The cost of a new or renewed UK passport is going up again for the second time in 14 months – rising by 7% to £88.50 for an adult online application from Thursday.
Thursday’s rise follows a 9% price hike to £82.50 in February last year. Before that increase, passport fees had not changed for five years and a standard adult online application cost £75.50, or £13 cheaper than this week’s new price.
Children’s passports will also cost more from Thursday, going up from £53.50 to £57.50 for an online application.
For those applying for the travel documents via a paper form sent in by post, there is an even greater increase, from £93 to £100 for an adult passport and £64 to £69 for a child. Passports are free for people born on or before 2 September 1929.
Passengers travelling to Europe are also being warned to watch out for changes that mean their passport could also be invalid even when it appears to be in date. Before Brexit, UK passport holders could travel in and out of the EU if they held a valid passport, even one that expired the day after their return.
However, now UK passport holders travelling to any EU country (except Ireland), plus the others in the Schengen area, could be denied boarding if their passport expires less than three months after their return date.
Moreover, some have been caught out by the fact the EU considers a passport’s expiry date to be 10 years after its issue date. UK passports issued before September 2018 can have up to nine months added to the 10 years when they are renewed.
This has led to British travellers being told they cannot enter the EU, even though it appears to have many months left before the printed expiry date.
Read more via The Guardian
