Like a lot of things right now (rail fares, car tax, houses, festival tickets, Netflix) the price of emergency travel documents and UK passports is going up.
If you’ve ever found yourself in an sticky situation while travelling abroad, you might have had to use emergency travel documents in order to get home. They exist to rescue Brits abroad when something goes wrong with their permanent passport while abroad.
Let’s hope you’re never in a situation when you need it, but just to be on the safe side, here’s everything you need to know about the rise in emergency passport prices.
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What is an emergency travel document?
An emergency travel document lets you travel to the UK from abroad if you need to get here urgently or for some reason are unable to use your UK passport (like if it’s been lost, stolen, damaged or has expired). To get one, you have to report your lost or stolen passport to the police then apply via the Gov.uk website.
An emergency UK passport is issued as last resort, generally in exceptional circumstances when you can’t get emergency travel documents. Both are normally only valid for one single or return journey.
How much is the price increasing?
The cost of applying for an emergency travel document will go up from £100 to £125. The price of an emergency passport will rise from £75 to £175. Those increases account for the cost of couriering the documents, something that was previously charged for separately.
When are the prices going up?
The price increase will take effect from Wednesday, April 9.
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