UK Passport Renewal Private or Gov Online?

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
61
I shall be soooo smug

62
I have had it in my sticky little hands since lunchtime. The front door to our building wouldn't release when I pressed the button and I had to run down the street after the DHL man

Noticeable the cover on the new dark blue ones is a bit more flimsy than the European maroon ones. Like the back though with the imprint of the 4 countries emblems, thought it was a nice touch

63

Sigh, still waiting to hear that they’ve received mine. According to the SwissPost tracker they got it on the 3rd May. The unique digital code for the photo expired on the 2nd May so no idea what will happen when they do start to process it. Luckily have it as both PDF and physical copies so can send it again if needed, but bloody annoying they didn’t get to it before it expired.

64
I guess I was lucky, OH took a digital photo with his phone and it was accepted when I uploaded it to the online application.

I need to apply for a first Irish passport, been dragging my heels for ages, but it means sending my new British one in with the paperwork. Thankfully though it'll only have to go to Bern, not all the way to the UK or Ireland.

65
Update: Passport registered as having arrived last week 4.5 weeks after it actually arrived per recorded mail. Application approved and printed within a couple of days. Notification this morning that it has been dispatched. Whole process will have taken about 6 weeks nose to tail. Not a bad service all things considered.

Only frustrating thing was trying to get in contact to check if my passport had arrived. I contacted HMPO on Twitter and they informed me that if after 2 weeks of having arrived the tracker hadn't been correctly updated, to contact them directly. This was not possible, phone not answered, no reply to query form/email despite them promising to get back within 72 hours. At some point I thought my Swiss naturalization would be finalized before UK passport arrived!

66

Finally got my notification just now that they’ve received my passport.

67
This all has me wondering: if one has a valid permit, does one have to have a valid passport, too, in order to stay in Switzerland?

Realistically, all of us living in foreign countries will strive for valid passports, but what happens (from the Swiss side) if your passport is lost and due to global delays you don't have a valid one for a few months? I suspect it's only an issue if you're in permit renewal process at the time.

68
Your permit is reliant on you having a valid form of ID (passport or national identity card) so you need to keep that up to date at all times.

Realistically it probably won’t cause any issues if you are without it for a short spell due to extenuating circumstances but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Some communes even request up to date passport info from residents I believe so they obviously keep tabs on it.

69
As long as you have acceptable ID, such as permit and driver's license, etc. I don't think you need a valid passport to live in Switzerland. Of course it would likely to better to have one, or have one in the process of renewal. One thing the Swiss understand is bureaucracy.

I believe the Schengen agreements require you to have a valid passport and Swiss residency card.

70
I'm glad our passport renewal years don't overlap with permit renewal years!

71
In the past whenever my passport was about to expire I always got a note from the Commune to make sure I give them a copy once it is renewed. Since becoming Swiss they no longer care.

72
Of course they don’t, once you’re Swiss you have the right to live here so your other passport becomes irrelevant to them.

73

On the other hand, I tried to give BS updated passport info some years ago, they said to give it to them at my next permit renewal.

74
Except for when we presented it to them when we registered ours have never ever asked for our passport details, not even for permit renewals, and there have been a few renewals between us during that time. (Both passports and permits)

75
Wow, that'll be amazing when you do get it. As then you'll have a Schengen passport which means you'll be able to travel, live and work freely throughout the EU. Wouldn't it be amazing if the UK had something similar?

76

They did..............up until recently.

77
My old passport is being delivered back tomorrow.

78
Passport arriving today, just looked back an it's actually taken 5 weeks. Other than the small concern that they'd lost the old one, it's really been a good service especially given the bad press recently!

OK, off topic, but this isn't the reason I'm getting a Swiss passport and I've no intention of living anywhere else than either Switzerland or UK. I just want to be able to participate in referendums and that's the only reason I've gone through the process. Neither my wife nor children have done it.

This anti-Brexit argument is often rolled out, but ultimately the only people this effects is middle class, educated Brits as they tend to be the only people who work in the EU. This also happens to be the same group of people who are most able to mitigate this problem via their skillset. How many non EU people do we know working in Switzerland? In Pharma, large banks, IT etc. There's tens of thousands! I've friends and family working in the US despite there being no freedom of movement.

I even anticipate that the future will be fine. The whole of Europe is staring down the barrel of population decline. The fertility rate needed to sustain a population is 2.1, the highest in Western Europe is in France and it's 1.8, in Germany it's 1.5, Spain and Italy it's 1.2. I predict immigration measures will so relaxed within the next 20 years to render FMOP redundant anyway.

79
Not really. The working class Brits went to Spain, the middle class to France. The elite to Switzerland of course.

80
You can always get an emergency passport at the airport.