A terrified Brit couple could be forced to leave China without their newborn baby if the UK Government doesn't secure a passport for the little one in time.
Callum and his wife Neelam, who are both teachers, are currently living in Shanghai where they welcomed their baby daughter Isabelle in February.
With the new parents set to return to the UK in July after spending two years abroad, they immediately started organising a passport for their little girl after she was born, Stoke-on-Trent Live reports.
They were eventually able to meet with a British government representative, with 32-year-old Callum hoping they would be able to secure the documentation soon after.
However shortly after, the city went into lockdown in April an effort to suppress a new wave of coronavirus infections.
Callum says the Passport Office has since told him it needs the original of baby Isabelle's birth certificate in order to process a passport.
However, the lockdown restrictions in Shanghai have seen the postal service suspended, meaning he has no way of getting the paperwork to the UK government.
That has left the ex-Birches Head High School pupil fearing that when he and his 36-year-old Birmingham-born wife leave the country, they won't be able to take their little one with them.
Their work visas run out on July 31, and they will have no choice but to leave China - without their daughter, if the paperwork is not sorted. The dad-of-one, his wife, and his mum back in Stoke-on-Trent, are beside themselves with worry over the situation.
He said: "We received her birth certificate in early March and I made an appointment with the passport people here to start the application on the 17th, but it was cancelled due to the covid outbreak so we rearranged it for March 28.
"All the paperwork was submitted and the documents were sent off to the UK on the 30th. They took the payment two weeks later and we heard nothing from the Passport Office after this.
"On Friday, May 12, six weeks after I applied, HMPO emailed to ask for the original birth certificate. I'd taken it with me when I went to the original appointment here, but they just made a photocopy and sent it to the UK. I don't understand why they didn't send off the original if a photocopy wasn't acceptable.
"We went into lockdown two days after that face-to-face appointment. We can't leave our apartment, and the postal service in Shanghai is currently suspended. I don't know when I will be able to post it, and either way it could be weeks for it to be processed. It's time we don't have. "
Callum said he had been calling the Passport Office regularly, but the calls weren't getting through. And emails seemed to generate only automated responses.
He added: "We're not trying to jump the queue or have anyone else's passports pushed back to process ours. We don't even need a passport as such, just something official that says our daughter can travel back to the UK.
"We just want to speak to a person. It's so frustrating that everywhere you go it's all done by computers and by email and you can't actually speak to a human to explain the situation. We're facing the risk of being separated from our 12 week old daughter. My mum wants us back, but most importantly, she wants her granddaughter home."
Callum's mum Jackie, 60, who lives in Birches Head, said: "I've never even met my granddaughter, and the thought that she might have to stay there is just horrible. It's not even as if I can go and visit them."
Since the family contacted StokeonTrentLive and we contacted the Home Office, it's understood the case is being looked at.
A spokesman for the Home Office said the department could not comment on an individual case, but added: "The overwhelming majority of applications are completed within 10 weeks, with the latest figures showing 90% were completed within six weeks. But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling.”
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