This is a genuine question and I am interested in others's opinions.
I do not have a passport. I have not had a passport for 10 years and I don't need or want one now. That is my opening position.
In the past I have been abroad and travelled quite extensively however these days, being on my own I have no desire or need to do so again. This being so and having no intention of leaving these shores again why in the name of God would I need to pay a premium to obtain a piece of paper that merely certifies who I am and that I am a British Citizen?
As I say I have no interest in travel and really cannot envisage any circumstance which would involve me in leaving the UK. For those of you who will no doubt point out to me that holidays are a necessary part of a life balance - balls!. I can quite happily take a holiday from work and never leave my house. I have lots of books that I haven't yet read many films that I haven't yet seen and Sky TV. As a result, if I ever feel the need to observe foriegn culture there is always the Discovery Channel.
I mentioned above that I have in the past travelled and perhaps it would be useful if I outline the reasons I no longer have any wish to do so:
1. As a working Joe and in common with most people on here ( I suspect) if I am off work no other bugger is going to pick up the slack, as a result I need to work my arse off for several weeks before departure to ensure that no sh*t hits any fans whilst I am away. Similarly, when I get back I need to work my arse off to catch up with the sh*t I could not anticipate prior to departure awhich has been festering on my desk for a week or fortnight or however long I have been away.
2. Whilst I am not scared of flying I can see no good reason to pay out a considerable amount of money to spend several hours in an uncomfortable seat, being subjected to inedible food and tortured by appalling "in flight entertainment", only to arrive at a destination where they all speak a different language and you can't drink the water.
3. Having put up with the above and arrived, you spend most of the time there starting to unwind and at the very moment you begin to relax it's time to pack and do all of point 2 in reverse.
What is the point?
Now, I realise that this is only my opinion but I wanted to set out my stall in advance of the real issue. I have today been told that I MUST obtain a passport in order for the HR dept to be able to certify that I am legally entitled to be employed in the UK. I have refused and I will continue to refuse until they come to their senses. I have offered my photo drving license as evidence and offered to produce my birth certificate all to no avail.
As a fifty something who has been born and raised here why should I have to prove my bona fides to anyone? I believe I can do so without pandering to the whim of legislation and applying for a meaningless document that tells you no more than any other document I can produce however I am not going to do so without a fight.
As mentioned I am interested in others views but I am probably not going to be persuaded otherwise.
Am I alone?
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Comments
Common sense says that the main document required to obtain your passport is your birth certificate, so if you offer that then there should be no problem.
https://www.gov.uk/check-an-employees-right-to-work-documents
for it
And I do have a passport and would go abroad for a holiday at the drop of a hat even though I've not been able to afford it for 7 years. It's a separate issue.
If you still have trouble and you have a Trade Union at your work, join and get your union rep. involved.
try this, am assuming you are a British citizen
I work in a role in which I have to judge peoples entitlement to free hospital treatment so work with these sort of requirments and can look further into the matter for you to see what the baseline law says. Before that however it is useful to point out that if you still have your previous passport this is acceptable to confirm you are a British Citizen(i am presuming you are British).
However, you should not need a passport to prove your eligibility to work if you have an original birth certificate and an old P60 or P2 with your NI number on. Stick to your guns.
(just kidding JW!)
Personally, I look forward to my holiday months in advance of the event and just love to travel. Roll on August for The Maldives.
Each to their own, of course, but to spend ones holiday period sitting in front of a television???
Box tickers is all they are. Stick to your guns.
I wouldn't have minded but I'd shown them my passport when I enrolled on a degree 14 years earlier, once again when I became a full time employee and then again when I came back to do some consultancy work just a few months previously. Providing the certificates was no problem though as my job of 9 years was producing them - for the same organisation!
ONLY if you can't produce ANY evidence acceptable to the authorities would the employer be entitled to sack you. Stand your ground and tell the Human Remains department that they are legally bound to accept your evidence if it is acceptable to the authorities. Point them to the government's guidelines, if no joy demand a meeting with whoever is saying a box can't be ticked without a passport and demand an explanation why the department does not have the competence to implement employment law without harassment of staff.
And good luck to you on the reading, people don't read enough!
Trouble is the lazy box tickers want you to prove your id, by photo id.
This seemed to come about when my young lads tried to get into pubs about 8 years ago.
Had the same issue in selling my house, and going for a job interview lately, except they wanted passport, p60, and driving licence.
Ironically my wife has worked at the same place of work for the past 13 years.
So I obliged with all this nonsense, and still did not get the job!. Probably detected my frustration at all of this!
At present I could not give up my passport, the thought of being stuck in this country is enough to buy a passport every year?
It would appear your HR bod pressed the computer and it said NO. They couldn't have known the alternative options other than a passport.
Yes you must be able to prove your eligibility to work in the UK and without a Passport then as others have said (as does this link) a long birth certificate and NI number are sufficient. If you refuse to provide this then the company cannot fulfill their legal obligations and have every right to withdraw the job offer (note eligibility checks must be completed before you commence work).