I am writing in response to Donald de Castro’s letter of last week, “Passport statement draws questions.” In June/July 2017, I needed to renew both my United Kingdom passport and my British Passport/Virgin Islands.

I went into the Passport Office here and was given a printout of the application form for renewal. To my dismay, it required additional information: my parents’ birthdates, places of birth and marriage date. This, after 100 years and the absence of certificates due to previous theft.

They referred me to a website that could give me this information, and I was able to complete the form to their satisfaction and give them other necessary documents. They were happy then to send everything off to the UK. (It had only just then become necessary to send all renewal applications back to the UK as the passports required microchips, which the local office was unable to do.)

When I returned in August, the new passport was ready for me to collect at the local office, along with the defaced old one. I have nothing but praise for the local passport office staff. They were very helpful, courteous and patient.

As for renewal of my UK passport, it was a relatively simple matter of printing out the form online and sending it off with my old passport via courier. My new passport was returned to me within three weeks, with my old passport defaced but, by request, the US visa — valid until 2019 — intact.

It is not totally true that applications for renewal can be done online. The application form can be brought up, but the sending of the old passport and the renewed one have to be done physically.

Maybe in the future it can all be done by holograph!