Passport renewal prices go up today

UK passport renewal prices increased today with renewals for residents in France costing £105.86, including secure courier delivery – a rise of just under 3% from the previous £102.86.

Despite the high cost, expats fare better than some UK residents where prices have risen by up to 27%.

With a move to encourage online use, passport pricing now varies with online applications cheaper than postal applications for the first time. It costs £75.50 for a UK online application – up from £72.50 – and £85 if applying by post.

The online price has risen by just under 3% but the extra £12.50 for postal applications is a 17% rise, soaring to 27% for a children’s passport which goes up from £46 to £58.50 by post or £49 online.

Applications for renewals can be made up to nine months ahead of the expiry date for the remaining months to be added to the new passport.

This means anyone wishing to retain the current burgundy passport can do so ahead of the switch to the old-style blue one next year.

Britons resident in France must pay a fee of £86 for the passport and £19.86 for the courier but applications can be done online and using a new self-photo service to take suitable photos for updating the passport. There is an extra cost for sending the old passport back to the Passport Office.

Connexion reader B.Adams in Charente wrote saying the new service was very quick and easy: “We took a photograph against a blank background with our iPad and uploaded it on to the official site. If the photo is not acceptable they keep telling you until you upload one they think is suitable.

A simple and efficient process. The passport arrived within two weeks.”

Readers who are in the UK can get a passport using the one-day Premium service or one-week Fast Track service by visiting a Passport Customer Service Centre in Belfast, Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport or Peterborough. The one-day service costs £177 and the one-week £142.