Application fees for British passports will increase again next week – the second hike in as many years.
From 11 April an online application made within the UK for a standard adult 34-page passport will cost £88.50, up from the current £82.50, while the cost for a child passport will rise from £53.50 to £57.50.
The larger 54-page “frequent traveller” passport – popular with many of our readers – currently costs £93.50 for an online appplication.
Business Traveller contacted the Home Office to confirm how much this option will increase by – we were directed to a document which states that fees for all standard and frequent traveller passport applications and priority services will increase “by circa 7.5 per cent”. This would put the new fee at around £100.
As mentioned above costs are also increasing for expedited one-week fast track and one-day Premium services, and note that there are additional costs for postal applications, and for those applying from overseas.
The changes follow similar increases in 2023 – the last hike before that had been in 2018 when there was a particularly steep rise in postal application fees, to encourage customers to apply online.
HM Passport Office said that the government “does not make any profit from the cost of passport applications”, adding that “The fees contribute to the cost of processing passport applications, consular support overseas, including for lost or stolen passports, and the cost of processing British citizens at UK borders”.
The good news is that the ten-week waits for passports that were seen following the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions are well and truly over, with current advice being that “passports will usually be issued within 3 weeks if they are applying from within the UK”.