• Post the form, photos and documents using the pre-printed envelope that comes with the form; or

• Take the form, photos and documents to the Post Office if they want to use the Passport Check and Send service

Signing the application

Someone with parental responsibility must sign the form and if the child is 12 to 15 years, he/she will need to sign the form too. Please note that persons must get the application form and one of the child’s photos countersigned.

Original documents will be sent back by normal post, but persons can pay an extra £5 to get them sent by secure delivery. Persons should choose this service on the application if they want to use it.

Receiving the passport

The new passport will be sent by courier or Royal Mail. The authorities will either:

• post it through the letterbox

• hand it to the applicant if they are home

• leave a card or post a letter saying how it can be received (it will not say the package is your passport)

It should be noted that persons can track the passport application online.

I hope this helps.

John S. Bassie is a barrister/attorney-at-law who practises law in Jamaica. He is a justice of the peace, a Supreme Court-appointed mediator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a chartered arbitrator and a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (UK). Email: lawbassie@yahoo.com