More "You Exist, you pay" from HMG

[Xose]

The cost of renewing a passport in the UK is just under £80.

The cost of renewing a UK passport in Spain is just under €120. What, the exchange rate hasn't dropped for HM's Government?

Cost of renewing a UK child passport in Spain just under €100.

Cost for a Spaniard to renew his/her 10 year passport, €20 - and they're up in arms because it's gone up a lot!!! + of course, they don't need a passport for anywhere in the EU because they can use their ID card instead. I assume then that the NIE works the same ??

Oh well, pay up and shut up. I guess one just can't fully escape it

Xose

[jkchawner]

Originally Posted by Xose

The cost of renewing a passport in the UK is just under £80.

The cost of renewing a UK passport in Spain is just under €120. What, the exchange rate hasn't dropped for HM's Government?

Cost of renewing a UK child passport in Spain just under €100.

Cost for a Spaniard to renew his/her 10 year passport, €20 - and they're up in arms because it's gone up a lot!!! + of course, they don't need a passport for anywhere in the EU because they can use their ID card instead. I assume then that the NIE works the same ??

Oh well, pay up and shut up. I guess one just can't fully escape it

Xose

swap u for the snow and MINUS 5 in a few weeks time and i will pay for your passport

[XTreme]

Something I never thought of before.....say I left my British Passport expire, would I be unable to leave Spain?

[Xose]

Originally Posted by XTreme

Something I never thought of before.....say I left my British Passport expire, would I be unable to leave Spain?

You could X, using your Spanish ID documents, but only to EU Schengen area (ie not to the UK).

That's no skin off your nose though is it?

Xose

[Caz.I]

Originally Posted by Xose

The cost of renewing a passport in the UK is just under £80.

The cost of renewing a UK passport in Spain is just under €120. What, the exchange rate hasn't dropped for HM's Government?

Cost of renewing a UK child passport in Spain just under €100.

Cost for a Spaniard to renew his/her 10 year passport, €20 - and they're up in arms because it's gone up a lot!!! + of course, they don't need a passport for anywhere in the EU because they can use their ID card instead. I assume then that the NIE works the same ??

Oh well, pay up and shut up. I guess one just can't fully escape it

Xose

The thing is Xose, you havent included the cost of the courier service, making it even more expensive - someone told me that that brings it up to nearer 200 for an adult passport!
I think I read in a forum organised by the Foreign office, that the reason it is so expensive is because it is a private agency that arranges the passports for Brits in Spain, rather than a government agency. Hence the rip off. (They didnt quite put it like that, mind you!)

Well, next time, I may just book a cheap flight and get one in the UK. A relative of mine, who lives in Spain renewed his passport in the UK last time, and frankly, just for the principle of refusing to be ripped off in this way, I think its worth doing!

[XTreme]

I'd never go back....it's just a strange thought to think that I'd be refused entry to the country where I was born, and where I spent 50 years of my life!

[Caz.I]

Originally Posted by XTreme

Something I never thought of before.....say I left my British Passport expire, would I be unable to leave Spain?

Would you want to, Xtreme? And would you consider getting a Spanish passport?

[jojo]

But without a passport, would you be allowed to stay in Spain????


Jo xxx

[XTreme]

Originally Posted by Caz.I

Would you want to, Xtreme? And would you consider getting a Spanish passport?

I'd have no qualms about getting a Spanish passport.....or relinquishing British citizenship.....cos my passport says nothing about being Welsh. Being British means nothing to me!

If it did say Welsh, they'd have to pry it out of my cold dead hands!

[JBODEN]

Originally Posted by XTreme

I'd never go back....it's just a strange thought to think that I'd be refused entry to the country where I was born, and where I spent 50 years of my life!

I travel back to the UK approx. 2 a year, by car. It's only 1000 miles door to door and my best time was 15 hours, including ferry crossing, - non stop! The car was on PL plates so usually I was pulled over the HM Customs, since Poland is the European center for amphetamine production & distribution. On one occasion the Customs Officer asked me "how long was I going to stay in the UK". Not thinking twice about the question I retorted 'as long as I like!'. I could see that he was about to go ballistic (how dare I back chat him) so I quickly showed him my passport (he didn't even ask to see it) and explained that I was a UK citizen, born & bred.
On reflection I think that he was more interested in how long the car would be in the UK.
Generally I have a healthy disrespect for Government officials who can't be civil. I have had to explain to a few of them that it was I and other tax payers who were employing them - so in a sense I was their boss. Their stock reply was that they paid taxes too, but I pointed out the fallacy in their logic in that the 'taxes' that they were paying was my money in the first place.
I recently calculated that the taxes I paid annually in Poland, kept 2 officials in gainfull full time employment. Now that I am leaving they'll have to find another job