A British couple has been stranded in Cyprus for two months while the British government fails to issue passports for their twin daughters born on the island via a surrogate.
Alex and Greg De Mario-Ellis have faced bureaucracy in getting the first passports issued for their twin girls Adeline and Elodie to bring them home to the UK.
Due to the delays, the couple said have ended up with about £10,000 in accommodation bills.
The twins were born on August 3 and soon after the Mario-Ellis' applied for passports with the babies' relevant birth certificates and other documents via courier to the passport office.
The passport office responded with an acknowledgement on August 28 but the British twins have still not been issued the documents and so are unable to go home to Lilliput, Dorset.
The couple told The Mirror that they have had to get emergency travel documents as they have now overstayed their 90 day tourist visa.
“The girls have to go home to have vaccinations. They are now eight weeks old and we really just want to be able to go home and begin our family life,” Alex said.
One person at the passport office said the wait time could be up to 13 weeks.
Alex and Greg travelled to Cyprus in July for the birth of their twins via a surrogate.
According to official government figures, the wait for passport renewal can reach 10 weeks or more.
The family have had to stay in six different Airbnbs as most accommodations are fully booked and they are spending 15-20 minutes on the phone every day trying to get an update on the applications.
The consul at the British embassy in Nicosia has reportedly been "very sympathetic" but they are unable to speed up the process as it is in the hands of the passport office.
The Passport Office anticipated earlier in the year that 9.5 million British passport applications will be made this year and in March 2022 alone, it processed more than one million new passport applications, the highest output on record.
The Passport Office has been asked for comment.
