Britain waives payment rule so dying man in Hong Kong can get baby a passport
Requirement for payment by credit card waived for Hong Kong resident and baby son
A dying Hong Kong-based Briton has received good news after a six-month tussle with British authorities over a requirement that he use a credit card to renew his passport and get one for his infant son.
Chris Rose, 47, who does not have a credit card, heard on Friday, after inquiries by the , that the requirement had been waived on compassionate grounds.
Rose, who has been told his heart disease is terminal, had already given up on renewing his own passport because of long processing delays that meant he might die before receiving it.
But he wanted one for his 18-month-old son so that after he died the boy could visit his grandparents in Britain.
"I feel relief because as a father [a passport] is one of my most important duties," the English teacher, who has been in Hong Kong for 20 years, said after hearing the news.
He previously offered to pay the passport fee in euros or sterling and is now waiting for details of how he can pay.
Rose has suffered a series of strokes and heart attacks since January and has lost function in part of his brain.
"Short of begging and humiliating myself and applying online through a very long backlog, without the certainty that I will still be here able to answer any additional questions or supply any further information, there's a very large cloud hanging over my head," he said before the Passport Office agreed to waive the requirement.
Rose was offered an emergency travel document for his son, which would require a flight number as well as Rose being present for the application.
But his wife does not plan to travel to Britain until after her husband's death.
Rose first planned to renew his own passport and apply for his son's in March, but was unable to find a way around the credit-card requirement.
British passport renewals slowed in the spring after a surge in applications, a strike by workers and passport-renewal services in embassies being moved back to Britain added to the workload.
Rose said his wife, who is from the Philippines, was under extreme stress from dealing with his condition and their passport troubles.
