Page 2 | The cost of a passport is just stupid

BashfulClam · 27/11/2025 13:14

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 12:11

But it’s not a yearly cost. It’s a one off cost.

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But you get 10 years from it so it evens out.

BrendaSmall · 27/11/2025 13:13

Misanthropologie · 27/11/2025 13:07

Which is considerably less than the cost of even the cheapest travel insurance.

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Definitely!
saying that though we pay for our travel insurance yearly using a multi-trip option so it’s a bit cheaper

Ahfiddlesticks · 27/11/2025 13:10

ItsInTheSingingOfAStreetCornerChoir · 27/11/2025 09:29

£94.50 for passport

£0.00 digital photo taken at home
£1.70 first class post to return old passport

don’t know why you paid extra.

Same.

Fends · 27/11/2025 13:10

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 09:46

But it’s not a tenner a year, is it? It’s £115 up front. You can’t pay it on a yearly basis

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Why are you lying? It’s £95 plus 85p to post it. They’ll send your old one back for free within a week usually and they have an excellent online service that tells you instantly if your photograph will be accepted. It has a chip in it making it difficult to fake and whole teams of people employed to verify and process passport applications.

It’s optional and the whole thing works out around 75p a month. About 18p a week. What a fucking weird thing to get so riled up about.

Thingybob · 27/11/2025 13:10

Iwiicit · 27/11/2025 12:44

I've just renewed mine. I thought it was remarkably easy and extremely efficient. I was very impressed with the service . In fact, it is the only government service I have been impressed by in donkeys years - Im thinking of driving tests, local councils etc etc ..

Edited

Ditto.

I applied online on Tuesday afternoon and put my old passport in post. Got text message updates then received a shiny new passport on Friday morning!

MyrtleLion · 27/11/2025 13:09

Ilikeblacklabsandicannotlie · 27/11/2025 12:58

Your posts make it sound like its a renewal. In which case you've surely known when the expiry would be be for at least 10 years.

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Exactly. Save £15 a year = £1.25 a month and you'll have £150 to pay for the next one, even with inflation. Maybe make it £1.50 a month to make it £180 next time, just in case.

Not exactly a problem. Not that expensive.

ChristmasMantleStatue · 27/11/2025 13:09

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 11:40

No I’m just sick of everything in this country being expensive and mediocre

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Well- this I agree with.

Misanthropologie · 27/11/2025 13:07

BrendaSmall · 27/11/2025 13:04

£115 for something that is to last 10 years, that’s £11.50 a year!!

Which is considerably less than the cost of even the cheapest travel insurance.

BrendaSmall · 27/11/2025 13:07

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 12:53

£115 is a lot of money. Especially just before Christmas.

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£115 is not a lot of money though, especially this day n age.
Maybe get this passport and then start saving £15 a year for the next one in 10 years time, then you’ll have the money , maybe a little bit extra for a renewal!

BrendaSmall · 27/11/2025 13:04

£115 for something that is to last 10 years, that’s £11.50 a year!!

Misanthropologie · 27/11/2025 13:04

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 09:46

But it’s not a tenner a year, is it? It’s £115 up front. You can’t pay it on a yearly basis

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It's an occasionally recurring cost, like getting new spectacles or having your house redecorated. You know you will need to spend the money eventually, so you budget for it.

godmum56 · 27/11/2025 13:03

Iwiicit · 27/11/2025 12:44

I've just renewed mine. I thought it was remarkably easy and extremely efficient. I was very impressed with the service . In fact, it is the only government service I have been impressed by in donkeys years - Im thinking of driving tests, local councils etc etc ..

Edited

I renewed mine during lockdown when the staff were working from home. It was further complicated by the fact that I had started my renewal online but got refused as my old passport was not just lost but really old, so old it was handwritten. They had no record of it and so I needed to do a paper application. The lovely people I spoke to matched up my online payment with my paper application, kept me updated during a torturous process and were generally cheerful and efficient.

skippy67 · 27/11/2025 13:02

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 12:53

£115 is a lot of money. Especially just before Christmas.

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You don't have to have one. Just stay in good old Blighty for the rest of your life.

Ilikeblacklabsandicannotlie · 27/11/2025 12:58

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 12:53

£115 is a lot of money. Especially just before Christmas.

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Your posts make it sound like its a renewal. In which case you've surely known when the expiry would be be for at least 10 years.

Frynye · 27/11/2025 12:56

APatternGrammar · 27/11/2025 12:44

I have not read the thread, but for my other nationalities (both EU) a passport with all the same biometric bells and whistles is €30 and the service is much faster. Clearly the UK is missing something in terms of its costs.

Lots of people of different European nationality’s have been on the thread to confirm that they pay similar in their countries.

Chersfrozenface · 27/11/2025 12:56

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 12:53

£115 is a lot of money. Especially just before Christmas.

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Why do you need to buy it now, just before Christmas?

Original poster

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 12:53

Ilikeblacklabsandicannotlie · 27/11/2025 12:50

@SoloTripSoloVibes if you genuinely can't absorb either a £115 one off cost or the cost of putting aside £11 a year for 10 years, then the thought of paying for a visa should be the least of your worries.

Edited

£115 is a lot of money. Especially just before Christmas.

OP posts:

Ilikeblacklabsandicannotlie · 27/11/2025 12:50

@SoloTripSoloVibes if you genuinely can't absorb either a £115 one off cost or the cost of putting aside £11 a year for 10 years, then the thought of paying for a visa should be the least of your worries.

Brefugee · 27/11/2025 12:46

Keepoffmyartichokes · 27/11/2025 12:06

I think they mean the new ETIAS security check that's is coming in at some point. You will need to pay £20 I think but it will last 3 years and will allow travel to the Schengen area

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Europeans are already paying 15 pounds to get an ETA to come to the UK. Lasts for 2 years. Not sure why people are moaning about the ETIAS security check. Once you're in the Schengen area you can go to loads of other countries with no checks.

mimbleandlittlemy · 27/11/2025 12:45

Thechaseison71 · 27/11/2025 12:25

But £15 in 1980 is about the equivalent of £85 now so not much difference really.

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£64.98 according to the fascinating Bank of England inflation calculator.

Iwiicit · 27/11/2025 12:44

I've just renewed mine. I thought it was remarkably easy and extremely efficient. I was very impressed with the service . In fact, it is the only government service I have been impressed by in donkeys years - Im thinking of driving tests, local councils etc etc ..

APatternGrammar · 27/11/2025 12:44

I have not read the thread, but for my other nationalities (both EU) a passport with all the same biometric bells and whistles is €30 and the service is much faster. Clearly the UK is missing something in terms of its costs.

ObelixtheGaul · 27/11/2025 12:41

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 12:11

But it’s not a yearly cost. It’s a one off cost.

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But it's a one off cost you have 10 years to put the money aside for. It's not a one off cost that drops in out of the blue.
That said, they could make it an annual cost to spread over the ten years.

Tryingtokeepgoing · 27/11/2025 12:37

SoloTripSoloVibes · 27/11/2025 09:14

That’s it really.

£94.50 for the actual passport, which is alright, I suppose.

£10 for the pictures because you need the fancy digital codes now and can’t just have a picture

£10 for guaranteed postage of the old one back to them, because of course they can’t just have a database that they update to say that one has expired or been replaced.

£115 in total! Bring on the days that it becomes totally digital.

Count yourself lucky, its €115 here in Italy!! You used to then need a €16 revenue stamp so that you could confirm that the passport you'd paid for was actually official!! That was abandoned, I think when ID cards became mandatory, but an ID card is another €22 (depending on municipality)

The other costs you have listed are entirely optional. I believe Spain is the place to be as a passport is less than €50 there :)

godmum56 · 27/11/2025 12:36

Brefugee · 27/11/2025 11:46

oh yes, i get that it is a safety feature - but since you don't have to sign for it and it just gets shoved through the letter box it's not that secure.

When it was DH, me and 2 DCs it was 80 quid just to get the passports at all! (as i said i'm not really complaining and i only got the UK one just in case - because i might need to travel to see my mum unexpectedly and i don't want some border force chap deciding that an ETA doesn't apply. Having said that, they don't seem to make a fuss... yet)

ETA: one thing tho. We did ours recently. Photos were green (OK) on the website but DH had to upload a 2nd one (no problem). We also had to send a photocopy (or original) of our other passport. Photocopied on the same machine with same quality. Mine accepted, his rejected. So i guess it also depends on the person looking at the docs.)

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mine wasn't shoved through my letter box, I had to tell the postman the name on the envelope before he would hand it to me. My sister got her passport delivered to me as it was more convenient and she had to provide a letter from me agreeing that I was happy to receive it and she had to include it with her paper form (can't do it digitally) and when the postman came I had to give HER name before he would give it to me.