Thankyou David.

Also my sons girlfriend and my grandson (11 months) are to apply for their first passport, I take it all they will be interviewed first?

Hi sunseeker1 ... only someone applying for their first adult passport requires to attend an interview - that is defined by the Identity & Passport Service as someone aged 16 or over who has not previously held a British passport in their own name.

Anyone applying for a child passport does not require an interview. Nor does anyone applying for an adult passport if they have previously held a child passport, as this would be classed as a renewal rather than a new application.

David

Thankyou again. Ok, looks like she will need an interview as she has never held a passport in her life.

In that case, more info here:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Passports/Applyingforyourfirstadultpassport/index.htm

David

Thinking of going to Poland in October, other half will have only 5 and a half months left on his passport when we travel, we are looking at flying with Ryanair, I have looked on website and Poland only need you to have a valid passport, but can't find anything on Ryanair, and I've been googling and people say it could be a problem with them. We are flying from the UK, thanks for any help, don't want to book flights and then find out we can't travel x

Hi bartown ... Ryanair only require you to have a passport which is valid on the dates of travel, unless the destination country specifies any other minimum validity period as part of its entry/immigration requirements. According to the Foreign Office, Poland has no such requirement:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/europe/poland#entryRequirements

David

Hi - so sorry to ask this question- as no doubt it has been asked numerous times.

I have 4 clear months left on my passport (on return journey)- am I ok to travel to benidorm with jet 2? Or does it have to be 6 months?

Thanks

Belly

Hi Belly ... Jet2 is one of the 'sensible' airlines which says that you should have a valid passport which satisfies the entry requirements of the country you are visiting. In the case of Spain, the entry requirement is that your passport should be valid for the duration of your stay.

David

Great news! -thanks for that David.

belly

Posted forms for new passport,s last Friday,arrived by courier today
6 day,s including the weekend,what a good service
now its the dreaded Indian Visa
annx

How long do you think my passport will take to get back to me if i send the forms off next week..

A guide to processing times can be found on this page:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Passports/howlongittakesandurgentappplications/DG_174148

David

Thank you David i'll use the check and send option..

Just renewed my passport ( god I look awful on the photo because if you wear tinted glasses, you should remove them and your hair has to be away from your face - in other words, no long fringe draping down and falling passed your eyebrows)

Mmm, well guess what? I wear tinted glasses and after years of having very very short hair and deciding to let it grow, and not having had it cut for nearly a year now, what would be a fringe is hanging over my eyes and is just not quite long enough to tuck behind my ear, so I had to scrape it and clip it to one side - I look a p*ll*ck.!
Anyhow, I'll just have to live with the passport for another 10 years and it took 2 weeks from posting it and receiving a new bio-metric one ( with the few months added on, as my old passport didn't expire until Feb 2012).

They sent me my old passport back, which I was pleased about because it has the stamp for Australia in it....a small thing, but of sentimental value.

Sanji

I wish all countries stamped passports as I think it a great keepsake for the future especially for children

Stamps in passports can cause problems at immigration in other countries. When we went to Israel they stamped our temporary visa which was a separate document from the passport. This meant we didn't have problems when we visited Arab countries.

On one visit to the US we were questioned about the stamps we had "from Middle East countries". They weren't Middle Eastern, but from Morocco and Tunisia, but the officer saw the Arabic writing and guessed wrongly.

We still have loads of stamps, but it is just as well that you don't get stamps from every country nowadays as we might have needed the extended and more expensive passport.

luci

I have opted to get the one day turnaround passport and go to Newport in Gwent didnt fancy waiting for my passport to come back with this xmas rush on hope i've done the right thing..
Sanji my hairsyle and the colour has changed compared to my last passport photo i'm taking a chance they dont want my form's counter signed but i'm hoping thats if your face has changed in appearance (only got older few wrinkles) i'm keeping my finger's crossed i get a nice pleasant job's worth on tuesday..

Our passports need renewing so we filled in the details on line and waited for the pre-printed forms to arrive. So far I have received 4 and my wife has 3. I phoned the passport office and got the reply 'oh thats happening a lot lately just destroy 5 of them'. What a shambles.

Thanks for the advice rdv.