Today I Learned @lemmy.world Flying Squid @lemmy.world 2w ago

TIL when applying for a British passport online, your identity has to be confirmed by someone who is not a relative, knows you for two years, and has to be from a specific (weird) list of professions.

www.passport.service.gov.uk Confirming someone’s identity: Who can confirm someone’s identity – Apply for a passport – GOV.UK

accountant
airline pilot
articled clerk of a limited company
assurance agent of a recognised company
bank or building society official
barrister
chairman or director of a limited company
chiropodist
commissioner for oaths
councillor - local or county
civil servant - permanent
dentist
director, manager or personnel officer of a VAT-registered company
engineer with professional qualifications
financial services intermediary, for example a stockbroker or insurance broker
fire service official
funeral director
insurance agent of a recognised company - full time
journalist
Justice of the Peace
legal secretary - fellow or associate member of the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs
licensee of a public house
local government officer
manager or personnel officer of a limited company
member, associate or fellow of a professional body
Member of Parliament
Merchant Navy Officer
minister of a recognised religion including Christian Science
nurse - registered
officer of the armed services
optician
paralegal - certified, qualified or associate member of the Institute of Paralegals
person with honours - OBE or MBE
pharmacist
photographer - professional
police officer
Post Office official
president or secretary of a recognised organisation
Salvation Army Officer
social worker
solicitor
surveyor
teacher or lecturer
trade union officer
travel agent - qualified
valuer or auctioneer - fellow or associate member of the incorporated society
Warrant Officer or Chief Petty Officer

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70 comments

What do these professions have in common? Requirement for a government-issued license?
- They are all professions that require a good reputation and are non-trivial to up and abandon. Some require government licenses, others imply a strong societal standing. All have something to lose, if they commit fraud.
  
  Director of a limited company is easy enough to up and abandon as there’s no limit on the type of company.
  
  Just ask all the people who have been on the bad end of a transaction with a shitty two or three director company that went bankrupt and closed down when people started chasing for money. The next day those same people are directors of a new company doing the same thing.
  
  You still need to sort out and sign a bunch of identity confirmation/anti money laundering stuff. The government has a good track on you, at that point. It's far from perfect, but stops people getting it signed off by a random friend, that the government has no clue about, and might not even exist.
- I don't think you need a government license to be a journalist or a minister. I'm sure you don't to be a Salvation Army officer.
  
  Are we talking about their admirals? Or their ensigns?
  
  Neither - it's a weird/annoying religious 'army' that knocks on your door waaaay too early on Sunday morning to harras you. The UKs Mormons in other words.
  
  I know, I was making a joke because Squid and the list said "officer".
  
  We have the Salvation Army in the US but afaik they don't do door knocking. They are mostly a thrift store and they ring a bell for money outside Walmart every Christmas. They collect it for charity but will gladly deny charity to any marginalized group like LGBT.
  
  becoming an officer in the salvation army requires signing documentation. Likewise ministers need to be ordained.
  
  So maybe expand the definition of regulation to include public institutions which have defined rules or codes of conducts. Leaving out the clanging irony of the multitude of crimes committed through organised religion.
  
  Journalists is a weird one. I think back in the day it would have been that they trade on their public reputation. Less so now when I can start up a blog on college sports and call myself an investigative journalist.
  
  And paid photographer?
  
  I honestly don't know. Maybe a carry over from print journalism?
- I guess they all require you to earn the trust of either clients (solicitor etc.) or a community (teacher, councillor, MP (lol), church minister)
- I was wondering the same thing. Maybe they all have regulators that can revoke a license. So you'd be putting your job on the line.
- Nah. For about £20 anyone can be a director of a limited company.
- I was thinking of a law wording it as someone professional and/or respectable and they had to figure out a list so it wouldn't be as arbitrary and up to whoever was judging the application
- Certification, regulation, proof of identity, of public note or public record..
  
  Basically - you are known and can be found.

70 comments