David's passport is due to expire in six months' time and as he has no plans for a trip home he has to get a new one sent to Grenada.
Many countries have an entry rule that a visitors passport must have a minimum of six months to run for entry to be granted. Grenada does which is why we had to make entry by 29 July. We are also going to be here for three months which is ample time for the process.
Unlike other countries, the UK only issues passports in the UK. You can apply online for one to be sent to you in another country, but there's no Consulate or embassy service.
It's not an onerous process; David's current passport was renewed when we were in Malaysia ten years' ago. One gets a photo taken and delivered digitally, fill in the online form and send the old passport and supporting documents to an address in Hemel Hempstead. In return we receive email updates on the progress until we get the final 'your old and new passports are ready to collect from the DHL office'.
Today we collected his new, blue, non EU passport from DHL on the Carenage. It has taken just 3 weeks from the day we Fedexed his old passport and documents. That was fast!
The last task tomorrow is to go to the print shop and have the photo page coloured copied to the size of a credit card and have it laminated. This makes a perfect ID card that fits in the wallet for those occasions when you might be asked to validate a credit card transaction. This happens in the supermarket in Antigua all the time.
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