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So finally we ascertain we cannot use IPS Form SE04 to apply for Kezia's replacement passport as she is not resident in the UK but must use Form C2. My brother managed to find a downloadable pdf version of the form and sent it to me.
Instructions for completing the form state "Please use black ink and capital letters, if handwriting" which implies to me that you can alternatively complete the form on your computer using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If only ...
The form is a) encrypted so as to even prevent you from superimposing text objects and b) contains no data fields. As a result you are obliged to print out the form and complete it by hand. The space available for many of the entries is so small that your block capital handwriting must be miniscule (Mothers town and country of birth: Sao Tome, Sao Tome e Principe - there are precisely x centimetres for this).
So I have gone through the laborious process of finding and downloading a free pdf deencryption tool and then downloading a trial version of Adobe Acrobat Pro Portable and adding data fields. Now I can complete the form on a computer and size the text accordingly.
My few regular readers may recall my post of 15 February this year regarding the renewal of Kezia's UK passport. The upshot was that I never heard back from the UK embassies in Angola nor South Africa.
The new UK ambassador to Angola and São Tomé e Príncipe recently visited to present his credentials. We met and decided it would be easiest if we apply direct to the UK domestic/internal passport service (the Home Office Identity and Passport Service). Yesterday I grabbed the bull by the horns, and as I relate from an email to my brother ...
"Try downloading the passport application form! I couldn't find it either on FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] or IPS [Identity and Passport Service] websites. IPS actually says "most domestic printers cannot print to the standard we require" wnatever that means. FCO wants us to apply through the embassy in Angola who will send it to South Africa who will then send it to the UK to print the passport and return by same route. IPS says it can require the applicant to attend an interview so has to be in the UK at time of application. So even if we put 10 Butterfield Sreet as UK residence, the fact she is not physically at 10 Butterfield Street, means we cannot apply directly to the IPS from Sao Tome.
You can ask the IPS online to send you a paper application form through the post - but obviously. given the above, it seems unlikely they would send it to STP!".
The bull's horns have slipped through my hands! I hope Her Majesty's Secretary of State will help out. I really need to read Kafka's ""The Castle" again.
Regular readers will recall the saga of getting a Santomense passport for Kezia. Finally, the embassy in Brussels issued a new one.
Just as I was Skyping Nanda yesterday lunchtime the postman knocked on the door with ... Kezia's new passport! Another worry over their return resolved!
