I applied to one of the Irish consulates in Germany for a passport for my 7 year old daugher last week. A woman at the consulate phoned me and gave me a list of things that are wrong with the application. Amongst those are that both of my daughers ears do not look the same in the photos. It is a regular passport sized photo from a machine. It complies with all the requirements for Irish passport photos. We checked this with the information the consulate sent us with the application forms. Also she said that the witness who witnessed that we are the parents of this child did not do it properly. This is an official witness at the townhall where we live. It is a service especially for this type of witnessing. You can pay a fee and they witness that it is in fact you in the photo being sent to the consulate, or they check birthcerts and id and witness that you are the parents or whatever. Then you pay for this service and they put an official stamp on a form for the consulate or whoever is asking.
I am not sure whether to trust what this woman at the consulates says. She has now sent back my childs application with a list of things we have to change. She cannot confirm that the application I sent for my passport is OK because she hasnt checked it yet. She says if the application is OK it may take up to 6 weeks to process it. This is making me feel uneasy because I need my new passport to go to Kyrgyzstan in 7 weeks. If it is rejected then the 6 weeks starts again from the time the consulate receives the new application, I presume?
Any opinions about this?
Is what the woman at the Irish consulate says true or she being difficult? My daughters father is Dutch. Although we payed for my daughters Irish passport application we could cut our losses and get her a Dutch one. If we have to redo everything for the Irish consulate then that would involve my boyfriend having to take time off work and we would have to pay for new photos and to be witnessed again. And if we do everything the women at the Irish consulate says, there is no guarantee that the application will be acceptable the next time around.
Reply to this Hi Mel,
I have not heard of this thing and she sounds a bit sketchy, but if she is the one handling your passport, she presumably has the final say. I'm not sure how the system works in Ireland, but here we have several options if we are having trouble with a passport or have little time before we travel. We have the option to get a passport in 24-48 hours if we can prove that we have a flight within the next couple of days. Obviously this is a last resort and it often has to be done in person which could be tricky, as I believe you are not living in Ireland right now? Also, last year I had a couple of clients who actually had to call our congressman from New Jersey and he looked into it and got their passports sent to them immediately. When the US changed their passport requirements we had a ton of people not getting theirs in time and the instruction was actually to call your congressman(woman). I'm not sure who the equivalent would be for Ireland, but perhaps this is something you can look into? Her ears not being the same seems like quite an odd reason for not giving her the passport, along with the witnessing being incorrect. I am wondering if you were unlucky enough to get someone brand new to her position and she is so afraid of making a mistake that she is being ridiculously picky? I find that happens often, especially when it's a position that involves money or security/government.
Reply to this Thanks Maya 😊
If my own application is not accepted I suppose I will have to apply for the express service. That involves paying more money but better than missing out on going to Kyrgyzstan. That will involve more time wasting because I will have to fill in a new form with my payment details after waiting for the consulate to send me the form.
At least my daughter is not leaving Germany until next December so we have at least time to sort her passport out.
Reply to this Yeah it's an extra fee here... about an extra $80 (US$) or so I think. But as you said, better than missing your trip! is there a place you can go online to check and see the process of your passport application? We have that option here. That might give you a head's up if you are going to need to do the extra forms and perhaps you can get them in advance and start filling them out. It is such a pain and a time waster, but I guess we have to hope that this is the exception and that generally the strict security measures are worth it in catching those who really shouldn't be issued their documents.
Reply to this Oh! They sent back my application too. 😞 Im now thinking about taking up a nail biting or other nervous habit. :D
They didnt send a new payment form so the best thing to do may be to just get my application sorted and not bother with the express service. That might just make things more complicated. For mine they want me to send a new photo. Apparently there are new stricter photo regulations because biometric information has to be taken from the photos. They said for mine I dont need the witness to sign the new photo. Yeah, I can check online the progress. If I am counting right, I have over 7 weeks before my flight to Kyrgyzstan so hopefully the next photo will be satisfactory. I am going to take the instructions to a person who takes photos today or tomorrow and ask her/him to follow them exactly.
For my daughers they sent a heap of instructions about filling in the form and how the witnessing is to be done. I had better forget about hers for now and just get mine done.
Reply to this wow they are being really strict! i have always done mine in person (we have a county store right here and can go in and do them there) so the rep there tells me exactly what I need, signs all of my forms and sends them in. it is very convenient. I think you are right to focus on yours now, since your daughter is not flying until a later date. It's funny over here, the passport is one of the easier things to get - our drivers license is the toughest! i had to fight and fight with them to get it changed to my maiden name. Passport i just brought in my divorce certificate, filled out the form and had my picture taken right there at the county office. Got my new passport mailed to me within about 3 weeks!
Reply to this They said the photos have to be exactly A symmetrical. Apparently the photographer I am going to tomorrow has a book with instructions for all the European countries about how the passport photos are supposed to be for that country. My boyfriend got his driving licence photos from the same place. He was not allowed to use the same photos for his new passport. He had to have new ones taken at the Dutch consulate. His head had to be turned slightly for the drivers licence ones.
Passports used to be easy to get here too. The only time I ever had any problem before was when in one photo I was wearing a hat. I had to send one without a hat. But that is somewhat reasonable.
We called the Dutch consulate today. They said we can both go in there and apply for a Dutch passport for our daughter tomorrow. Hopefully that will go better than with the Irish consulate.
I am not so sure all this nit picking burocracy makes out societies more civilized, as it is supposed to do. Its crazy how much time off work my boyfriend has had, just to get necessary paperwork done here in Germany. It is not just with driving licences and passposts. There is paperwork for all kinds of other things too and it takes up so much time. We have been trying for the last few years to get the papers we need to get married and still havent got them. I suppose we could do what you(Maya) did about your drivers licence. Persistenly remind them I mean but when it takes so much time it gets boring.
Reply to this I think here what they do is that they take one photograph and just print it two times or something like that. I'm not sure how it works but mine have always looked exactly the same, so I'm guessing that's what they do. hopefully this new place will get it all squared away for you.
That's great that you are going to the Dutch Consulate today - good luck!! Keep us posted! I am thinking that might be easier than the Irish one, or it least it sounds like it.
I agree, I don't know how affective all this burocracy is. I feel like there is so much "red tape" just so that they can say they have strict policy's and are following procedure. Even with the driver's license, I had to go back two or three times with 6 different forms of ID proving who I was, where I lived, and that I was divorced and could go back to my maiden name. In the end, I think a lot of people are honestly just trying to "cover their butts" so to speak. Even the woman that gave me my driver's license made a manager sign off on the paperwork b/c she didn't want her name on it in case any of my paperwork wasn't exactly as it should have been.
When are you (planning on) getting married? Congratulations!
Reply to this Thanks again Maya 😊
I spent half of today and another 80 Euros on sorting out the passport BS. So cross fingers that me and my daughter will have new passports this time next month and can get on with planning some exciting travel instead of sorting out burocratic craziness.
The Dutch consulate visit did not go without incident but the good news is that they are going to give us a passport for our daugher. We should be receiving it in the mail in 10 days. They said the birthcert for my daugher is not clear enough. This is not a photocopy. I sent for the original birthcerts for me and my daugher a few months ago. They are official documents that came from the Births, Deaths and Marriages office in Dublin. Thank goodness they did not demand that we send for new ones. They also cost money and of course the typical burocratic delays we are experiencing. They asked my daughter a few questions instead to make sure we are not kidnapping her. They also told us that if we have more children we will have to register them with the consulate before the births rather than after. Otherwise they will not be able to get Dutch passports. New law apparently so Dutch men with non Dutch partners be warned.
I sent my new photo, made by a professional photographer who did it exactly according to the photo specification of the Irish consulate in the mail. Hopefully we will all be happy at the consulate when we see it.
Me and my daugher are now going to have passports with photos a bit like the ones on IDs from stern looking citizens of the former Soviet Union. On my last passport photo I was smiling. That is no longer allowed on passport photos.
Reply to this When are you (planning on) getting married? Congratulations!
Thanks for the congratulations. We already feel married in all senses besides the official and legal. 😊
We had planned to do it 3 years ago but the paperwork is still not sorted. We could get around it by paying more money(hiring a professional translator instead of the translation service which is supposed to be supplied for Dutch citizens for a small fee to produce their birthcerts in English and put an official stamp on it) but my boyfriend objects. He thinks they should just do it. Yeah, they should and might but we will have to wait and wait I suppose.
Reply to this I agree they should just do it although i think i am impatient enough that i would probably give in and pay the extra money :-) but i think it's good that you guys have tried to get them to do it the way you feel they should. did they give you a timeline? for me waiting with no timeline is torture! but then again, even the timeline could not be all that accurate.
Reply to this A timeline! Are you kidding?? I dont think they even know that the concept of timelines exists. :D Everytime my boyfriend calls them he gets a different person who is going to look into it and then doesnt call us back.
I would pay too to get it done faster if my boyfriend didnt feel so strongly about it. We are loosing out financially anyway by taking so long to get married because my boyfriend still has to pay a single persons tax rate.
Reply to this Haha I figured it was a longshot on the timeline but you never know! That's when i do tend to get on the phone and go through person after person until I get some sort of answer.... but that is such a pain in the neck and takes so much time. Paying a single tax rate is no fun. Because my ex-husband and i were technically still married at the end of this year (before my divorce went through) I had to file "married filing seperately" which is the highest bracket. Luckily I didn't get hit too hard, but I think he did!
Reply to this We were joking that we should start gathering the papers we need for our divorce now while we are doing the ones for getting married because they will probably take just as long to get.
All this burocracy is one reason why I try to keep my life as simple as possible. Everything one does or gets comes with more tedious and sometimes impossible paperwork.
I think a lot of people are honestly just trying to "cover their butts" so to speak. Even the woman that gave me my driver's license made a manager sign off on the paperwork b/c she didn't want her name on it in case any of my paperwork wasn't exactly as it should have been.
This makes me wonder if there is actually any point in employees who cant make the smallest decision. Surely they create more work than they do by passing customers from one person to another and then the manager has to make the decision in the end anyway.
Reply to this I completely agree! I run into so many people in my line of work (as i'm sure everyone does) that won't make a decision because they are so afraid to get in trouble. I think, at least here, it's because they have a lot of lower level employees who are hired just to do their job and don't know the other processes that are going on in their company or organization. They only know what they "can" do and what they "can't" and are taught specific tasks, so if there is something they are unsure of or that isn't quite in their job script, they get confused and flustered and scared of messing up and getting fired. I'd much prefer it if they had fewer, more experienced employees who could do a range of tasks and were empowered to make more decisions. It would probably actually make the processes go quicker, even with fewer employees!
Reply to this ....more experienced employees who could do a range of tasks and were empowered to make more decisions.
I second that. Just a few employees but ones with some common sense. Or even a few to do all the paper pushing and one designated and always available to take the responsibility of putting their signature of approval on the final part so it wont keep being passed from one person to the next and then never getting done.
Reply to this Today my daughters Dutch passport arrived in the mail. 😊
I am still waiting for mine but at least no calls from the consulate with lists of things I have to change. Hopefully the passport is now being issued. Fingers crossed. 😊
Reply to this Yea! I'm glad to hear your daughter's passport is all set and sounds like yours is en route! Fingers crossed!
Reply to this The Irish Consulate called. But no bad news at least. They think everything should be alright with my passpost application but if it is not ready on time they are going to issue me with emergency travel doccuments. So Kyrgyzstan here I come. 😊
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