Brits have been urged to do a passport check today (Image: Getty)
Brits planning to jet off abroad have been urged to carry out one important passport check today. With many of us eagerly anticipating summer getaways and adventures, a single oversight could prove an expensive mistake.
When booking a holiday, it can be easy to overlook checking your passport’s expiry date. Different countries have their own passport validity requirements, with some insisting it remains valid for the entirety of your trip, while others demand it remains valid for even longer. To travel to Europe and Schengen countries, passports must be less than 10 years old before your departure date and valid for at least three months after your planned return date.
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Should your passport fail to meet these requirements, you’ll need to arrange a renewal. However, on Wednesday, April 8, fees are set to rise.
A new passport application online currently costs £94.50 for an adult standard 34-page passport and a standard child passport costs £61.50, reports the Mirror. The fee for a standard online application will rise to £102 for adults and £66.50 for children.
Applications made by post are currently £107 for an adult and £74 for a child. Yet, as of tomorrow, these will go up to £115.50 and £80 respectively.
Further passport fees are also set to increase this week. For those requiring a passport urgently, the premium one-day service fee for applications made within the UK will climb from £222 to £239.50.
For those applying for a UK passport from abroad, the adult fee will rise from £108 to £116.50, while the children’s fee will increase from £70 to £75.50.
Overseas standard paper applications will see adult fees climb from £120.50 to £130, with children’s fees going up from £82.50 to £89.
You need a valid passport to be able to travel (Image: Getty)
The Home Office said on the rise: « The new fees will help the Home Office to continue to move towards a system that meets its costs through those who use it, reducing reliance on funding from general taxation.
« The government does not make any profit from the cost of passport applications.
« The fees contribute to the cost of processing passport applications, consular support overseas, including for lost or stolen passports, and the cost of processing British citizens at UK borders. »
The Home Office said that in 2025, 99.7% of standard passport applications submitted from the UK were processed within three weeks, provided no additional information was needed.
For those needing to renew their passport and keen to avoid the higher charges, it is advisable to submit your application before the price rise takes effect on Wednesday.
New passport prices
- Adult standard online application from within the UK – £102
- Child standard online application from within the UK – £66.50
- Adult standard postal application from within the UK – £115.50
- Child standard postal application from within the UK – £80
- Premium one day application from within the UK – £239.50
- Adult standard online application from outside the UK – £116.50
- Child standard online application from outside the UK – £75.50
- Adult standard paper application from outside the UK – £130
- Child standard paper application from outside the UK – £89
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