Three out of five of us have passport applications in the offing. For E5N1, it will be his first and it will be a US Passport. Exile #3 and I need new UK passports as our current ones expire soon (mine 20 years after I first had one and hers 5 years after her first one - both as newborns obviously). It turns out to be an expensive business. Total cost is expected to come in near $600 for all three. Ouch. The British Embassy in Washington DC seems to be making the most of its single-supplier status - I wonder if we could refer it under anti-competition laws, but whose would apply?Oh well, it's far from the end of the world as long as all the applications are successful. This is by far the most flattering of the three photos we're submitting - yes really! Go on have another look, what colour are those eyes?
It's much more interesting finding someone to countersign the UK applications here - the options for two-year-acquaintances with professional qualifications and British passports are rather limited here. If absolutely necessary you can substitute a foreign national, but the two year rule would make it quite difficult for us at this stage. Fortunately, there are advantages to working in a group of highly qualified ex-pat engineers.
So, does E5N1 have to have a US passport, or could you apply for a UK one? (or could he have both?) I have no idea how these things work!
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it he can have either, or both - but I think he can wait for a UK one at least until we can do a simple application from there. We're hoping that having a baby US citizen with us will mean we can use the real-human-beings line at immigration instead of being aliens.
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