Countersignatory

B

Butler

New Member
In the UK passport application guidelines, it is stated that your countersignatory cannot be related to you by birth or marriage. However, I’m seeing a lot of conflicting information online about what counts as a relation by marriage. Would my cousin’s spouse (a lawyer) be considered a relative by marriage and therefore not qualify as a countersignatory?

I can use someone else, but this person lives in the UK and I understand having a UK countersignatory can speed up the application process a bit, so I’d like to use them if at all possible.
 
Riley Haas

Riley Haas

Administrator
Staff member
Location
Toronto
I'm sorry to say that my understanding is that this person is inelligible unless you are perhaps talking about a 2nd or 3rd cousin or something like that.
 
B

Butler

New Member
Thank you for the response! I had a feeling that was the case. One other question, if you (or anyone else) don't mind:

The UK gov's passport site is a bit confusing. If you select the option for applying for a passport from overseas (I'm in Canada), it takes you through a series of questions and then ultimately leads you to an online form (it appears that I can only apply online), and you submit a digital photograph that must be confirmed by someone who currently holds a UK passport. However, elsewhere on the same website, it mentions that if you're applying for your first adult UK passport, you must have someone sign a printed photo...and this countersignatory simply needs to have a UK, Commonwealth, or US passport. The requirements seem to differ depending on which page on the government's website you're looking at.

In summary, I have no idea if I'm supposed to submit a printed photo, signed by a countersignatory (who can be Canadian), or a digital photo to be verified only by someone living in the UK. Very confusing! Can anyone clarify this?
 
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