If you're heading abroad on holiday a valid passport is the most important thing for you take with you. Up to one in ten passport holders needs to renew their passport each year and demand for processing peaks in the run-up to the summer months. Make sure you check well ahead of your holiday that your passport is valid, and remember that some countries outside the EU require six months’ validity on passports from the date of return to the UK. 

Her Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO) launched a new digital Passport Application Renewal Service in June 2016. Initially the digital Passport Application Renewal Service was only available to a restricted number of customers. It is now available to all passport renewal customers who meet certain criteria.

Who can use it?

• Adults aged 26 or over, residing in the UK, who don’t hold dual nationality.
• Who are in possession of the passport being renewed (not damaged, lost or stolen) and will not be making any changes to their name.
• Who want to renew a passport that expired/expires after 2012.

HMPO’s goal is to offer a fully digital service to all customers by 2020. As adult renewal applications account for a large proportion of the applications, HMPO have started with this customer group first, before rolling out to others.

Why should you use the new service?

• Upload a digital photo taken with a phone or digital camera, rather than having to send paper photos
• Currently it's taking customers an average of 10 minutes to complete their online application
• Pay online
• You don't need to print and post any documents on completion, apart from sending in your old passport. The new passport is processed once this is received.
• Check the progress of your application online.

HMPO would also like to encourage customers who do not meet the above criteria to apply online using the existing online application service, which is running in parallel with the new service. This can be used for all other UK passport application types, including first time and children's applications.

Both services are available on www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport