worried about provisional

I want to apply for my provisional. But I am worried about sending my passport.

It worries me that it will get lost in the post or the DVLA wont be careful with it and lose it in their paperwork.

Why do they need my actual passport? Is there any way I can get certified copies of it instead? What checks do they actually make on it? Like do they look at your past driving history in the US and etc?

Had anyone here or anyone know anyone that has bad expierances with the DVLA involving sending them their passport?

How long does it usually take for them to send it back once you send it to them?

I will be sending mine twice...my application was over 21 days so I have to redo after I already mailed it...

Send it special delivery and I know in other threads you get it back fairly quickly - trust me I am paranoid with parting with my only real sense of being aka passport.

Do the app online and pay for it - print and get your pic taken and head straight to Post Office and send special delivery.  It usually gets back within 2 weeks.

I need this to so I can take the tests to get a real license.

Breathe ;-)

My passport was returned less than a week after I mailed it, sent recorded delivery, perfectly safe.  Applying for my provisional licence was one thing that was impressively easy, straightforward, and efficient.  I've only heard positive stories from people who've done it. 

They don't check your US driving history.  How could they? 

As Jen said, don't worry.  This is probably the easiest bit of bureaucracy in the whole of the UK. 

Yep, this isn't something to be really worried about.  It's a pretty cut and dry process and they're used to dealing with these documents. 

I will also chime in to say I had a positive experience with the DVLA and my passport. I sent it in and 4 days went by and then suddenly had an urgent need to travel for an award I was getting, so I called them up and explained the situation and they said they couldn't help me. So I was miffed. But wouldn't you believe it, I got my passport back the next day, expedited back to me. 

I'd been putting off getting my Provisional license for this exact reason. I'm glad that it seems to be an easy and quick thing to do. Guess I'll do it when I get back from the states at the end of the month...

thanks Ink-Spirational for asking the question that I was too afraid to ask...