UK passport application via Madrid

[avellana]

We are applying for new passports and I have a question about the payment method.
Payment by post/courier has to be made by credit or debit card.
Can this be a UK issued card rather than a Spanish one?
Our credit and debit cards are UK issue but they are billed to our only address which is here in Spain.

I would be grateful for any information today if possible.

Thanks.

[lola2]

You can call the embassy in Madrid and ask any questions you have. Well I say Madrid you go through to a call centre but I am sure they will answer your questions for you.

[julian]

yes, I just renewed mine, with a UK based credit card, they just want our money, they don´t care where it comes from!!! the new passport was returned very quickly..... check ,and re-check, that the photos are the size etc that they require !!!

[avellana]

Thanks for the replies.
I didn't fancy calling Madrid at the price per minute they charge!
We had photos done locally by a Spanish photographer but they were wrong.
Luckily a photographer friend was able to manipulate the photos to the correct head size.

[mhic]

Avellana.

I re-sized the photo of my nine year old grandson for his FA identification pass this year and it was refused, I would think it will be even more difficult for a passport photo.

Mhic.

[julian]

I seem to remember reading in their "rules" that they don´t accept manipulated photos, mind you it lokks as if they don´t accept any photos !!

[avellana]

Mhic
Thanks for the advice.
Our friend, who is a professional photographer, used the same photographer as us and manipulated his photos and they were accepted okay.

When we went to the Spanish photographer I explained in Spanish what size was acceptable.
He understood what I was saying but said it'll depend on who's dealing with the application as to whether it's accepted.

We find it hard to grasp this aspect of Spanish bureaucracy and a Spaniard finds it equally hard to grasp what British bureaucracy is like!

[scampicat]

My husband applied for his passport by post, paid with a Goldfish (British) card, I took his photograph,( making sure it was 'framed' as on the guidance notes), he made it the right size, printed it out on photo paper, sent it off and the passport arrived about two weeks later. Dead easy!

[katy]

I had photos taken at a photoshop in marbella to renew a USA visa. I gave them all the details on the form. The photos were not correct, fortunately they have a booth inside the embassy.

[avellana]

The original photos and the 'new' photos look no different other than the size of the heads which now are between and maximum size allowed.

I have noticed several discrepancies on the website.
The application notes ask you to send your birth certificate whilst on screen under 'Passport Renewal' you are not required to send your birth certificate.
Also the notes that accompany the application and the passport photo notes about background colour are different.
Talk about confusing!

[mhic]

Glad to hear your photo passed the test. I was also a pro photographer (well semi-pro) though I have to admit I found it easier to work with photo's in a darkroon than with Photoshop.

I suppose given the decisions made by football association ref's from time to time I should'nt have been surpised the boys photo was kicked into touch.

Mhic.

[scampicat]

Glad to hear your photo passed the test. I was also a pro photographer (well semi-pro) though I have to admit I found it easier to work with photo's in a darkroon than with Photoshop.

I suppose given the decisions made by football association ref's from time to time I should'nt have been surpised the boys photo was kicked into touch.

Mhic.

My husband has only taken up photography seriously since we came to live in Spain; we now have three digital cameras and he mounts his photographs and sells in a couple of artisanias here.

All helps to keep the cat in Covicat!

[pilgrim]

Did mine recently, had the photo done in a shop requesting that it was for a passport, it is slightly smaller than stated on the web site, but both mine and my sons have been accepted turn around was 10 days.Paid with Spanish debit card.

[patricia]

Can someone let me have the web please, as I need to renew my passport shortly

[avellana]

Try this
http://tinyurl.com/2luukt

[Wicksey]

I wrote to Sur in English the other week having a bit of a moan about the inflated price of the passport renewal from Madrid (119 pounds compared to 66 if applied for in the UK) and also the fact that the new courier service will not deliver to Apartados de Correos. I also mentioned it on an earlier thread that was on the subject of a passport obtained from Gibraltar (don't go there.... ) but haven't really got any further.
Someone has now responded to my letter in Sur saying that only certain photographers here in Spain can take the photos for a UK passport because others ,quote, "do not have the photographic paper required". I do know that the requirements are now very exact as to the position of face and sizing etc. There are approved photographers in Torremolinos, Fuengirola and, thankfully for me, Nerja. That would have really finished me off if I had to travel to the other end of the Costa just to have my picture taken. I'm still not sure how I will take delivery of it though

[patricia]

Where is the place in Nerja please as I will have to have new photos taken as the ones I have got will not be sufficient

[Wicksey]

The address I obtained from the Madrid website (see avellana's link) was
Paco Garcia Fotografias, C/Pintada 16, Nerja.

Good luck! Let me know how you get on.

[patricia]

Thanks for that Avellana

[patricia]

Thats great Wickesey thanks:lol: