Passport application?!
Question: Dear Minister,
I'm in the process of renewing my passport but I am a total loss to understand or believe the hoops I am being asked to jump through.
How is it that Bert Smith of T.V. Rentals Basingstoke has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a satellite dish from them back in 1994, and yet, the Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date?
How come that nice West African immigrant chappy who comes round every Thursday night with his DVD rentals van can tell me every film or video I have had out since he started his business up eleven years ago, yet you still want me to remind you of my last three jobs, two of which were with contractors working for the government?
How come the T.V. detector van can tell if my T.V. is on, what channel I am watching and whether I have paid my licence or not, and yet if I win the government run lottery they have no idea I have won or where I am and will keep the bloody money
Answers: Dear Minister,
I'm in the process of renewing my passport but I am a total loss to understand or believe the hoops I am being asked to jump through.
How is it that Bert Smith of T.V. Rentals Basingstoke has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a satellite dish from them back in 1994, and yet, the Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date?
How come that nice West African immigrant chappy who comes round every Thursday night with his DVD rentals van can tell me every film or video I have had out since he started his business up eleven years ago, yet you still want me to remind you of my last three jobs, two of which were with contractors working for the government?
How come the T.V. detector van can tell if my T.V. is on, what channel I am watching and whether I have paid my licence or not, and yet if I win the government run lottery they have no idea I have won or where I am and will keep the bloody money
This made me laugh so much and reminded me of one of the reasons why I left the U.K. and moved to Spain, only to find that bureaucracy here is ten times worse ! ! ! ! ! ! ! To live here and buy a house, car, caravan, boat etc., you are required to have a NIE number. The only trouble is in order to obtain that all important NIE number you have to leave your place of residence at approximately 4 a.m. in the morning (or earlier), travel over an hour, find the appropriate government building in Alicante (horrendous in itself). Take a ticket from the ticket machine, which more than often than not is out of order. Wait in a queue until your appropriate number is called, approximately 4 hours (if you're lucky). Have your form stamped, make your way to the bank with precious form, where you need to pay for the privilege of obtaining the NIE, have your form stamped by the bank as proof of payment, then go back to the end of the queue and wait all over again, only to find that the office shuts at 4 p.m. and you are the hundredth person in the queue, so no luck today. Repeat process again tomorrow. Phew ! ! ! ! ! ! - - - - - - - - and to answer your question, it's called PROGRESS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
i have no idea
I totally understand your situation! When I was applying for my daughter and I to move here to Norway, I filed both on the same day, at the post office, with assistance. Therefore everything was correct. A week later hers came in the mail, and a nice big letter for me stating they didnt have enough proof of my Identity. Them please tell me, how did my 4 yr old get one, IM HER MOTHER. Its rediculous! I called and flipped out saying whats the issue and I got answers ranging from 'you haven't held your drivers lisence long enough' to 'are you sure you weren't married before?' After numerous people and having to send in mine and my entire immediate familys whole life stories from the time we were all born, it turned out to be due to an internal error. Whoever processed my application put that I used to go by another name. That other name was a hypenated combination of my fathers last name and my mothers maiden that they must have pulled from my birth certificate, even though my last name on that is clearly stated. The system is bullshit and it was the biggest most stressful headache of my life!
Very good Story.
You get a standing ovation! We have it the same way in America.
Fancy that. Bureaucracy knows no humanity.
Hope you get to go the beach soon.
Dear Irate British Citizen,
You are being issued a one-time-use Passport to get out of the country and stay out.
Pissed off Minister!!!