| British passports to cost more, £51 from December |
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LONDON: The cost of making a 20-year new passport in Britain will go up by more than 20 per cent to 51 pounds from 1 December, according to the U.K. Passport Service (UKPS).
The funds so generated will be required to meet the cost of improvements in security measures and to tackle fraud, UKPS said. It will also meet the fund requirements for enhanced background checks on applicants, face-to-face interviews with first time applicants and the gradual introduction of biometric passports from February 2006.
The cost had been hiked 27 per cent in 2003.
Home office minister Andy Burnham said most of the countries are moving to strengthen the security of identity documents in the face of the growing threat of fraud and forgery and Britain cannot afford to stand idle.
In comparison with this fee, a 10-year passport in Australia costs 64 pounds, in Ireland 51.28 pounds and in the U.S. 47 pounds.
The UKPS plans to introduce passports with biometric facial images embedded in a chip, rather than digital photos, from February 2006 while all new passports will have such images from August 2006. Personal interviews will replace postal applications from October 2006 and by 2008 Britain will move to a combined passport and ID cards regime. The U.K. is among more than 40 countries preparing to issue biometric passports.
A special 48-page passport for frequent travellers will now cost 104.50 pounds (with speedy renewal), up 9 pounds, while children's passports will cost 34 pounds. At least 25 pounds will be added to the fees if the new passports are to be delivered within a week or less, while a fast-track renewal for a standard adult passport will cost 77 pounds for a week and 96.50 pounds for a same-day service.
Posted
on : Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:10 GMT | General News
By : Pippa Fielding
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