British Residents Society, North Cyprus - GOVERNMENT LIAISON DETAIL

GOVERNMENT LIAISON DETAIL

This page last updated 11/04/2007

	Detail
26/01/2005	Letter from BRS to Home Secretary, Houses of Parliament, London Renewal of passports to elderly British citizens abroad

Mr. C. Clarke

Home Secretary

Houses of Parliament

London SW1 1AA

26^th January 2005

Dear Home Secretary,

Renewal of Passports to Elderly British Citizens living abroad

I am writing to you to call attention to what, prima facia, appears to be a rather cumbersome and inconvenient procedure for the renewal of passports to those elderly citizens living abroad who, by virtue of their seniority in years, are entitled to renew their passports free of charge.

In doing so I should point out that this letter comes to you not merely in a personal capacity but on behalf of the Committee of the British Residents Society. This is the representative body for British passport holders living full or part time in North Cyprus, among the membership of which is a significant number of the elderly entitled to the free renewal of their passports.

It is understood that this group of elderly citizens can, like every other British citizen living abroad, renew their passports in their country of residence but they cannot do this free of charge. To obtain this facility it is seemingly necessary for them to make an application on a different type of form which must then be forwarded to the United Kingdom and processed from there.

This inevitably builds in a not inconsequential delay to the renewal process. This can cause difficulties and uncertainty among an often fairly vulnerable section of the community especially, as is so often the case for people living abroad, the absence of a current passport does not merely inhibit travel arrangements. It can also be extremely inconvenient in the more mundane matters of every day living such as proving identity to facilitate banking and a host of other commercial transactions - uses to which the passport would not normally be put if resident in ones home country.

Moreover, it does appear rather strange that an Administration has introduced a different, and less advantageous, procedure for a relatively small section of a group of citizens to whom Parliament has seen fit to provide a benefit on the basis of equality of treatment for all. At first sight it also seems rather illogical that British Civil Servants working abroad can be empowered to renew the vast majority of passports for citizens living abroad and collect, and account for, the appropriate fees there from but are apparently not considered to be a suitable mechanism for issuing passports where no fees are to be charged.

To conclude, the Society offers these comments in a genuine attempt to be helpful and constructive. It hopes you will receive them in the same manner and give due consideration to their content.

Yours sincerely,

(ALAN ALDRIDGE)

for and on behalf of the Committee

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