We all know how important is the passport when planning to travel abroad. Equally important is the valid passport which has not crossed its expiry. Having an expired passport is as good as not having it. So before your passport gets expire renew it as soon as possible.
Renewing UK passport is made extremely easy by the officials. We’ll be discussing two ways of renewing your UK passport
You can use any of the method according to your convenience and ease. Let’s see each one of them one by one.
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Renewing UK passport via post
Renewing your passport by post requires you to collect the paper form either from the Post office or by giving a call on 0300 222 0000 which is the Passport Advice line. To make the process more streamline you can also opt for Post Office which provides the service of both passport check and send. This will cost you around $85.
This being a better option since they guide you in the application filling up process and even cross check the necessary documents that will be required. Most of the passport application get rejected because of short of documents or errors while filling the application. But using the above mentioned Post office passport check and send service you can be ensured that your application is successfully through. For applying by post you’ll require two identical photos to be submitted
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Renewing UK passport via online
Renewing your passport by post requires you to fill an application form which can be downloaded from the UK government site. While filling up passport application online you will be requiring your digital photo, which is of utmost significance. This can be easily taken from your mobile by anyone but make sure it’s clear and taken from a fair distance with no glares.
To be precise follow the below mentioned check point for your digital photo
- Must be color and not black & white
- Focused and sharp
- No software editing
- 600 x 750 pixels by width and height respectively
- Minimum size allowed is of 50kb and maximum till 10MB.
- No red eye
- Does not have any object or people around
- Background must be light in contrast to the photo
- Eyes open without any hair obstructing it
- Mouth closed with a gentle expression
- Posing straight forward towards the camera
- No shadows in the entire picture
While applying for online renewal of your passport you can either use the new service or the existing service. For renewing using the new service, you must be a UK resident of age 26 or above and must not hold dual national. The passport you are holding must not be damaged and expired after 2012 and must possess the same name.
Before submitting your application make sure that all the form fields are duly filled along with the right size and good quality of the passport photo
To make use of the old or existing service you’ll have to provide two identical photos of yourself. Also in case your photo is unrecognizable in the existing passport, you can go for countersigning where in you need to get your passport application form signed along with one photo of yours.
Let’s check out the other formalities that’s involved in the process of renewal of your UK passport.
Mode of payment
Those who are applying by post, need to pay the amount by either debit or credit card or you can even draft a cheque that’s payable to ‘Her Majesty’s Passport office’. Those applying online have the options of debit or credit card payment.
Passport formalities in case travelling to European Union under no Brexit deal
We are mentioning this option in case you are travelling under no Brexit deal to any of the EU country. To avail the same you must have minimum 6 months left on your passport or a passport which is not more than 10 years old even if it has 6 months or more left.
Moreover, in case of unexpired visas, you need to send your passport along with the visa and your application. As a result the previous passport will be given back to you. And if you carry both the passport, you can very well utilize the visa.
