The cost of a standard adult passport or renewal will increase from £72.50 to £75.50 for online application and £85 for postal applications.
Charges for children’s passports will increase from £46 to £49 online and £58 by post.
Also set to increase are the prices of premium service applications (one day) from £128 to £177 for adult passports, and fast track (one week) will rise from £103 to £142.
The proposed rise by the government will, for the first time, make it more expensive to apply by post than online, which is said to be due to the extra costs associated with postal applications.
If these changes are approved, the charges will increase as of 27 March 2018.
The Home Office has said: “These reforms are part of plans by the Home Office to invest £100m on border security and infrastructure next year”, and that the aim is to “create a self-sustainable immigration and borders system”. The Home Office also stated that these proposed changes are not related to the reintroduction of the “iconic” blue British passport, which will not create an extra cost.
Either way, this proposal of increased fees could mean an extra £50m for the government in the next financial year.
The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please don’t hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.
©Gherson 2018