The cost of a passport is just stupid

[SoloTripSoloVibes]

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.

I tried 3 times to get my passport turned down twice, so lost money.
I didnt give up 3rd time Lucky I got it.
It cost me more than, £115.
Because I had to get stack Decks signed via a solicitor.
And stack deck from my sister.
It all added up.
I finally got my passport without a countersigner and without proof off my mother.

I think it is great value, a UK passport is the joint 7th best passport in the world (in terms of visa free destinations). When I see the difficulties friends and families with passports from countries such as china have with being able to travel I am so humbled by how lucky I am to have been born a UK citizen. It is a privilege others can only dream of and it only costs me £100 every 10 years.

Around a pound a month over ten years. I'll gladly pay that!

Now you've paid up, start saving for the next one.

Not that many countries you need to pay for visa. Last one I did was India and was about £20. Don't think anywhere in Europe needs visa

What is stack deck?

You really are wasting your money on the photo, when you upload it to the website it checks out there and then. There’s an outside chance it might be rejected afterwards but if you file the instructions carefully, you’ll be fine

Yeah. DH's fee depends on whether renewal, lost, damaged etc. It's not cheap! Weak passport.
My eu one is like 20 quid😂

I also did a photo on my phone and uploaded it, it tells you if it is acceptable. It works out at a tenner a year, as others said, so not great up front but also not a big cost over its lifetime.

Statutory declaration.

What was going on that all this was happening?

Also never heard of that, even google doesn’t know.

Not sure I've ever needed that to be honest. Is that a usual thing Don't remember it when renewed passport earlier this year

Photos we take ourselves on a phone, had one rejected, uploaded another. Benefit of doing it all online. Took 10 days for the new passport to arrive. No drama.

You're whining. It's £94 and lasts a decade. Don't be such a cheapskate.

If you think it's too much, just stay home.

And if you mean the EU visas, your passport isn’t going to get cheaper because we’re no longer an EU member. Less valuable (the UK passport has fallen from being the most powerfully in the world in the Henley index, to 6th) but not cheaper…

Sometimes if you search for passport renewal the first thing that comes up will actually be a company that does what you can do yourself and charge for it with all sort of hidden extras (it's in their interest to find problems.) From your description OP it sounds like this is what may have happened to you. I have dual nationality and have not experienced any of the things you described when renewing either of them.

Wouldn’t that be stat dec?

I couldn't find a suitable countersigner.
And also couldn't prove who my mother was, due to her giving a false name on my birth certificate.
Long story.
So had to go down the legal route.
Not cheap.

£94 is less than £10 per year for a 10 year passport
I think that is good value

If you think that a passport is expensive, how will you afford to travel ?

Cheaper at the Post Office. Complete digital application in branch, get the postage and the photo included in the fee and someone checks all the info is correct on the tablet for £16.

Yes sorry stupid phone today.

So now you can spend the next ten years putting aside £1 a month and the next time it needs renewing you'll be laughing, you might even have change! Same as you budget for everything else. Right?

Obviously the cost of the passport covers a lot more than the materials it takes to make it.

Even if you are going to a photo booth or somewhere for your photos surely most people just factor the tenner into your travel budget?

Given they last 10 years, it's quite reasonable in my opinion. You can take pictures yourself and upload them.

You could argue a £50 is just a piece if paper with that logic..

But you would complain if someone used it as kindling.