Passport
Nagged, reminded, teased, everything. Father, school friends, then boyfriends, uni friends and work friends...

Me. Aged 16. Hears "Ooh, you can come on wine trips with me in France!". Decide a passport is a good idea.

Year 1 and 2: Several incompleted forms, usually with a few mistakes and then "WANKERY FORM" scrawled across it after the final mistake, usually then with dot-to-dot doodles based on the boxes on the form.

Year 3:
I get hold of my birth certificate. Which I hadn't been able to obtain until that point because my own mother had spelt my name wrong, and was insistent it was spelt that way (god knows what happens if I ever work in the US, they tear this sort of stuff down...)

Year 3,4,5,6:
More incomplete forms. Difficulties in finding anyone who had known me long enough who was authorised to counter sign the passport. Long series of photos taken that never really found their way towards where they were meant to go.

Year 7:
March:
I finally have a form! Woo! It's all counter signed and lovely and with the right evidence!

July: I finally get round to posting the form.

July: Letter. I need to add father's details, despite the notes stating that I didn't have to. This means the entire form redone. With a new counter signature and photo. And no refund on the check and send because everything was fine according to the notes...

August: Letter. They then wanted proof of where I have lived for the past 3 years, from an authority *they* stated. I only really had university. Got a letter out of them by the 7th or so.

September:
I post the university letter.

Late September: Letter. Asking to book interview.

October:
And then there was the interview. Quizzed about *everything*

* The names of who I had lived with for the past 3 years, including date of births of various people they picked
* *Everything* they could find about my parents
* How I had an internet connection, what company the broadband was with and in whose name was on the bill
* How I paid for my mobile phone
* Whether I had any loans, credit agreements, catalogues, overdrafts
* Who I banked with for every account I have had

And various other lovelies they pulled from their computer.

A few weeks ago:
I HAVE A PASSPORT! You cannot imagine the glee in having a piece of paper that states you exist when you haven't been able to get one before. I studied the detailed green paper for hours, the little chip in the back of my head, my serial killer photo, holding it up to the light and seeing all the little stencils they've put in, reading all the text inside the passport...

So what would have been a straightforward "shove kid on passport, transfer, renew" at 16 became an interrogation, lots of calls from nice sounding middle aged men at the passport office chasing me up and the scary realisation that the government authorities can find out far too much about you.

So the option is to not procrastinate, or to do what I did.

Next task: Driving Licence. 7 years now – I really should get it sorted...
(mmmm curry doesn't really understand this sig lark, Fri 14 Nov 2008, 1:26, 5 replies)

How in hell...
...have you managed to get served drinks/get into clubs/buy cigarettes etc. (delete as applicable) for the last five years, without a passport or driving licence?

This does not sound like a fun and groovy situation.
(jabboy, Fri 14 Nov 2008, 5:34, closed)

With difficulty
As a rule, bouncers only ID groups. So all you have to do is enter alone and then join people, rather than walk through the door in a group.

It made *anything* like this a pain in the arse though.

The day of my A level results the bf at the time was playing in a pub. I was doing my boring thing and nursing some coke syrup watered down with dirty water.
We unfortunately all got IDed, so I had to be driven back to his to mope about on the computer for a few hours. So he spent the entire set insulting the bouncers, and just as he stepped off the stage a bouncer grabbed him and chucked him out. He was banned for quite some time, from what I can remember.
(mmmm curry doesn't really understand this sig lark, Fri 14 Nov 2008, 8:46, closed)

hmm
you got the passport interrogation?

You might want to help these people out

(haberman is singing in the changes, Fri 14 Nov 2008, 11:59, closed)

The interviews
Are bollocks.

Since they were introduced, not ONE person has been refused a passport because of them. I got the job of my referee wrong, and even got his name wrong and they still gave me one (for the record, he knows me better than I know him).
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 14 Nov 2008, 12:45, closed)

You think it's bad now?
www.no2ID.com

'nuff said.

Welcome to the Police State.
(EffinDoubt is breaking glass on, Mon 17 Nov 2008, 10:04, closed)