Blessed bureaucracy

This was going to be a long rant, but I think I am going to try and keep it simple...

Bureaucracy sucks.  There, I think that about covers it :)

The UK Deed Poll, which is easy to arrange, has so many hidden problems that are only made visible after you have spent the money in getting one that it has made my blood boil a little. Like the fact that if you live outside of the UK don't pay the extra for legal copies as the passport office only accept legal copies for applications coming from within the UK.  Outside the UK you have to send the original - why?  No one knows. It's nice that they tell you that after you have spent the extra 100 pounds or so on arranging them though!

Or the fact that getting a passport when outside of the UK has got to be such a complex and impossible task compared to what it was a couple of years ago, when you simply went to the consulate and gave them an obscene amount of money compared to getting a passport in the UK and they got you a passport.

Now, after their efficiency drive you have to spend more than double the old obscene amount (178 euros in fact) and they will not tell you which of the multiple passport application forms you need to fill in or what documentation you need to provide.  Oh, and you can't do it at the consulate any more, you have to send it to Paris.  Who then send it to Cardiff. Why can't I just send it to Cardiff in the first place, why the extra pointless step!  Or if you have to have that step anyway, why not keep it at the local consulate level to try and make life a little easier for the people using the process!

I was going to try the express passport service in the UK, but they won't do that in my situation only that I can use the one week service which *should* deliver a passport within a week. I can't tell me boss that I *should* be back in a week.  I need to know if I try for the week passport that I will actually get a passport in one week so I can travel back from the UK.

In fact the only thing they will say is that you have to send the 'correct' documentation and that if you don't they will simply return the form to you delaying the 6 week service (and I use the term loosely) even further.  You can't even call them without handing over your credit card details fist and risking a huge bill.  I have emailed them about 6 times now and they are still giving vague, difficult to interpret answers so I am going to have to just try and see what happens.

I've been so stressed about it, after all the people aspect of my transition has gone so very smoothly, it's been great.  And then this nightmare.  2 months of stress and hard work and I am no closer to actually getting the new documentation that I was at the start...