UK Passports

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Applying for your first UK passport or changing the name and gender on an existing UK passport has never been easier. Thanks to the efforts of many people, both within the UK Passport Service and lobbyers from outside the service, the process is streamlined, secure and painless. Just follow these instructions and you should have your UK passport with minimal fuss.

Please note that in order to receive a UK passport, you will be subjected to nationality tests to ensure your right to hold a crown travel document under UK law. For renewal applications, this takes the form of presenting your previous UK passport while for first time applicants, this check is performed via your birth certificate. A first time passport application can take up to six weeks to process.

Application forms and further information can be obtained from most local Post Offices, or from the IPS website.

First Time Passport Applications

In order to obtain your first passport, you will need to complete the application form in full and have it countersigned by a person who fulfills the criteria for countersigning (basically, they must have known you for 2 years, hold a UK passport – this is because they need to have a nationality check too, thanks to several immigrant fraud rings operating in the UK – and be ‘of good standing’; which generally comes down to a. owning a VAT-registered business, b. holding a chartership, c. being a servant of the crown or local government and so forth). Once you have that done, get together the following and send them with payment and your application form:

1. Two valid passport photographs
2. Your birth certificate (Anyone born on or after 01 January 1983 must provide a Long Birth/Adoption Certificate that shows your parents’/adoptive parents’ details, as the British
3. Nationality Act 1983 states that just being born in the UK doesn’t make you a British Citizen, citizenship is now taken through your parents’)
4. Your original change of name documentation (not copies)
5. One of the following documents:
   1. A letter from your GP/Psychiatrist/Surgeon saying you’ve transitioned and that the transition is permanent
   2. A Gender Recognition Certificate
   3. A new Birth Certificate

That should be all. If you’ve forgotten anything, they will contact you.

Renewing A UK Passport

In order to obtain a new UK passport with your new name and correct gender on it, you’ll need to fill in an application form (you don’t need a countersignature since this security check has already been performed thanks to you already having a passport) and then send that to the IPS, along with the correct payment and the following:

1. Two valid passport photographs
2. Your original change of name documentation (not copies)
3. One of the following documents:
   1. A letter from your GP/Psychiatrist/Surgeon saying you’ve transitioned and that the transition is permanent
   2. A Gender Recognition Certificate
   3. A new Birth Certificate

That should be all. If you’ve forgotten anything, they will contact you.