British or commonwealth citizen and professional needed

[danaeris]

Bah. So my passport application has encountered a bit of a hitch. I need a guarantor for it who is:

(1) British or a commonwealth citizen
(2) A professional of some sort (ie. engineer, doctor, lawyer, government official, school teacher)
(3) Has known me for two or more years

Luckily, any Canadian qualifies as #1, but unfortunately, no one I know now, who I see regularly, qualifies as #3. Likewise, many of the people I knew in the US qualify as #2 or #3, but few if any qualify also as #1.

At this point, the only way I can do this is to hunt down one of the doctors I was seeing 6 years ago, and have them do it... but getting their time might be difficult. The other option is to lie, and I'm not comfortable doing that, if only because researching facts is a lot easier these days.

Bah. Everything else is ready to go (except the passport photos, which I can get anytime).

Comments

[outcastspice.livejournal.com]

university students don't count, eh? i had a vague memory that we might...

[fyfer.livejournal.com]

My roommate is in the process of applying for Irish citizenship, and just hit the same problem - except theirs doesn't have the "two years" requirement, just known personally to you. Luckily, she started dating a lawyer a few weeks ago. ;-)

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

I'm a civil servant. Although I'm not sure if knowing somebody online counts as knowing them.

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

Generally, if you can't find a suitable guarantor, there is also the option of having it (and a sworn statement) officially notarized. Look into that as a possibility.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I haven't known you that long, but I've done similar things before for students and their families, and you see me regularly. So if you're stuck and want me to, I can.

The two years thing can be a bit of a problem. I confess to fudging that for Elizabeth's birth certificate - I asked someone I'd only known a year and a half, because I was seeing that person on the day in question. The other guarantor, however, was my sister-in-law, and she's known me my whole life, so I figured it kind of balanced out.

Good luck finding someone!

[neeuqdrazil.livejournal.com]

Do any of your parent's friends qualify under #1 & 2? That's how I usually get past it.

Although there is the option to have it notarized professionally.

[harry-beast.livejournal.com]

People usually think of doctors and lawyers as guarantors, but a lot of people can do it. Here's the list. You may find that someone you know qualifies after all, given six degrees of separation and so on. You might also try to find out who your friends and relatives used as guarantors, as that might unearth suitable candidates.

List:
Chiropractor
Judge, magistrate
Lawyer (member of a provincial bar association), notary in Quebec
Mayor
Medical doctor or dentist
Minister of religion authorized under provincial law to perform marriages
Notary public
Optometrist
Person occupying a senior administrative position in a community college (includes CEGEP)
Pharmacist
Police officer (municipal, provincial or RCMP)
Postmaster
Principal of a primary or secondary school
Professional accountant (member of APA, CA, CGA, CMA, PA, RPA)
Professional engineer (P.Eng., Eng. in Quebec)
Senior administrator or teacher in a university
Veterinarian

From http://www.pptc.gc.ca/passports/get_guarantors_e.asp