[News] The National Embarrassment That Is . . . HM Passport Office.

[chickens]

So take more in tax from those earning. Then pay that to the middle men (civil servants) so that they can distribute what's left to those not earning.

Honestly, there’s a host of different ways out of our current situation, including horrible unworkable ones.

My personal preference would be for greater focus on taxation of capital gains, and less on income, and/or for wage growth to become a government priority. (Yes, I know this would be inflationary)

The results of that would be a greater tax take, meaning we could pay for public services, and those in lower to middle income having the ability to spend.

What I find unacceptable is what we have at the moment, where incomes are (in real terms) still being lowered (a 10% pay rise is still a real terms pay cut if inflation is 10.4%) to pay for even further tax breaks for capital.

That is what this version of the Conservative Party has offered for the last thirteen years, and even now with a (relative) adult in charge, it is what this government continues to offer. Further benefits to those who have everything, at the expense of the rest of us.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Which country were/are you looking at?

I guess it depends which country. The process here is a reasonably straight forward box-ticking exercise and a simple cultural exam. Once you have all the documentation together you apply and wait. The issue is the length of time it takes, it’s risen to around 2 years for a number of reasons. I have heard that the new dual-nationality laws will also signal a recruitment drive at the auslandersbehorde due to the expected tidal-wave of applicants; hopefully the wait time will come down.

I'm not too fussed at the wait time at the moment as I have no plans to move and my main issue was airports being a hassle.....this latter point isnt a problem for me anymore.

I am in the throes of looking for property in Kefalonia, an island Mrs.C and l have frequently holidayed on, and fell in love with many years ago.

If l invest at least £250k in a villa, then l automatically qualify for something they call a Golden Visa, which gives me unlimited access into EU member countries.

So to answer your question, ideally Greece.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I am in the throes of looking for property in Kefalonia, an island Mrs.C and l have frequently holidayed on, and fell in love with many years ago.

If l invest at least £250k in a villa, then l automatically qualify for something they call a Golden Visa, which gives me unlimited access into EU member countries.

So to answer your question, ideally Greece.

Keep your eye on any developments as the EU are encouraging members to stop selling residency/golden visas to investors. Ireland and Portugal have stopped already, but Greece, Spain, Malta and Italy still have them open. (Although Spain, Malta and Italy all want considerable more investment than 250K)

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I am in the throes of looking for property in Kefalonia, an island Mrs.C and l have frequently holidayed on, and fell in love with many years ago.

If l invest at least £250k in a villa, then l automatically qualify for something they call a Golden Visa, which gives me unlimited access into EU member countries.

So to answer your question, ideally Greece.

Interesting. Is the golden visa just for travel or does it allow you to work across the EU?

 

[Is it PotG?]

Applied online and on my doormat within 2 weeks.
Better service than Geraint Davies in a Commons' Bar if you ask me.

 

[Nottseagull]

These retards should have their voting record on their ID papers and be forced to holiday at Butlins in Skegness for f***ing it all up for the rest of us.

There's nowt wrong wi' Skeggy!

 

[oldboyroy]

Applied online and on my doormat within 2 weeks.
Better service than Geraint Davies in a Commons' Bar if you ask me.

That's similar to my new passport. Applied online on new years day this year, photo verified and landed on doormat 7 days later

 

[Thunder Bolt]

There's nowt wrong wi' Skeggy!

Apparently, according to the divisive stirrers on Twitter, it’s full of ‘illegals’.

 

[Easy 10]

Applied online and on my doormat within 2 weeks.
Better service than Geraint Davies in a Commons' Bar if you ask me.

Likewise, ordered one for the Doris online (uploaded the pic). Arrived 6 days later.

Mine expires next Feb and I'm planning on going away in September once all the crotch-goblins are back behind their little desks. So I guess I'd better get busy with my renewal soon as I gather things can get a bit funny when there's less than 6 months left on it ?

 

[GOM]

Likewise, ordered one for the Doris online (uploaded the pic). Arrived 6 days later.

Mine expires next Feb and I'm planning on going away in September once all the crotch-goblins are back behind their little desks. So I guess I'd better get busy with my renewal soon as I gather things can get a bit funny when there's less than 6 months left on it ?

Not necessarily, the 6 month thing is a bit of generalisation myth. Most EU countries are 3 months, many are just valid for duration of your stay. Very few are actually 6 months and most of those are not the 'normal' holiday destinations.

Can you travel with a soon to expire passport? | Post Office®

Make sure you’re not turned away at security because your passport is about to expire with our guide to travelling with a soon to expire passport

www.postoffice.co.uk

 

[Nottseagull]

There was an item on BBC One's Rip Off Britain this morning starting at 30:50 but you probably want to skip the first five minutes which is just passenger woes. The respected travel consumer guru Simon Calder states things are back to normal and applying online, you'll probably get your passport back after a fortnight, but to allow a further 8 weeks.

 

[My Name Is Gully]

Mine was a renewal returned this week sent off last week.. online renewal with digital picture uploaded, sorted.

My son's however still being processed from first passport to first adult one!

 

[SeagullinExile]

Well I’ve been waiting 6 weeks for my renewal. Proper pissed off.

 

[chickens]

In the spirit of applauding good customer service, I put my passport application in on 27th May, and popped my old passport in the post to them the following day. (This was a bank holiday weekend)

I got an update this Monday (5th June) to say my old passport had been received, two updates yesterday to say my application had been approved and was being printed, and today it dropped through my letterbox. 11 days in total for the whole process, including the bank holiday.

This was the standard digital service, no extra costs incurred. Looks like they’ve cleared the backlog, I was genuinely very impressed.

 

[Live by the sea]

I am in the throes of looking for property in Kefalonia, an island Mrs.C and l have frequently holidayed on, and fell in love with many years ago.

If l invest at least £250k in a villa, then l automatically qualify for something they call a Golden Visa, which gives me unlimited access into EU member countries.

So to answer your question, ideally Greece.

I like Greece for a sunny holiday but it always feels a bit 3rd world to me bit like Turkey .

 

[Falmer Flutter ©]

Likewise, ordered one for the Doris online (uploaded the pic). Arrived 6 days later.

Mine expires next Feb and I'm planning on going away in September once all the crotch-goblins are back behind their little desks. So I guess I'd better get busy with my renewal soon as I gather things can get a bit funny when there's less than 6 months left on it ?

Mine was also due to expire next February. I applied for a new one as soon as we qualified for Europe as, being a bit of a pathetic worrier, I didn't want to risk any delay possibly affecting our summer holiday and the regular Albion trips abroad. Got it back in a week.

 

[chip]

Mine took eight days even with the original digital photo being rejected at first but later accepted.