# Passport renewals UK



## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Courtesy of our member Bubbles.....
*The UK foreign office has announced changes from 15th April 2013 to where passport applications for overseas Nationals are processed.

The British Government is making important changes to the passport service for British nationals living overseas. From 15 April 2013, the application process will be centralised and British nationals in Portugal should submit their passport application to Identity and Passport Service (IPS) in the UK and not Spain.

This important change follows reviews by the National Audit Office and is designed to achieve economies of scale, greater security and consistency in decision making. All British passports have enhanced, sophisticated security features designed to reduce the likelihood of identity theft and passport fraud.

What to do next:

If you are about to renew your British Passport via the regional hub in Madrid, Spain then it is worthwhile holding on a week.

From 15 April, information on the UK Government website will advise British nationals about the new passport application process.

All the information required to make an application can be found at https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports. Applicants will be required to send their applications to the Passport Customer Service Centre in Belfast. There will be no change to processing times.*


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Timely warning goes along with a total revamp of UK Embassy Portugal site that now has far less information even to the degree of hiding Portimao and Porto consulates.

Interesting that we will still be charged £45.50 + courier fee *more *than a UK Resident for exactly the same service


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## Bubbles67 (Jan 19, 2010)

canoeman said:


> Interesting that we will still be charged £45.50 + courier fee *more *than a UK Resident for exactly the same service


The foreign office have made a statement that they will be looking at the fees to see if they can bring them closer to UK prices. I will update this post if I get more information about this.


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