My grandpa had one which said he was not allowed to live or work in the EU. He was born In Jersey to French parents so didn't have a connection to the mainland UK (we are British citizens, but our passports say "British Islands" on the front). It was referred to as the "Jersey stamp" and not uncommon, it would also happen if your family was proper Jersey, like several generations with no immigration.
Obviously because his parents were French, he could live and work in the EU, just not as far as British government needed to be aware.
My dad has the same, I think he said it was if both of your parents and their parents were all born in the Bailiwick (of Guernsey) then you can’t work or live in EU.
This is because the Channels Islands aren’t part of the UK and weren’t part of the EU. So despite being normal British Citizens the people from there didn’t get treaty rights unless they have a direct link to the UK.
People from the Faroe Islands are in a similar position. They are Danish citizens with Danish passports, but despite the Faroe Islands being part of the Danish Kingdom, people there aren’t EU citizens so don’t have treaty rights either.
Danish citizens in Greenland though do have treaty rights - after it left the EU, Greenland opted to stay close to the EU via OCT status.
People from the Channel Islands also couldn’t get a working holiday visa for Australia. They weren’t considered part of that agreement but could visit as a regular non-working tourist.
Being from a tax haven has some disadvantages
Yeah, I have a friend who fell for one of those "buy a 1x1m plot of land and become a lord!" things. The paperwork for it was just a poorly disguised deed poll that added Lord in front of his name. He has the same thing in his passport lmao
Its just occurred to me that there's nothing stopping me from being called 'Sir Blacksword the Dragonslayer, Oathsworn of the Secret Order, Doom of Tyrants and Lover to Ten Thousand Buxom Wenches'
It’s a name thing. Russians have patronymics, so sometimes their full Russian name is put on the official observations as a name that they are also known by. Weird thing is that this is done at the discretion of the HMPO workers, so some dual citizens have an official observation and some don’t.
Also, if your full legal name is longer than the name section of the passport.
Some cultures love a massive name - I've encountered it with Nigerian acquaintances, but they're not the only folks whose names can get massive.
I think you should tell her that, ask her out, go on a few dates, a few more, move in together, eventually ask her to marry you. Then give her your surname too.
I think my husband might object.
Edit: I do not want to have sex with my friend. She is objectively beautiful, but I still don’t want to have sex with her, and at least 3 people have now made the obvious joke.
Absolutely. I knew a Sri Lankan chap called Mark.
It turned out that Mark was just his initials - M.A.R.K. I can't remember what his actual name was, but it was bloody long.
Edit: typo correction.
Similar to the Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota - his full name is Diogo Jose Teixeira da Silva but it didn't fit on the shirt, so he picked "JOTA" for his surname from JOse TeixeirA. Also has the double meaning that "Jota" means "J" in Portuguese.
Some Italians, too. There's a joke in on of the Tintin stories where they get a lift in a chase by an Italian who drives like a maniac, and when pulled over gives his name with like 6 middle names.
The police officer tells him not to do it again, and he thanks him and promptly floors it.
Actually it’s both. Commonly a Portuguese person has 3 names -1 name and two surnames - or 4 names - 2 names and 2 surnames.
Then you have creative families like mine where all of us have 5 names. Some have 3 names and 2 surnames and others have 2 names and 3 surnames.
The pain to learn to write my own name… a nightmare.
Thank you.
And of course, let's not forget that 90% of Portuguese women also have "Maria" as their very first name, although they don't all use it. Was great fun when I was in the local sports hall for my Covid jabs, listening for my name to be called, and there were so many Marias.
Ha! Also true, and the colonial heritage of South India and Sri Lanka tracks.
Also I like your user name. I saw Deap Vally live about 10 years ago; Smile More is one of my favourite songs.
Worked with an amazing sri Lankan ETO on board a ship, asked him his name and he wrote it out for me. 9 separate names!
Yeah, he just got called sparks after that. Even he agreed it's easier.
I used to work at a bank dealing with credit card applications, that used to cause so many problems as the system could only take so many characters. Pretty much every application we had was referred to a branch or further checks as the names never really matched credit applications
I know four Nigerians, who are all from the same tribal area (their words), and so they all have nearly identical names in English, because the names they have that are noticably different are minor names that aren't on documents.
(To avoid giving out their real names, its like having Geoff, Geof, and Geff, all living together.)
I went to uni with someone who was loosely related to some ancient German royal line. Her full name was like 20 words long.
The English translation sounded like it came out of LOTR, something like name name name, of the family from the something mountain region to the eastern sea of wherever.
This is a huge issue for people who move to Korea who aren’t of Korean origin. Koreans traditionally tend to have single syllable short surnames and two syllable first names, and nearly every Korean you meet will have a name that follows this. As a result if you don’t have a name which fits this format it’s a nightmare to try and fill out any sort of official document. I know a girl who moved from the UK to Busan and it’s a constant struggle she faces as she has quite a long surname. You can get around it but it involves a lot of back and forth and makes everything x10 more complicated.
My wife has an official observation that she is "also known by ". She once had to sign for a passport for a colleague and then had the joy of trying to get the connection between her professional name and passport name to be recognised. When she renewed her passport, she got the observation added so she shouldn't have the problem again.
You can request to put your maiden name there after marriage, which is handy if you generally use your husband’s name but keep your maiden name at work etc.
It’s the ‘holder also known as’ section.
As I have an EU passport then my wife can travel with me through the EU passport queues.
However she didn’t change her name when we married and a UK passport in a different name to mine did cause some additional questioning occasionally.
The solution when she renewed her passport was to have both names in it using the ‘holder also known as’ facility.
If you are married to (or in a legal civil partnership - not just living together) an EU citizen then as a family member you can accompany them into the EU passport queue -
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0399
And the relevant bits are -
16) In order to reduce the waiting times of *persons enjoying the Union right of free movement*, separate lanes, indicated by uniform signs in all Member States, should, where circumstances allow, be provided at border crossing points. Separate lanes should be provided in international airports. Where it is deemed appropriate and if local circumstances so allow, Member States should consider installing separate lanes at sea and land border crossing points.
Art 2 Definitions
5. *‘persons enjoying the right of free movement under Union law’ means*:
(a) Union citizens within the meaning of Article 20(1) TFEU, *and third-country nationals who are members of the family of a Union citizen* exercising his or her right to free movement to whom Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (21) applies;
As an aside, you are also not restricted to the 90 in 180 days when travelling in the EU when you are with your EU spouse - any time spent then doesn’t count at all for the 90 days and only when you travel on your own does it count.
That means as a couple, even if only one of you is an EU citizen, you can spend as much time there as you want.
All the above also applies to children aged under 21.
Ah, interesting. I didn’t change my name when I got married because it seemed like a huge pain in the arse as well as being established in my career. The pain in the arse issue remains and I won’t be changing my name, but it is useful to know about that page, especially for people who may be invited to events under a different name, which could be tricky visa-wise.
Mad isn't it. If you said the government were going to run a repository of all useful knowledge, you'd imagine it would be awful, somehow it's brilliant.
All presented in clear, simple ways. No unnecessary information, straight to the point, most common exceptions (and what you can do about it) clearly spelled out.
More websites need to be like this.
Just a small example of how smartly designed it is; I have dealings in the US, and in the country drop down search I can type “America”, “US”, “USA”, and “The States”, and it will always pick the right country.
The Gov.uk devs have such attention to detail and a deep understanding of how humans actually use websites.
I can’t decide if it’s more British to make every instance of His/Her a variable - considering how infrequently it would be needed, or to have someone diligently replace every instance following the monarch’s death
I think their extensive and precisely detailed records and information is something that the British have been the best at for centuries. The British empire was 90% paperwork.
Supplying connectivity to some NHS services, I can honestly say, you've got more chance of the NHS landing a rocket on the moon than that becoming a reality
They did, it was a Fujitsu (the Post Office baddies) contract and is a case study on IT mismanagement, the govUK website was made in house by the civil service and is an exemplar all government website for a fraction of the price. We even sell foreign governments contract work to sell advice on digitising their government work and it’s open source! A big win surrounded by massive losses.
It's like the olden days of the internet. None of the government sites are permitted to use any javascript, so they have to be really simple. All of the styles are predetermined, so are all of the components they use. It's all standardised and all of the code for the templates, and also for many government sites, is publicly available on github.
Which I find alarming because a lot of the backend code is utter garbage and it invites attack vectors from malicious agents.
JavaScript is allowed (in fact, it's often necessary for some features to be compliant with accessibility legislation), but JavaScript is fickle and teams are encouraged to make sure that services work end-to-end without JS as much as is possible.
Even then there are exceptions where that just isn't very practical, like [looking up flood maps](https://flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk/).
The ones I have met were all retired military officers.
Your job is to have spectacularly high security clearance and the balls to not put up with border bullshit.
Apropos of nothing, I wonder if the pronoun in the phrase "His Majesty's Passport Office" and similar is recorded in their content management system as an automatically updated token or if someone had to go through all of their official paperwork with a bit of Ctrl-F and Ctrl-C once Charles became king.
I know of someone who is married but his wife kept her maiden name and their kids use their mother's maiden name too. Apparently there's something in his and the kid's passports explaining their relationship in case there are concerns about trafficking when they travel together. I imagine this is in the official observations section.
My kids have my ex's surname, primarily because it is far easier to spell than mine. I just dealt with border force staff asking my toddlers "and who is this?" whilst pointing at me instead. At which point, they'd usually hide behind my legs and I'd have to prompt them - "He's asking if I am your Mummy?"
I did usually carry a signed letter from my ex confirming he agreed to me taking our children out of the country. But nobody ever asked to see it, so I stopped bothering. Unless there's a specific court agreement, anyone with parental responsibility can take their child out of the country for up to 28 days without permission anyway.
My ex has been hassled for this letter when she’s taken our kids abroad. They have my surname and not hers (not by my insistence I should add). Some countries even in Europe can get quite antsy about this.
I may have just been very fortunate, then. I've travelled to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Poland and Greece without any of them asking a single question when we arrived and left. The only time anything was questioned was on our return to the UK, when officials checked I was their mother on a couple of occasions. And my kids are visibly of a different ethnic background to me. So now I'm feeling very lucky indeed!
My husband took one of our sons to see his sister in the NL by himself and I filled out a form on the NL government website giving permission to travel, just in case, even though we all share the same surname and all were born in the UK and hold British passports. Turned out to be a very good idea to have done that because the son he took managed to look shifty as hell going through passport control and they got pulled aside for questioning and nearly missed their flight back to the UK.
I work in Compliance for Recruitment Firms across the EU and US. I see a lot of Hong Kongers of a certain age who hold British Passports and their Observations will list they are Hong Kong Citizens entitled to a British Passport by Birth and some of the extra stipulations that come with that.
I feel that, luckily the photographer in London Drugs in Canada (like Boots) was very patient and managed to catch my daughter just right, even if she's smiling (she was 5).
My parents were diplomats so growing up I had a normal and a diplomatic British passport - my normal one had an official observation that I was a dependent of a member of the Foreign office. I guess it was so I had some proof of my status even if I was just travelling on my normal passport.
I also had an observation stating that one of my diplomatic passports was a replacement for passport number XXX, which had been cancelled - something to do with the info being printed wrong in the first one.
I'm dual national and changed my name by UK law which is not recognised by my other nationality.
My UK passport has an observation stating that I hold a second passport under a different name.
You are meant to only have 1 identity in the UK. If you have a foreign passport in another name that can't be changed you will get an observation. Mainly for writing in other alphabets. A Chinese person may pick their name to be Steve if they move to England as its easier say and our systems dont have chinese characters. But you can't expect them to go back to China and be called Steve too. Also some countries are strict and just won't let you change a name, without jumping through a load of hoops like visiting the country in question.
You may also get one if you have a name that sounds like you have a title. Prince for example. It will state you are Prince in name only. Or alternatively it may list your official title on there.
Or it may state you have 2 passports for work.
I have one. But I can't tell you what it is. Super secret.
They're notes for immigration staff, such as unusual nationality/immigration rules that apply, different names on other documents, if it's a replacement passport, or for if you need some special treatment. Basically so immigration staff won't get suspicious if there's something odd about your documents or immigration status, or follow certain rules if they apply. [See here for examples](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/observations-in-passports/observations-in-passports-accessible#about-observations-in-passports)
Are you sure it was a passport, and not a [travel document](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_document)? They look similar but aren't passports. Issued to refugees and others who can't get a passport from their country of nationality to allow them to travel internationally, but have that country restriction as obviously a refugee shouldn't be travelling back to the country they fled for a holiday jaunt.
[Example here in an older design](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/prado/en/GBR-JO-09001/index.html) - note the observation towards the end of the web page.
I just renewed mine, didn't bother with any of the faff of sending documents just ticked the box to say I'm Dr and the fact it said it on my old passport was enough.
It's made zero difference to my life though
Aye I had that on my first passport after my PhD but not the subsequent one. It feels too petty to correct... but also it was a long fucking four years
Check in agent here, some of the ones I’ve seen are:
• This holder has a (different nationality) passport that expires DD/MM/YYYY
• ‘King/Countess/Prince’ is the name of this passport holder and is not a legal title
• This passport holder does not automatically have the right to live and work in the UK
• This passport replaces passport number 123456 which has been cancelled/destroyed
• This holder is also known as XYZ
• This passport holder has a foreign document under the name XYZ
• This passport holder works for the British Government
• This holder is a British Overseas Territories citizen
Obviously there are plenty more, these are just the most common
Very boring, but the passport office made a mistake on my DOB and I didn’t get it rectified quickly enough. When I actually did, they fixed it but refused to extend the passport, so I had a non-standard duration between the start and end dates.
Lad I know has "Piracy on the high seas" he's not allowed in a bunch of countries.
He was pissed as a fart one night at 19. He nicked a pedalo from Tynemouth and tried to go to Amsterdam.
My mate who tried to go climbing in the Karakorum just before the Millennium sent his PP off to the Pakistani embassy as part of an application to get a permit to travel into a restricted area.
He got his climbing permit but someone had written "This man is to be denied entry to Pakistan" on the observation page. (He got a new PP before he left on the trip!)
Yeah, it was hand written.
No idea why. The only thing we could think of is that he had loads of Indian stamps from other climbing trips and someone was being arsy for reasons best known to themselves.
My dissertation supervisor told me she had one in her passport. She works under her maiden name but her passport is in her married name and sometimes it gets confused as other people book tickets for her.
I don’t know if that is true though, just came up in conversation once.
Here are some I got. Some numbers are changed for privacy reason.
In accordance with the United Kingdom immigration rules, the holder of this passport does not require an entry certificate or visa to visit the United Kingdom
The holder is not entitled to benefit from EU provisions relating to employment or establishment
The holder of this passport has Hong Kong Permanent Identity card numbered A123456(7) which states that the holder has the right of abode in Hong Kong.
The holder's name in Chinese Commercial Code: 1111 2222 3333.
Official Observations:
- Smells of egg, always
- Has an uncanny resemblance to Benny Hill
- Walks as though he's had an accident in his trousers (might explain smell of egg)
...are a few I've seen, there's probably loads more
Bono’s says he’s bono, because Bono isn’t Bono’s real name. If you’re a peer of the realm, it’ll say so there. If you’ve been observed, officially, to consume the wax wrapping of a babybel, it’ll state this also.
I understand members of the royal family have their title in that section (e.g. Prince of Wales). Apart from the King, obviously, as he's technically the issuer of all passports and doesn't need one.
I found Dad's **OLD** (1970s) passport where loads of stuff is handwritten, it has *scars around the eyes*. I'm guessing that things were different back then....
Mine has my maiden name is in because that’s my official name on my other nationalities passport.
Also has the fact that my title is DR.
There are a bunch of typos in the official observations though - British passports have gone so downhill
My son has two middle names and a double barred surname. So his full name is 31 characters long if you ibckuse a space between each name, one character too long for a standard passport name.
So on the main page of his passport, it states his name minus his second middle name. And on the Official Observations page, it states "The holder's name is" and then his full name.
Not very exciting, but there you go. I wish I'd realised there was a 30 character limit - including spaces - on passports when I registered his name!
It should be used to record minor social grievances, controversial opinions and/or minor acheivements.
Farts in lifts
Doesnt think Capricorns drive well
Prefers Godsfather 3 over the previous 2 films
Finalist in Series 12 of 15 to 1
My grandpa had one which said he was not allowed to live or work in the EU. He was born In Jersey to French parents so didn't have a connection to the mainland UK (we are British citizens, but our passports say "British Islands" on the front). It was referred to as the "Jersey stamp" and not uncommon, it would also happen if your family was proper Jersey, like several generations with no immigration. Obviously because his parents were French, he could live and work in the EU, just not as far as British government needed to be aware.
My dad has the same, I think he said it was if both of your parents and their parents were all born in the Bailiwick (of Guernsey) then you can’t work or live in EU.
Also true for the Isle of Man. In all cases you could "cure" it by living in Britain for five years of your life. Bit academic now though.
This is because the Channels Islands aren’t part of the UK and weren’t part of the EU. So despite being normal British Citizens the people from there didn’t get treaty rights unless they have a direct link to the UK. People from the Faroe Islands are in a similar position. They are Danish citizens with Danish passports, but despite the Faroe Islands being part of the Danish Kingdom, people there aren’t EU citizens so don’t have treaty rights either. Danish citizens in Greenland though do have treaty rights - after it left the EU, Greenland opted to stay close to the EU via OCT status.
People from the Channel Islands also couldn’t get a working holiday visa for Australia. They weren’t considered part of that agreement but could visit as a regular non-working tourist. Being from a tax haven has some disadvantages
If he has been resident in GB or NI for a number of years the observation drops off.
Tbf, if you've been resident anywhere for a large enough number of years, all sorts of things start dropping off.
Best one I saw was "the name refers the holder not the title" with someone who thought he was being funny changing his first name to Lord.
Yeah, I have a friend who fell for one of those "buy a 1x1m plot of land and become a lord!" things. The paperwork for it was just a poorly disguised deed poll that added Lord in front of his name. He has the same thing in his passport lmao
That's kind of sad.
Its just occurred to me that there's nothing stopping me from being called 'Sir Blacksword the Dragonslayer, Oathsworn of the Secret Order, Doom of Tyrants and Lover to Ten Thousand Buxom Wenches'
There was a guy at my uni in the 90s by the name of Sorabain Wolfheart de Lioncourt.
While it would depend on your jurisdiction, I believe a lot will not allow names like "Sir" that are also titles.
In a friend of mine's UK passport, that page notes that he is also a Russian passport holder.
Sneaky fucking Russian
You mean Boris? Technically he's an Uzbekistanian
Bullet dodger!!
Why do they call him the bullet dodger?
Cause he dodges bullets, Avi
#As bent as the Soviet sickle and hard as the hammer that crosses it.
#50grannn for hafa days work *brushes hair back*
Strong like bull. Smart like tractor.
Because he perfected the art of hiding inside fridge vans. Can't get shot inside those.
Forgot all about that fiasco! 😂
Heavy is good. Heavy is reliable.
If it breaks you can hit him
It’s for protection from ze Germans!
Whatamigonnadowithacaravanthatsgotnofookinwheels?
D'ya like dags?
Thought he was Turkish
Sergei: *sighs* “Boris. Why always Boris?!”
Hmm wonder why? My partner has two passports, one being a British passport, and neither refers to the other passport.
It’s a name thing. Russians have patronymics, so sometimes their full Russian name is put on the official observations as a name that they are also known by. Weird thing is that this is done at the discretion of the HMPO workers, so some dual citizens have an official observation and some don’t.
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> **Other Official Observations:** Has been attained multiple times on the attempted kidnapping of a Moose and Squirrel
You assume
Also, if your full legal name is longer than the name section of the passport. Some cultures love a massive name - I've encountered it with Nigerian acquaintances, but they're not the only folks whose names can get massive.
All the people of Sri Lankan heritage that I know have very long surnames
That reminds me of the great Sri Lankan cricketer Chaminda Vaas, full name Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas.
I worked with a Harry Haradasian Ramyabalasubramanian
Does he own a chain of fish and chip shops in Sri Lanka?
👌 Really made me laugh. Cheers
I don’t get it please explain
We have a famous Fish & Chip shop called Harry Ramsdens 😉
Thank you Latin scouse
Yes! I’m not going to write one of my friend’s name in full, but she’s in my phone as Suki V, and she has (I think) 5 names.
As in Suki Five-names-in-roman-numerals?
Suki Suki Suki Suki Suki?
Ha! I hadn’t thought of that. No, the surname she uses starts with a V. Also she is Very Beautiful.
I think you should tell her that, ask her out, go on a few dates, a few more, move in together, eventually ask her to marry you. Then give her your surname too.
I think my husband might object. Edit: I do not want to have sex with my friend. She is objectively beautiful, but I still don’t want to have sex with her, and at least 3 people have now made the obvious joke.
why let facts get in the way of a good story
'Joseph' - Chaminda is the real life Dumbledore
Absolutely. I knew a Sri Lankan chap called Mark. It turned out that Mark was just his initials - M.A.R.K. I can't remember what his actual name was, but it was bloody long. Edit: typo correction.
Similar to the Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota - his full name is Diogo Jose Teixeira da Silva but it didn't fit on the shirt, so he picked "JOTA" for his surname from JOse TeixeirA. Also has the double meaning that "Jota" means "J" in Portuguese.
Most Portuguese people i've ever met have somewhere in the region of a million middle names lol.
Some Italians, too. There's a joke in on of the Tintin stories where they get a lift in a chase by an Italian who drives like a maniac, and when pulled over gives his name with like 6 middle names. The police officer tells him not to do it again, and he thanks him and promptly floors it.
Yes, they're not "middle names" as such, but the surnames of parents.
Actually it’s both. Commonly a Portuguese person has 3 names -1 name and two surnames - or 4 names - 2 names and 2 surnames. Then you have creative families like mine where all of us have 5 names. Some have 3 names and 2 surnames and others have 2 names and 3 surnames. The pain to learn to write my own name… a nightmare.
Thank you. And of course, let's not forget that 90% of Portuguese women also have "Maria" as their very first name, although they don't all use it. Was great fun when I was in the local sports hall for my Covid jabs, listening for my name to be called, and there were so many Marias.
Ha! Also true, and the colonial heritage of South India and Sri Lanka tracks. Also I like your user name. I saw Deap Vally live about 10 years ago; Smile More is one of my favourite songs.
Worked with an amazing sri Lankan ETO on board a ship, asked him his name and he wrote it out for me. 9 separate names! Yeah, he just got called sparks after that. Even he agreed it's easier.
I used to work at a bank dealing with credit card applications, that used to cause so many problems as the system could only take so many characters. Pretty much every application we had was referred to a branch or further checks as the names never really matched credit applications
At one of the jobs we had standard plastic ID card in portrait orientation, but one Sri Lankan guy had to have it in landscape to fit his entire name.
Thai people too. Aliza Napartivaumnuay and Moo Natavud Pungcharoenpong are some good examples.
Also Greek surnames can be similarly lengthy; I went to school with a lad named Papaphillipopulous and I have no idea how he coped with forms 🤷🏼♀️
Am Sri Lankan, can confirm. Am thinking of changing my name when I can to troll people.
I know four Nigerians, who are all from the same tribal area (their words), and so they all have nearly identical names in English, because the names they have that are noticably different are minor names that aren't on documents. (To avoid giving out their real names, its like having Geoff, Geof, and Geff, all living together.)
with Jeff, and Jeffry?
A guy I work with has 16 middle names. Named after the Man Utd 98-99 team
I also know of someone who's middles names are this! I wonder if there's multiples out there 😂
For instance: Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abdurrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi. Otherwise know as actor Alexander Siddig.
Ah Dr Bashir I presume
I love a bit of DS9 yet I didn't know that. TIL !
I went to uni with someone who was loosely related to some ancient German royal line. Her full name was like 20 words long. The English translation sounded like it came out of LOTR, something like name name name, of the family from the something mountain region to the eastern sea of wherever.
I'm guessing she was a Habsburg? They are allowed to keep their titles, although it is frowned upon in their own country
This is a huge issue for people who move to Korea who aren’t of Korean origin. Koreans traditionally tend to have single syllable short surnames and two syllable first names, and nearly every Korean you meet will have a name that follows this. As a result if you don’t have a name which fits this format it’s a nightmare to try and fill out any sort of official document. I know a girl who moved from the UK to Busan and it’s a constant struggle she faces as she has quite a long surname. You can get around it but it involves a lot of back and forth and makes everything x10 more complicated.
Can confirm the Nigerian thing. My wife has more middle names than I have in my full name
My name is actually quite long. 2 long middle names, and I’m English. And no, I’m not posh.
no you're not! Tarqinius Markus Saint-Jean the third is a common in Cleethorpes!
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Uvuvevwe Onytenevwe Ugwmubwem Ostas
Spell for me
Worst part is I memorised it and wrote that from memory. I didn't Google it. 🤣
This is why mine says “THE HOLDER IS OT1SMILE’S REAL NAME” as my full name is two letters too long for most official forms.
My wife has an official observation that she is "also known by". She once had to sign for a passport for a colleague and then had the joy of trying to get the connection between her professional name and passport name to be recognised. When she renewed her passport, she got the observation added so she shouldn't have the problem again.
I've a Nigerian friend whose Nigerian first name is 38 characters
You can request to put your maiden name there after marriage, which is handy if you generally use your husband’s name but keep your maiden name at work etc.
It’s the ‘holder also known as’ section. As I have an EU passport then my wife can travel with me through the EU passport queues. However she didn’t change her name when we married and a UK passport in a different name to mine did cause some additional questioning occasionally. The solution when she renewed her passport was to have both names in it using the ‘holder also known as’ facility.
I'm an EU passport holder but my *husband* isn't - how do we take advantage of this? (We have never shared a surname.)
If you are married to (or in a legal civil partnership - not just living together) an EU citizen then as a family member you can accompany them into the EU passport queue - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0399 And the relevant bits are - 16) In order to reduce the waiting times of *persons enjoying the Union right of free movement*, separate lanes, indicated by uniform signs in all Member States, should, where circumstances allow, be provided at border crossing points. Separate lanes should be provided in international airports. Where it is deemed appropriate and if local circumstances so allow, Member States should consider installing separate lanes at sea and land border crossing points. Art 2 Definitions 5. *‘persons enjoying the right of free movement under Union law’ means*: (a) Union citizens within the meaning of Article 20(1) TFEU, *and third-country nationals who are members of the family of a Union citizen* exercising his or her right to free movement to whom Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (21) applies; As an aside, you are also not restricted to the 90 in 180 days when travelling in the EU when you are with your EU spouse - any time spent then doesn’t count at all for the 90 days and only when you travel on your own does it count. That means as a couple, even if only one of you is an EU citizen, you can spend as much time there as you want. All the above also applies to children aged under 21.
Ah, interesting. I didn’t change my name when I got married because it seemed like a huge pain in the arse as well as being established in my career. The pain in the arse issue remains and I won’t be changing my name, but it is useful to know about that page, especially for people who may be invited to events under a different name, which could be tricky visa-wise.
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https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/observations-in-passports/observations-in-passports-accessible
Man fucking gov.uk is like the 4th greatest thing the UK has ever done.
Mad isn't it. If you said the government were going to run a repository of all useful knowledge, you'd imagine it would be awful, somehow it's brilliant.
They really did do a good job. It is so extremely useful and nice to have.
All presented in clear, simple ways. No unnecessary information, straight to the point, most common exceptions (and what you can do about it) clearly spelled out. More websites need to be like this.
Just a small example of how smartly designed it is; I have dealings in the US, and in the country drop down search I can type “America”, “US”, “USA”, and “The States”, and it will always pick the right country. The Gov.uk devs have such attention to detail and a deep understanding of how humans actually use websites.
Do you think on the back end they have a toggle to switch between all the mentions of 'His' and 'King' to 'Her' and Queen', or do they just ctrl+h?
I bet it’s a dynamic field
I can’t decide if it’s more British to make every instance of His/Her a variable - considering how infrequently it would be needed, or to have someone diligently replace every instance following the monarch’s death
I think their extensive and precisely detailed records and information is something that the British have been the best at for centuries. The British empire was 90% paperwork.
GDS are incredibly stringent with what they'll publish, they have guidelines and won't bend them which is why content is incredibly uniform
Paying for car tax. None of this, dig up your insurance and MOT and get to a post office. Get the letter, pay on line inside of 60 seconds. Fantastic.
By Government you of course mean the Civil Service, don't tar them with the same brush!
Ah thanks. that *is* an important distinction.
What are the other three?
NHS WW2 Chip Butty
In reverse order of course.
Butty Chip?
yttub pihc
The welsh variety
Ah, so **that**'s where brown sauce comes from?
I thought it came from the brown tomatoes?
Ceefax
Chicken Tikka Masala Balti Full English Breakfast
All at once? I like you
Sunday is Cheat day...
For 24 hours you eat literally anything
Pork cylinders? Discount fois gras? Quiches Lorraine?
Dunno about the other 2 but I’m pretty sold on a really good roast dinner.
Gov uk goes so hard in areas it doesn’t really need to lol.
Gov.uk for kazakhstan: Here are 4 English speaking dentists in Astana and 6 funeral directors. Also gov.uk in kazakhstan during COVID: good luck lol
Now if only they could put that momentum into a functional IT system across the NHS…
Supplying connectivity to some NHS services, I can honestly say, you've got more chance of the NHS landing a rocket on the moon than that becoming a reality
They did, it was a Fujitsu (the Post Office baddies) contract and is a case study on IT mismanagement, the govUK website was made in house by the civil service and is an exemplar all government website for a fraction of the price. We even sell foreign governments contract work to sell advice on digitising their government work and it’s open source! A big win surrounded by massive losses.
Fun fact, it’s used as a glowing example of a user friendly interface. It’s that good it’s internationally recognised as such.
It's like the olden days of the internet. None of the government sites are permitted to use any javascript, so they have to be really simple. All of the styles are predetermined, so are all of the components they use. It's all standardised and all of the code for the templates, and also for many government sites, is publicly available on github. Which I find alarming because a lot of the backend code is utter garbage and it invites attack vectors from malicious agents.
Ive worked on a significant .gov site. We used plenty of Javascript.
JavaScript is allowed (in fact, it's often necessary for some features to be compliant with accessibility legislation), but JavaScript is fickle and teams are encouraged to make sure that services work end-to-end without JS as much as is possible. Even then there are exceptions where that just isn't very practical, like [looking up flood maps](https://flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk/).
Every time we collectively observe and appreciate this it makes me nervous because it’s surely only a matter of time before they fuck it up.
My family mock me for the respect I have for that website. I am so happy to find out today how many others are also correct.
after the blessed nhs website
Well that’s not something I thought I’d spend 5 minutes learning about today.
Wait a minute... "This sucka ugly" isn't on that list!
Well, duh, your photo is on the preceding page.
That's what the photo is for
So, what on earth is the “King’s Messenger Service”?
https://www.fcdoservices.gov.uk/what-we-offer/secure-logistics/kings-messengers/
More importantly, how does one become one?
The ones I have met were all retired military officers. Your job is to have spectacularly high security clearance and the balls to not put up with border bullshit.
I was bumped from my business class seat to accommodate one of these chaps. The compensation package was outstanding
Apropos of nothing, I wonder if the pronoun in the phrase "His Majesty's Passport Office" and similar is recorded in their content management system as an automatically updated token or if someone had to go through all of their official paperwork with a bit of Ctrl-F and Ctrl-C once Charles became king.
Ctrl-H "Her Majesty's" > replace with "His Majesty's". Job done. I'm actually curious too.
I know of someone who is married but his wife kept her maiden name and their kids use their mother's maiden name too. Apparently there's something in his and the kid's passports explaining their relationship in case there are concerns about trafficking when they travel together. I imagine this is in the official observations section.
My kids have my ex's surname, primarily because it is far easier to spell than mine. I just dealt with border force staff asking my toddlers "and who is this?" whilst pointing at me instead. At which point, they'd usually hide behind my legs and I'd have to prompt them - "He's asking if I am your Mummy?" I did usually carry a signed letter from my ex confirming he agreed to me taking our children out of the country. But nobody ever asked to see it, so I stopped bothering. Unless there's a specific court agreement, anyone with parental responsibility can take their child out of the country for up to 28 days without permission anyway.
My ex has been hassled for this letter when she’s taken our kids abroad. They have my surname and not hers (not by my insistence I should add). Some countries even in Europe can get quite antsy about this.
I may have just been very fortunate, then. I've travelled to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Poland and Greece without any of them asking a single question when we arrived and left. The only time anything was questioned was on our return to the UK, when officials checked I was their mother on a couple of occasions. And my kids are visibly of a different ethnic background to me. So now I'm feeling very lucky indeed!
My husband took one of our sons to see his sister in the NL by himself and I filled out a form on the NL government website giving permission to travel, just in case, even though we all share the same surname and all were born in the UK and hold British passports. Turned out to be a very good idea to have done that because the son he took managed to look shifty as hell going through passport control and they got pulled aside for questioning and nearly missed their flight back to the UK.
I work in Compliance for Recruitment Firms across the EU and US. I see a lot of Hong Kongers of a certain age who hold British Passports and their Observations will list they are Hong Kong Citizens entitled to a British Passport by Birth and some of the extra stipulations that come with that.
Our son has autism and can't look straight at a camera for a photo. This is noted in his passport.
I feel that, luckily the photographer in London Drugs in Canada (like Boots) was very patient and managed to catch my daughter just right, even if she's smiling (she was 5).
That's great! had to use the best shot too, sort of a side eye look..
It is known.
My parents were diplomats so growing up I had a normal and a diplomatic British passport - my normal one had an official observation that I was a dependent of a member of the Foreign office. I guess it was so I had some proof of my status even if I was just travelling on my normal passport. I also had an observation stating that one of my diplomatic passports was a replacement for passport number XXX, which had been cancelled - something to do with the info being printed wrong in the first one.
"This guy's a cunt lol". I told them it wasn't very professional but they weren't having it.
This is what I was expecting, but maybe not so explicitly. The actual answer is kinda boring ngl
I checked a blokes age using his passport as his ID once, he had this hand written on that page. I laughed all night.
It's not very professional but it's official.
I'm dual national and changed my name by UK law which is not recognised by my other nationality. My UK passport has an observation stating that I hold a second passport under a different name.
You are meant to only have 1 identity in the UK. If you have a foreign passport in another name that can't be changed you will get an observation. Mainly for writing in other alphabets. A Chinese person may pick their name to be Steve if they move to England as its easier say and our systems dont have chinese characters. But you can't expect them to go back to China and be called Steve too. Also some countries are strict and just won't let you change a name, without jumping through a load of hoops like visiting the country in question. You may also get one if you have a name that sounds like you have a title. Prince for example. It will state you are Prince in name only. Or alternatively it may list your official title on there. Or it may state you have 2 passports for work.
China does not recognise dual nationality, so if they find out you have a UK passport they'll retract your Chinese citizenship.
“This passport replaces one that was declared stolen” Mine was stolen. I had that in my next passport for the next 10 years!
It's for things like "Not their real name. Passport issued by MI6." Obviously they write it in lemon juice though.
I have one. But I can't tell you what it is. Super secret. They're notes for immigration staff, such as unusual nationality/immigration rules that apply, different names on other documents, if it's a replacement passport, or for if you need some special treatment. Basically so immigration staff won't get suspicious if there's something odd about your documents or immigration status, or follow certain rules if they apply. [See here for examples](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/observations-in-passports/observations-in-passports-accessible#about-observations-in-passports)
One of my parents had one which said they couldn't use their British passport in a certain country, due to their country of birth.
Are you sure it was a passport, and not a [travel document](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_document)? They look similar but aren't passports. Issued to refugees and others who can't get a passport from their country of nationality to allow them to travel internationally, but have that country restriction as obviously a refugee shouldn't be travelling back to the country they fled for a holiday jaunt. [Example here in an older design](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/prado/en/GBR-JO-09001/index.html) - note the observation towards the end of the web page.
Mine says “THIS IS DOCTOR [MY NAME]” I worked hard for that PhD…..
Mine too, well it says "the holder is doctor [name]"
I used to but didn't bother keeping it on renewal
I just renewed mine, didn't bother with any of the faff of sending documents just ticked the box to say I'm Dr and the fact it said it on my old passport was enough. It's made zero difference to my life though
Ditto. Mainly to shut my mother up as she kept insisting 😁
Aye I had that on my first passport after my PhD but not the subsequent one. It feels too petty to correct... but also it was a long fucking four years
Check in agent here, some of the ones I’ve seen are: • This holder has a (different nationality) passport that expires DD/MM/YYYY • ‘King/Countess/Prince’ is the name of this passport holder and is not a legal title • This passport holder does not automatically have the right to live and work in the UK • This passport replaces passport number 123456 which has been cancelled/destroyed • This holder is also known as XYZ • This passport holder has a foreign document under the name XYZ • This passport holder works for the British Government • This holder is a British Overseas Territories citizen Obviously there are plenty more, these are just the most common
Very boring, but the passport office made a mistake on my DOB and I didn’t get it rectified quickly enough. When I actually did, they fixed it but refused to extend the passport, so I had a non-standard duration between the start and end dates.
Throws chairs and other bar furniture during major football tournaments\*
Lad I know has "Piracy on the high seas" he's not allowed in a bunch of countries. He was pissed as a fart one night at 19. He nicked a pedalo from Tynemouth and tried to go to Amsterdam.
My mate who tried to go climbing in the Karakorum just before the Millennium sent his PP off to the Pakistani embassy as part of an application to get a permit to travel into a restricted area. He got his climbing permit but someone had written "This man is to be denied entry to Pakistan" on the observation page. (He got a new PP before he left on the trip!)
Like hand written? Why??
Yeah, it was hand written. No idea why. The only thing we could think of is that he had loads of Indian stamps from other climbing trips and someone was being arsy for reasons best known to themselves.
My dissertation supervisor told me she had one in her passport. She works under her maiden name but her passport is in her married name and sometimes it gets confused as other people book tickets for her. I don’t know if that is true though, just came up in conversation once.
Here are some I got. Some numbers are changed for privacy reason. In accordance with the United Kingdom immigration rules, the holder of this passport does not require an entry certificate or visa to visit the United Kingdom The holder is not entitled to benefit from EU provisions relating to employment or establishment The holder of this passport has Hong Kong Permanent Identity card numbered A123456(7) which states that the holder has the right of abode in Hong Kong. The holder's name in Chinese Commercial Code: 1111 2222 3333.
Official Observations: - Smells of egg, always - Has an uncanny resemblance to Benny Hill - Walks as though he's had an accident in his trousers (might explain smell of egg) ...are a few I've seen, there's probably loads more
Bono’s says he’s bono, because Bono isn’t Bono’s real name. If you’re a peer of the realm, it’ll say so there. If you’ve been observed, officially, to consume the wax wrapping of a babybel, it’ll state this also.
I had an emergency replacement passport once with only 6 months validity, that page had a note explaining it.
I understand members of the royal family have their title in that section (e.g. Prince of Wales). Apart from the King, obviously, as he's technically the issuer of all passports and doesn't need one.
I found Dad's **OLD** (1970s) passport where loads of stuff is handwritten, it has *scars around the eyes*. I'm guessing that things were different back then....
Mine has my maiden name is in because that’s my official name on my other nationalities passport. Also has the fact that my title is DR. There are a bunch of typos in the official observations though - British passports have gone so downhill
My son has two middle names and a double barred surname. So his full name is 31 characters long if you ibckuse a space between each name, one character too long for a standard passport name. So on the main page of his passport, it states his name minus his second middle name. And on the Official Observations page, it states "The holder's name is" and then his full name. Not very exciting, but there you go. I wish I'd realised there was a 30 character limit - including spaces - on passports when I registered his name!
Great Hawaiian shirt and a cheery disposition.
So I actually have a stamp there in my passport. [https://imgur.com/a/6UrIx5R](https://imgur.com/a/6UrIx5R)
"I wouldn't trust that seagull if I were you, it looks like it wants to nick your Greggs"
This is the page where you write down all the British pokemon you've caught
It should be used to record minor social grievances, controversial opinions and/or minor acheivements. Farts in lifts Doesnt think Capricorns drive well Prefers Godsfather 3 over the previous 2 films Finalist in Series 12 of 15 to 1