Remember when the most respected people in your village were the schoolteacher, the bank manager, the doctor and the vicar?
Of course you don't. Those days are long gone.
Unless. You need to get a passport. In which case, you will need to find a person of repute, and who has by some means a knowledge of you, to countersign the form (Why is it "countersign"? Don't they just sign?).
The government tells us the person must work in (or be retired from) a 'recognised profession' or be ‘a person of good standing in their community’.
Recognised professions include:
- chiropodists but not osteopaths
- airline pilots but not bus drivers
- dentists but not doctors (unless you are a close friend)
- engineers but not scientists
- travel agents but not estate agents
- publicans but not restauranteurs
- journalists but not bloggers
- opticians but not audiologists
- MPs but not mayors
Does any of this make any sense whatsoever? Has anyone looked at this recently?
Also included: "president or secretary of a recognised organisation". I was for a number of years Secretary of Cornwall Croquet Club so, if you need a countersignatory for your passport application, I'm your man. Payment in bitcoin only.
I can tell you why Drs aren’t included. It’s because they asked for payment which you aren’t allowed to do.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher and a JP I was inundated with requests and after a few difficult conversations with parents after declining go sign as I didn’t know them, we wrote into school policy that no member of staff was permitted to sign passport applications.
Not that I ever made a penny from it anyway.