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Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

jameshaydon.github.io

101–110 of 131 posts

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#101

This is one of many reasons why America's birthright citizenship is an incredible optimization: most people can prove they are American with a single document, a birth certificate.

Back in the 2000s, the Justice Department prosecuted someone for a terrorist offense. They researched their birth and found out their parents were technically diplomats of a foreign country.

It was a weird case, because the parents hadn’t actually been working for the foreign embassy for a while, and didn’t know they still held diplomatic status when their daughter was born.

They had entered the US as diplomats and shortly after decided to go local. That was probably their plan all along - lots of diplomats from third world countries do that.

It was a huge shock.

Kind of a “surprise, you’re not actually a citizen, even though both your parents and all your siblings are!”

She was deported.

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#102
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went through the UK online passport renewal system last year, and it is the best website I have used in a very very long time. A real breath of fresh air. It worked perfectly on my old computer and 'ancient' browser. Everything very simple / accessible / clear, colours, text, buttons, fields, requirements. A simple step-by-step navigation and actually friendly. It is a shame that more businesses dont care about the…

I work with Equal Experts, who built this system for HMPO. Feels good to get this feedback.

You can easily tell the difference between services built under GDS, where the work favoured local contractors and agencies and otherwise smaller outfits, and those farmed out to the usual huge consultancy firms that are typically mired in controversy.

I would have much, much lower expectations for a body shop like Infosys or Accenture or Thoughtworks. They probably wouldn’t implement the design system right without billing extra for attention to detail.

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#103
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> practical Haskell needs on the order of 2x as many operators as practical JavaScript, not 10x. Yeah but the JavaScript operators are almost all universally understood. There are some exceptions and mistakes, like `===` which shouldn't exist, and `.?` which is new but fairly standard. But most of the operators are just standard maths stuff, normal array/field accesses, etc. Haskell has normal operators plus a bunch…

I still don't understand equality in JavaScript. ;-)

The only thing to understand is that you need a blanket ban on `==` and `!=` using ESLint.

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#104
I had to do a MN1 application for my US-born daughter as both me and my partner were born abroad. As OP alludes to this is a sort of side quest called "registration" which if you don't do it before the child is 18 lapses (although I think there are still routes to obtain citizenship in these circs).

The most difficult part of the process (not dealt with in this version of Passport Application but maybe a future DLC pack?) was actually finding someone who could certify my evidence (you are meant to submit originals but they keep the docs including passports for 3-6 months which is a bit unrealistic if you are living abroad). I can't remember the exact rules but it wasn't possible to use a US notary or a normal solicitor certification process and instead I needed to go to a council office.

After calling about 5 councils all of whom disavowed any knowledge of the process or its requirements I ended up finding someone at Islington Council who was delightfully helpful. But it was one of the more frustrating UK government interactions I've had.

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#105

This is one of many reasons why America's birthright citizenship is an incredible optimization: most people can prove they are American with a single document, a birth certificate.

Back in the 2000s, the Justice Department prosecuted someone for a terrorist offense. They researched their birth and found out their parents were technically diplomats of a foreign country. It was a weird case, because the parents hadn’t actually been working for the foreign embassy for a while, and didn’t know they still held diplomatic status when their daughter was born. They had entered the US as diplomats and s…

Probably you’re referring to those woman https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoda_Muthana

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#106

> What are the base cases? A base case is an ancestor whose Britishness does not depend on a parent, e.g. someone who was naturalised, or born in the UK before 1983 (which makes one unconditionally british regardless of parents). That's right, further into the future we get from 1983, the taller these call-stacks can get. This is insane to me, coming from a country that simply has a central database of all citizens a…

Many countries simply have no way of knowing who their citizens are. People born abroad are often citizens. The British have had an insane number of changes in territory that affect citizenship. Some of their current citizens have citizenship because they were born in Bombay (Mumbai). Others because they were born in Hong Kong. Maintaining a reliable list of citizens requires regular registration, and loosing citizen…

Even in that case it would probably enough to prove your citizenship once to get into the database.

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#107
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not, you can get a Japanese driving license without living here ; but the government is making some noises to cut back on that (some recent semi-notable accidents caused by foreigners). It’s apparently been a loophole for Chinese and Vietnamese tourists to get a license that is more recognized abroad then their own. I think restricting this to residents makes sense; I’m more wary of making it more complex or dif…

> As to exam - that depends entirely as to where your “original” driving license is from. Yes, that's why I was replying that since we both are Spaniards "(Spaniard here too...)"

The "Spaniard" was mostly for reference, as right now I can't remember who sent me the information about the exams, so it might not apply to Europe or Spain.

But the documents required (at least previously to recent changes) for the license transfer were [0]:

    1. Application form for Japanese Translation of foreign driver’s license
    2. A driver’s license (original, in principle)
    3. A photocopy of a residence card or a resident record etc [...] only required for licenses written in Arabic or Russian and licenses issued in certain countries[...]
And it didn't mention any residence documents. I don't know how that works today...

--

  0: https://english.jaf.or.jp/use-jaf-more/drive-in-japan/foreign-nationals-license

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any insight as to why, seemingly, there is no contractual obligation on contractors to make a working system. They seem to make something approximating a working system, vastly overcharge -- like x1000 -- for output that appears to be 3 months of work by one junior programmer, but then get paid as if the system actually worked.

> Do you have any insight as to why, seemingly, there is no contractual obligation on contractors to make a working system. Often, you'll find that procurement is handled by someone working off of an incomplete set of written specifications. The procurement officer probably has no expertise with or informal knowledge of the problem to identify problems in advance, and even if they do legal requirements (ironically de…

> This is a kind of principal/agent problem that the private sector partially manages with equity or deferred compensation

The private sector also has the option (and usually the motivation) to just quietly disappear failed projects.

Wal-Mart buys an automation system for their distribution centre and it's a huge success? Tell the stock market. The system is a complete failure, we remove it and trash it? Uhhhh of course the secrets of our highly efficient warehouses are commercially confidential, couldn't possibly tell the stock market what we did or did not do.

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#109
post #4

For the benefit of anyone else doing this in Japan, these are the documents I had to submit. It will be different depending on circumstance, in particular I think the author may also be born outside the UK which may require other/more documents. Anyway I had to submit: Certified copy of my birth certificate, order from the UK general register office. Original (not photocopy) of Japanese family register and translatio…

That’s interesting, no requirement for parental birth certificates? I was asked to provide (I am British, wife is Hungarian, living in Hungary) both parents’ birth certificates and all four grandparents’ birth certificates. My wife is not in touch with her father, so we had to submit a cover letter explaining the situation, which was accepted (although I don’t really see why it was relevant anyway, my son’s Britishne…

In my case, as a British citizen married to a European living outside the UK, I had way fewer requests/demands for documentation.

All I needed to do was submit my own details, and a copy of both the marriage certificate and birth certificate for the child.

The assumption was made that as a married couple the child had me as the father, and as I'm British then so were they.

No references at all to grandparents, or even the mother's details, in the online wizard I filled out. Quite a quick process, which reminds me I probably need to renew their UK passport since it has expired a couple of years back.

Re: Solving `Passport Application` with Haskell

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in the 2000s, the Justice Department prosecuted someone for a terrorist offense. They researched their birth and found out their parents were technically diplomats of a foreign country. It was a weird case, because the parents hadn’t actually been working for the foreign embassy for a while, and didn’t know they still held diplomatic status when their daughter was born. They had entered the US as diplomats and s…

Probably you’re referring to those woman https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoda_Muthana

Maybe? I remember both parents being diplomats.
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