Dear All, having been on the gov.uk site and followed the instructions, I need to have my sons passport application photo confirmed. The person confirming must meet various criteria meaning that a Swiss person isn’t eligible, as the criteria for the confirming person is that they hold an EU passport (or uk, USA etc).

The end result is finding a person who works in one of the recognised professions, that hold an eligible passport, that we’ve known for 2 years. So far, we’re abit stuck. Have anyone had any experience with this? I can’t help but wonder if there’s a bilateral agreement not mentioned on the gov.uk site… wishful thinking perhaps, as if we could ask a Swiss person to confirm my son’s photo, problem solved!

Many thanks in advance, any help gratefully received!

The last time I had to verify a child’s passport photo for a friend it was all done electronically (last month).
My friend had to enter my details and email address in the application and I received an email from the passport office with a link to the photo and some questions to answer.
I’m not sure if the use the same system for a first passport, the last time I did one of those was 6 years ago and I had to sign the photo then.
If they do use the same method for a first passport it would be very easy to ask somebody in the UK or elsewhere who fulfils the criteria and has known you for more than 2 years to do it for you.

I would have done it for you as I live not far from you and fulfil all the criteria except for the very important bit about knowing you for 2 years.

Do you know no one who's known you professionally for at least two years who has a UK/EU/US/Commonwealth passport?

Btw - the photo doesn't need to be signed it seems.

https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/apply/how-to-apply
https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/...rming-identity

Contact HM passport, explain the situation and ask if they’ll accept the signature of your Swiss Dr!

Can't your commune/greff provide something? I would have thought a government official/document would trump an acquaintance.

I have double checked that the identity verification is also done online when applying for a child’s first passport and that is indeed the case so it should be very easy for the OP to find somebody amongst his friends or acquaintances who fulfil the criteria. They don’t have to be living in Switzerland to get able to do it.

Thank you Belgianmum, I missed the obvious! Thank you for taking the time to reply, taking the time to check the website is very kind.

Thanks to all for your input! Have a nice weekend!

Suggest you go a step further through the process online to check - friends of ours did a renewal recently and it only accepted a UK address for the photo verification person.

I don't think this is actually a rule, just a poor implementation of the online system only accepting a valid UK postcode and address, but worth checking.

The application which I completed on Monday (17.05.2021), was all online, I just had to supply an e-mail address of the person verifying the photo. The photo itself was uploaded on to the website, I was doing a child first passport, so perhaps that makes a difference…

But thanks for the tip!