Check today or face paying a much higher price.
Brits must make one passport check today(Image: Getty Images)
Brits who are planning to head abroad have been urged to make one vital passport check today. Many of us are looking forward to summer holidays and sightseeing trips, yet one mistake could prove costly.
When booking holidays, you might forget to check when your passport expires. Different countries have their own rules on passport validity, with some requiring it to be valid for your entire trip while others 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.
If your passport doesn’t meet these requirements, you’ll need to renew it. However, on Wednesday, April 8, the prices are set to increase.
A new passport application online currently costs £94.50 for an adult standard 34-page passport and a standard child passport costs £61.50.
The fee for a standard online application will then be £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.
Other passport fees are set to increase this week. If you need a passport quickly, the fee for a premium one day service made within the UK will rise from £222 to £239.50.
If you apply for a UK passport overseas, this will increase from £108 to £116.50 for adults and £70 to £75.50 for children. Overseas standard paper applications will increase from £120.50 to £130 for adults and £82.50 to £89 for children.
The Home Office said of the increase: “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.”
It said that in 2025, 99.7% of standard passport applications from the UK were processed within three weeks when no further information was required.
If you are requiring a new passport and don’t want to pay the additional fees, it has been recommended to submit your application before the increase 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