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UK Passport Application Fees Rise

1st December 2005 From 01st December 2005, the price of a UK passport is set to increase with a further price review to take place in 2006.

The new passport fees will see the price of a standard 10-year adult passport rise by £9 to £51, the Jumbo 48 page passport will rise to £62.50. A child's passport will also increase by £9 to £34.

This increase is in order to pay for major improvements to boost security and fight fraud. The new security measures will include:

- enhanced background checks on applicants;

- the gradual introduction of new biometric 'ePassports' from February 2006, which will contain a scan of the passport holder's unique facial features embedded in a chip held in the passport document;

- face-to-face interviews for first-time adult applicants from October 2006.

Passport fees last rose in 2003 when funding was required to introduce the secure delivery of passports, reducing passports losses during delivery by over 80%, as well as the launch of a database of lost and stolen passports and a trial of new background checks on the information supplied by passport applicants.

Further Information:

UKPS - www.passport.gov.uk

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