Cost of passport fees to go up to pay for Consular services abroad

[Rosa]

"The cost of a British passport is to rise for the third time in less than two years, ministers have announced.

The latest boost was triggered by a steep rise in charges added to the passport fee to pay for consular services at British embassies around the world.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Lord Triesman said the additional charges would help fund services for Britons who get into trouble overseas. "

I have just paid £150 to have my dd issued with a Uk birth certificate. It cost me £120 for a new passport via the British Embassy. Seems like us brits abroad already contribute a bit as it is !

Makes you piggin' angry doesn't it?

yet another reason why I won't be lining up to get a british passport anytime soon
is crazy

dd will be travelling on her ID card ( FREE) for trips in Europe and then will look at passports when have to...It also took the Embassy 6 weeks to issue certificate and even then they spelt it wrong so waiting for the new one !!!

with you on that rosa! I also had to pay for my ds's birth certificates and couldn't believe it when I went to get dd's and it's only £3.50 or something like that!!!!

My 2 dc have got German passports because of this. They don't like them because they don't feel German but it cost me 30 Euros for 2 passports as compared to a small fortune for their British ones to be renewed. I did get them a british one when they were born just to make sure they were in the system so to speak.

So nothing to do with Siemens running the show then? Or do they still?

Several years ago I worked the evening shift at Glasgow passport agency ('98 to be precise.) Siemens took over that summer and we casual workers were all gathered together and told we were no longer needed, the daytime workers stood by and let us all be sacked while ensuring none of us could apply to move to the daytime shift.

By the next year there were massive problems with passports not being processed on time, those 500 applications we each sifted through a night became a backlog. There was also an instant hike in prices and a sudden need for children to have their own passports.

None of what happens now surprises me.