NO2ID

I'd be grateful if anyone could help me out..

Would I be right in thinking that passports for the under 16s only last 5 years? So if I renewed along with many others in this "Renew for Freedom" campaign, I might be guarenteed to be off the NIR until atleast 2011? However, I could wait until later this year, in September, when I would be entitled to a 10 year passport, right? But leaving it that late, would I be put onto the NIR at all?

Would I also be right in thinking that it is in October that the Home Office plan to start putting people on the NIR, only allowing them to opt out of having an ID card?

Thanks.

Hi, and welcome to the Forum.

I think you would be best to renew in September so that you can benefit from a 10 year period. If you left it until then you would almost certainly not be entered onto the NIR straight away, as that is not expected until 2008-09. However, from October we expect the data-mining to commence and there is the potential for section 2(4) of the Act to later be used to register the data supplied for passport applications from that point on.

The Home Office plan is to put people on the NIR (and allow them the dubious privilege of opting out of the card alone) from 2008-09. But the moves to price rises, interrogations, huge forms and additional biometrics is scheduled to begin in October 2006.

If you're rich, renew in May as part of the campaign and then again in September to secure 10 years (provided the rules haven't already changed). If you can only afford to do it once then my personal judgment is that it's worth the risk waiting until September if otherwise you would only get five years.

By the way, those who opposed here take note.

Thanks for your help..

I was also going to ask, if I renew now, what type of passport would I recieve? Would it be one with any sort of RFID chip in? Is there any way of getting around having one of those?

Yes, an RFID chip unless you pay extra for a one-day passport and even then it's not guaranteed:

http://forum.no2id.net/viewtopic.php?t=6296

It's possible they could force you to replace your passport if you microwave the RFID chip - none of this is subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.

BTW, talk to all your teachers & headmaster/mistress about this. The Govt are also trying to force them on the NIR by making their CRB check certificate a designated document...

Just tacking a simple question on the end of this: will the passport office send your old passport back if you renew it?

ST - I got my old one back with the new one, with the corners snipped off.

Ahh, thanks Ian - got a nice collection of customs stamps in mine that I'd like to keep.