By Ashley Preen

April 5, 2018

Why the Increase in Passport Renewal Fees?

By how much did passport renewal fees increase?

You may have heard that on the 27th March this year, passport renewal fees increased. But why and by how much did it increase?

Adults

Before the new price, renewing an adult’s passport had a cost of £72.50 (regardless whether you applied online or through post).

However, renewal fee has increased by 17%, increasing the price to £85 if applying by post, and £75.50 if applying online.

Fast-track service for adults will increase from £103 to £142, and for premium service from £128 to £177.

Children

Unfortunately, children passport renewal fees also increased.

Renewing a child’s passport used to cost £46 whether online or through post.

Renewal fees has now increased to £58.50 if applying by post, and is now £49 if applying online.

Why this increase in renewal fees?

The Home office said that these reforms were part of the plan to invest £100m on border security and infrastructure next year and to create a self-sustainable immigration and borders system.

But why is postal price higher than online price?

The justification given by the post office as to why postal renewal price was higher than online renewal price was that it reflected by how much the cost differed in order to process the applications on paper compared to online.