** ALL ** Passport Related Questions in here! Please Read Post#1 first!

I'm

Thanks to all for their posts - it's good to understand other's experiences. I sent my application in on the 3rd Mar - the status once recieved has been the same since. Need it for the 31st for flight with Ryanair to UK, but will probably just have to take the hit and book flights with another carrier in the next couple of days.

JBoyle4eva

I've a last minute journey to make on Thursday 1st April (no fooling) and I've to go tomorrow to the offices to apply for an Emergency passport. I know people are saying it's not being rushed, but do you think if I still go in tomorrow, I'll have a chance of getting it in time? I'll have to spend tonight at my boyfriend's place in Temple bar as I won't get up early enough from Maynooth. So need advice ASAP

ickythump

does anybody know of someone who has received a passport recently (barr family emergency's) ????
mine was supposed to be back by last thursday, still no sign of it, am flying on the 1st april...

Herbal Deity

I'm travelling in mid May and returning at the start of June.

My passport expires in early June, but AFAIK (don't have it on me now) it'll still be in date when I'm travelling.

I've heard rumours about non-acceptance of passports which aren't a couple of months away from expiry. Is this a load of crap?

I don't really want to send my passport away for renewal if there's a chance I won't get my new one in time to fly...

Atlantic Dawn

Anyone know what the different tracking status on passport.ie, mines on checking, for the past week, I presume I have got to the stage where my photos are good?

Sundew

Paul4As wrote: »

I've heard the passport office are being really picky with photographs!
My wife got her photos returned to her today saying her head was to high in the shot!
I thought it looked OK!
She has heard a lot of people getting their photos returned...which would probably never have been returned pre-strike!

Not true.
A friend of mine had photos returned twice over a year ago so it's nothing to do with the strike. They have been much stricter with photos for a while now!
I'm pretty sure it's to do with the digital passports that were introduced in recent years.
Perhaps somebody can confirm this!
We also had photos retrurned in this house for not been centred enough :rolleyes:

darragh16

Sure they're a bunch of Pr***s in the passport offices. Its our right as Irish citizens to have a passport so why should they stop us, just because they're gettin a paycut. What about all the public and private sector workers who've suffered major paycuts.....

munchkin_utd

Sundew wrote: »

Not true.
A friend of mine had photos returned twice over a year ago so it's nothing to do with the strike. They have been much stricter with photos for a while now!
I'm pretty sure it's to do with the digital passports that were introduced in recent years.
Perhaps somebody can confirm this!
We also had photos retrurned in this house for not been centred enough :rolleyes:

There is a guide with the passport form for the photos and if you do them according to the guide you'll be grand.

The photos are scanned in by a machine and if they are not acording to the guide they WILL be rejected.

The irish attitude of "sure it'll be grand" or "sure it's near enough" unfortunately isnt accepted by the photo digitizer!!!
Aparantly it takes measurements of the proportion of your head and nose and whatnot and stores this on the chip with the passport.
(this is my understanding of what biometric is all about at any rate)

emanresu

To get an answer to this query you would have to say what country you are travelling to.

The Irish Passport Office website states: "Some countries now insist that your passport be valid for at least six months after the start of your visit, so check the expiry date carefully" but it doesn't mention which countries this applies to.

For example, in the case of France:
"European national passports ... are valid for France until the expiry date. Check you will leave the territory before that date."
http://www.ambafrance.ie/article.php3?id_article=784
and for passports from countries not on this list, at least 3 months validity is required.
http://www.consulfrance-vancouver.org/visas/anglais/modules_communs_aux_fiches/validite_du_passeport_en.htm

emanresu

... and for example, in the case of the United States:

"Visitors traveling to the United States are required to be in possession of passports that are valid for six months beyond the period of their intended stay in the United States. Citizens of the countries listed below* are exempt the six-month rule and need only have a passport valid for their intended period of stay. ....."

* Ireland is in the list

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/travel/inspections_carriers_facilities/clp/bulletins/clp_bullentin_04162008.ctt/clp_bulletin_04162008.pdf

Herbal Deity

Yeah, turns out where I'm going requires 3 months validity remaining on a passport.

I'm eligible for an American passport also, and am considering applying for one at the same time as my Irish one, just in case...

Butch Cassidy

Paul4As wrote: »

I've heard the passport office are being really picky with photographs!
My wife got her photos returned to her today saying her head was to high in the shot!
I thought it looked OK!
She has heard a lot of people getting their photos returned...which would probably never have been returned pre-strike!

If they're really picky it will probably have something to do with international visa/passport agreements such as the one with the USA as well as the biometric passports that store your photo on a chip in the passport.

watna

Herbal Deity wrote: »

Yeah, turns out where I'm going requires 3 months validity remaining on a passport.

I'm eligible for an American passport also, and am considering applying for one at the same time as my Irish one, just in case...

It's not a bad idea to have dual nationality. I have an American passport and, although I never use it unless going to the states it is good to know that if I got caught up in something like all this passport madness I'd have another one so I could at least travel.

kormak

I eventually got through to a woman by phone yesterday...
she answered the phone like she was preparing for a fight!
I was polite as could be and requested help with my application number, so i could track my passport that i posted it 6 weeks ago by regular post.
without even asking any details from me, she spurted out something about industrial action, mumbled something about customer service and then transferred me to another line which just rang out.
i hadn't even had the time to explain my situation.
there's work to rule and then there's pure ignorence...

BoardsMember

We posted a passport renewal using the An Post service on 10th March. Just did an online track of it and the status changed to "Checking" on 13th March. I'll post any change if/when that happens. We plan to fly on 14th April, we're not too hopeful.

Paul4As

Sundew wrote: »

Not true.
A friend of mine had photos returned twice over a year ago so it's nothing to do with the strike. They have been much stricter with photos for a while now!
I'm pretty sure it's to do with the digital passports that were introduced in recent years.
Perhaps somebody can confirm this!
We also had photos retrurned in this house for not been centred enough :rolleyes:

It's true in Mayo anyway that more people than usual are having their applications knocked back due to photographs! My wife works in a nursery and when she explained to some of the parents how she'd had her photos returned...many of them have had similar problems recently!
I'm sure the bigger the backlog the better it will seem to the strikers!
I'm not knocking the strikers...everyone has a right to protest!

Dodgykeeper

It would ease the fears of a lot of people if Ryanair relaxed the rule on needing a Passport to travel and would be a pr coup for them, am sure O'Leary would love to put a full page ad in the Indo saying they were doing more to ease the situation than our inept government!

Come on Micky, help us out!!

Dodgykeeper

I am in the same situation, my mothers sister worked in the office in Balbriggen until recently (this is where the Express Posts are sent) and told her yesterday that the first thing the efficiant passport officials do is to clip the corners thus rendering it invalid!

If you have any joy let me know but I have not been able to speak to anybody to ask the question!

Wheeker

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

It would ease the fears of a lot of people if Ryanair relaxed the rule on needing a Passport to travel and would be a pr coup for them, am sure O'Leary would love to put a full page ad in the Indo saying they were doing more to ease the situation than our inept government!

Come on Micky, help us out!!

Yes indeed- it would be a lifesaver & I'm sure O'Leary would love the publicity. My family is meant to be flying to UK on 1st April with Ryanair, but we applied for a passport for our baby at the end of Feb, enclosing my wife's passport with the application.

Wouldn't be a problem if we were flying any airline other than Ryanair as a passport is not required to travel to UK. My wife just phoned Ryanair "Customer Service", but they just repeatedly stated that a passport is required to travel on all flights :mad: If only they would just relax their rules during this strike emergency.......

Bloody*Mary

Passport office talks must start this morning - ITAA



Backlog fiasco causing needless anxiety to many thousands of citizens
Practical implications of dispute are enormous.
Urges Ryanair to waive passport only acceptable ID rule for UK flights.


Tuesday 23 March 2010 ITAA CEO, Simon Nugent this morning called for immediate action by Passport office management and CPSU representatives to make a plan and start clearing the backlog of applications currently building up at an appalling pace.



“This practical problem has to be separated out from the wider issue of public sector pay negotiations. The crisis is hardly what the passport office staff (who normally provide an excellent service) intended when they commenced their work to rule. It simply has to be solved.



“I have just been talking to some of the 250 people queuing outside the Passport Office in Molesworth St but the queue is just the tip of an iceberg, Travel agents offices are inundated with customers looking for advice about where they stand and. Everywhere, the problem is the same. People are angry, they know they don’t have their passports and they have no clue how long it is going to take to obtain one. They can not understand why they are being victimised in this union - government dispute. People I spoke to risk loosing huge money on well earned holidays, and others are being blocked from visiting aged and ill relatives. Business travellers are missing out on valuable export orders. This is nothing like e.g. a bus strike where one just ends up being late for work or school. The impact of this work to rule on people’s lives is huge.



“But this is a problem that can be solved and be solved relatively easily if workers and management were to talk face to face. We can’t understand why this did not happen on Friday or yesterday. It has to happen today.”



Mr Nugent also urged Ryanair to suspend its “Passport only form of ID” rule for travel between Ireland and the UK. “I spoke to several people in the queue this morning who have bought Ryanair tickets to the UK. If Ryanair accepted other forms of ID for UK trips for the next couple of months - this would be one way to reduce pressure on the passport system – and increase their sales.



For further information



Simon Nugent, Chief Executive ITAA

01 6794179

daveyboy_1ie

BoardsMember wrote: »

We posted a passport renewal using the An Post service on 10th March. Just did an online track of it and the status changed to "Checking" on 13th March. I'll post any change if/when that happens. We plan to fly on 14th April, we're not too hopeful.

In a similar situation myself, my gf applied on the 08th March and in fairness was told there was no gaurantees anymore on passport express which she accepted. Today is officially our 10th working day so we were never expecting it today (might be surprised when I get home ) but hoping against hope for maybe a 15 or even 20 working day wait. We are not flying until the 23rd April so still holding out for it arriving in time. But the escalation of the breakdown in services is really throwing a spanner in the works. I would not mind so much but she was dong the right thing in applying 3 months before her passport actually expired. So now we are left with NO passport and no idea when we are to expect her new one. If it does not arrive in time its €1,220 of a holiday down the drain, our first real holiday together and what should be something to look forward to is turning into a nightmare.

Atlantic Dawn

daveyboy_1ie wrote: »

In a similar situation myself, my gf applied on the 08th March and in fairness was told there was no gaurantees anymore on passport express which she accepted. Today is officially our 10th working day so we were never expecting it today (might be surprised when I get home ) but hoping against hope for maybe a 15 or even 20 working day wait.

Same time I applied, I will update you when I get mine.

kormak

passport office phoned me today after i left 2 emails for them.
lady was very helpful and advised me my passport was due to the posted today.
on a personal level she felt that a combination of media frenzy and people literally panicing too early and joining long queues even though their holidays are not for another 8 weeks or so... was one of the main causes for this ongoing issue.
Can't say i agree with her!
[rant removed]

spockety

The problem is not being helped by printing machines being out of action.

The low volume machine in Molesworth St is damaged 'beyond repair'.

One of only two high volume printing machines in Balbriggan is also now out of action, meaning that capacity there is halved.

[rant removed]

daveyboy_1ie

kormak wrote: »

passport office phoned me today after i left 2 emails for them.
lady was very helpful and advised me my passport was due to the posted today.
on a personal level she felt that a combination of media frenzy and people literally panicing too early and joining long queues even though their holidays are not for another 8 weeks or so... was one of the main causes for this ongoing issue.
Can't say i agree with her!
[rant removed]

Congratulations Kormak, delighted for you. At least they are still getting through a few applicants a day. She may have a point with the panic applications adding to the backlogs. just talking to a girl in work and she applied the same day as me and is flying out 10th april so she is even more stressed than we are

daveyboy_1ie

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Same time I applied, I will update you when I get mine.

When we get ours will post too Atlantic.

sweetswing

kormak wrote: »

passport office phoned me today after i left 2 emails for them.
lady was very helpful and advised me my passport was due to the posted today.
on a personal level she felt that a combination of media frenzy and people literally panicing too early and joining long queues even though their holidays are not for another 8 weeks or so... was one of the main causes for this ongoing issue.
Can't say i agree with her!
[rant removed]

how long ago did you send in for your passport? pasport express?

pd101

Just a quick question. I lost my passport a few weeks ago and I have applied for a new one. At the moment I'm filling out application forms that need my passport number. When I get my new passport will I still have my old passport number? The deadline for these forms is coming up fairly quickly and getting a bit stressed now.

RunSwift

pd101 wrote: »

Just a quick question. I lost my passport a few weeks ago and I have applied for a new one. At the moment I'm filling out application forms that need my passport number. When I get my new passport will I still have my old passport number? The deadline for these forms is coming up fairly quickly and getting a bit stressed now.

No, your new passport will have a new number.

laoisman11

pd101 wrote: »

Just a quick question. I lost my passport a few weeks ago and I have applied for a new one. At the moment I'm filling out application forms that need my passport number. When I get my new passport will I still have my old passport number? The deadline for these forms is coming up fairly quickly and getting a bit stressed now.

Probably best thing to do is to leave the passport number section blank on the application forms and attach a note saying that you have applied for a new passport, but there has been an unforseen delay at the passport office, and you'll forward on the new passport number as soon as you receive it. Should be ok. Maybe state the old passport number as well.