I received an email the day before yesterday evening confirming my flight to Doha on the 31 August along with a my visa and hotel accommodation information.

Unfortunately the visa has my old passport number on it, not the number on my shiny new biometric one… a moment of panic followed by a swift email to the HR dept. They’d originally told me that a new passport made no difference, but it did.

Second problem is that Ramadan just ended and Eid started today… all public institutions remain closed until the 27 August which is only four days before I depart.

Emails came back from HR who thankfully must regularly check their inbox even when they’re not at work. If I take my cancelled passport as well as my new one, they think the visa will be valid. If not I will have to enter on a standard visitors visa.

The next problem was locating the old passport. I’d packed a whole load of stuff away in boxes, taped up ready for long-term storage while we are away… so boxes had to unsealed… I found the passport in the second box at the second time of searching.

Panic over.