This week I have been contacting various companies with regard to the 5 various passport applications I require for the family. I knew this was not going to be a cheap exercise, but this is money well spent once completed. How can you put a price on freedom of movement and only when you don't have those choices do you see how lucky we are.
Being able to travel freely without having to fill out visa applications along with the time wasted and not forgetting how much these cost today. The last family trip must have set me back around £2K just for the visas that were required plus the many months waiting for approval. This I will not do again and having the right documents is a must have if you are able to have them.
Each application has an admin cost otherwise these companies would not be making any money and is not a free service. They can charge a fairly hefty fee because this is not straight forward and dare say they have contacts they lean on to get these things done. I just know this would be a nightmare to take on and would probably take longer and cost a similar amount and why paying an agency just seems the right way to proceed.
So far the two Irish Passports my brother and I are going to apply for are the cheapest of the lot costing in the region of £700. This will take anywhere between 10 and 14 months so the sooner we start the process the better.
If you wish to proceed, we charge a fee of £1090 to represent you in this application. If there are other siblings applying simultaneously, we can offer a discounted fee of £720 per sibling which can then be split evenly. There is also a government fee of £1214 per child. This process takes about 6-9 months to finalise upon final submission.
My grandkids are going to be the priciest out all of the applications with an agency fee of £1090 to kick things off. The UK Government then charges £1214 per applicant so we ae already around £3500. The agency mentioned they would give a discount of £720 per child so with such a large discount there must be other costs which they have not mentioned as yet. My understanding is the agency fee is £1090 per child or otherwise they would not be offering the discount.
My wife's British Passport which again they have not quoted should be the quickest and easiest but I know again the UK Government prices will set me back another £1000 plus the admin fee so a guesstimate would be £2000 or in that price region.
I have to admit when I started this process I thought this would cost somewhere between £3000-£4000 for all 5 passports. It turns out this will be closer to £7000 or even a little more. This is not something you can put a price on though as this just has to be done.
I am going to continue researching other companies offering this type of service over the weekend as this somehow feels rather pricey. £7000 is not pocket change and in SA is more than what most people earn in one year so I think I should keep looking. My gut instincts are normally correct and will wait one more week and find the right company who are not going to rip me off in the process.