Courier names and costs - passport pain
#1
Courier names and costs - passport pain
Now that the UK Passport agency has changed to the "Identity and Passport Service" which runs Charles Clarke's new (and hard fought against) stasi-style-identity-and-personal-tracking-database they've upped the cost of a passport as of this Friday coming 21/04/06 by a hefty whack to get it set up for biometrics (i.e. eventually you'll need to travel to a centre to get your iris scanned and your fingerprints taken ... but just now they only require a photo)
The upshot is that after blowing $44 on passport photos for the family which I KNEW wouldn't match up to the new bl**dy biometric requirements I need to get new ones done and Monday's a sodding holiday. Can anyone recommend a courier to get the renewal documents down to Canberra from the Gold Coast for Friday's deadline if I send them on Tuesday?
The upshot is that after blowing $44 on passport photos for the family which I KNEW wouldn't match up to the new bl**dy biometric requirements I need to get new ones done and Monday's a sodding holiday. Can anyone recommend a courier to get the renewal documents down to Canberra from the Gold Coast for Friday's deadline if I send them on Tuesday?
#2
Re: Courier names and costs - passport pain
Originally Posted by CHnJ
Now that the UK Passport agency has changed to the "Identity and Passport Service" which runs Charles Clarke's new (and hard fought against) stasi-style-identity-and-personal-tracking-database they've upped the cost of a passport as of this Friday coming 21/04/06 by a hefty whack to get it set up for biometrics (i.e. eventually you'll need to travel to a centre to get your iris scanned and your fingerprints taken ... but just now they only require a photo)
The upshot is that after blowing $44 on passport photos for the family which I KNEW wouldn't match up to the new bl**dy biometric requirements I need to get new ones done and Monday's a sodding holiday. Can anyone recommend a courier to get the renewal documents down to Canberra from the Gold Coast for Friday's deadline if I send them on Tuesday?
The upshot is that after blowing $44 on passport photos for the family which I KNEW wouldn't match up to the new bl**dy biometric requirements I need to get new ones done and Monday's a sodding holiday. Can anyone recommend a courier to get the renewal documents down to Canberra from the Gold Coast for Friday's deadline if I send them on Tuesday?
#3
Re: Courier names and costs - passport pain
Originally Posted by CHnJ
Now that the UK Passport agency has changed to the "Identity and Passport Service" which runs Charles Clarke's new (and hard fought against) stasi-style-identity-and-personal-tracking-database they've upped the cost of a passport as of this Friday coming 21/04/06 by a hefty whack to get it set up for biometrics (i.e. eventually you'll need to travel to a centre to get your iris scanned and your fingerprints taken ... but just now they only require a photo)
The upshot is that after blowing $44 on passport photos for the family which I KNEW wouldn't match up to the new bl**dy biometric requirements I need to get new ones done and Monday's a sodding holiday. Can anyone recommend a courier to get the renewal documents down to Canberra from the Gold Coast for Friday's deadline if I send them on Tuesday?
The upshot is that after blowing $44 on passport photos for the family which I KNEW wouldn't match up to the new bl**dy biometric requirements I need to get new ones done and Monday's a sodding holiday. Can anyone recommend a courier to get the renewal documents down to Canberra from the Gold Coast for Friday's deadline if I send them on Tuesday?
The Foreign Office sets passports fees on a different schedule to UKPS, although they tend to move in line with each other. Check http://bhc.britaus.net for fees and photo specifications.
The US is pushing for biometric passports - if your passport is issued on or after 26 October 2006, it will need to be biometric in order to be eligible for the US visa waiver scheme. So 100% of British citizen passports issued from then will need to be biometric, otherwise there will be problems. At the moment in the UK, about 10% of new passports are biometric, from what I understand (it's random whether you get one or not).
Further changes down the line are going to be interviews for first time adult applicants for a British passport (like Australia has) and a possible reduction in the validity period of a British passport from 10 to 5 years.