PASSPORT OF G McCann and change in law

by Smokeandmirrors 05.02.15 20:20

This may have been raised before, but today a respected researcher and frequent former poster here contacted me with some interesting links.

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Note the date on Gerry's passport picture..........

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...... and the date with IMMEDIATE effect of NO SMILING

by truthfultiger 05.02.15 20:29

How long do passports take to process? The date is very close to the date when smiling was banned so I wonder if perhaps passports which had been recurved prior to 5th August were processed rather than having the cost of sending hundreds of passport applications back to applicants.

I know however that the rules are extremely strict as I had my passport photo declined as I had a tiny strand of hair falling across the corner of one eye, and that was after I had paid for the post office checking service. :-s

by canada12 05.02.15 20:30

Smokeandmirrors wrote:This may have been raised before, but today a respected researcher and frequent former poster here contacted me with some interesting links.

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Note the date on Gerry's passport picture..........

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...... and the date with IMMEDIATE effect of NO SMILING

I wonder if it made a difference that Gerry's passport wasn't issued in the UK? If you look at the issuing office it's "FCO", which means it's a British passport issued overseas. FCO stands for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. So Gerry was living elsewhere when his passport was renewed. Maybe they weren't so quick to enforce the no-smiling rule...?

by Guest 05.02.15 20:32

More here:

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by Miraflores 05.02.15 22:15

Gerry's passport was issued towards the end of the summer season so would probably have taken about 5 weeks to process. My husband sent off for a new passport last summer, (before the crisis in the passport office) and that's how long it took. I renewed mine the November before and it took about ten days from my posting the application off. I would imagine those already in the system would have been processed under the old rules - otherwise thousands would have had to have gone back.

by G-Unit 06.02.15 6:37

canada12 wrote:I wonder if it made a difference that Gerry's passport wasn't issued in the UK? If you look at the issuing office it's "FCO", which means it's a British passport issued overseas. FCO stands for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. So Gerry was living elsewhere when his passport was renewed. Maybe they weren't so quick to enforce the no-smiling rule...?

I think the McCanns were in Amsterdam in 2004?

by Varriott 06.02.15 20:28

For what it's worth, I got my passport renewed in 2005, and I had a big goofy smile in the picture. I was not aware of the new rules, and my guess is that they weren't being enforced yet.

by Liz Eagles 06.02.15 21:00

Varriott wrote:For what it's worth, I got my passport renewed in 2005, and I had a big goofy smile in the picture. I was not aware of the new rules, and my guess is that they weren't being enforced yet.

Me too.