Ten-year document will cost GBP42 as from October
The cost of a passport is to rise yet again in October, bringing the cost of a standard 10-year document to GBP42. The price hike will be the second increase within a year; several commentators have today pointed out that the rise is some 10 times the inflationary increase over the same period.
As from 2 October, a standard passport will rise from GBP33 to GBP42, a child passport from GBP19 to GBP25, and the cost of changing details will also rise, from GBP 22.50 to GBP42. It was also revealed at the weekend that the United States will demand from this autumn that all children must have their own passport to visit the country.
According to The Times, the Government is currently discussing plans to introduce a five-year passport, largely because biometrics, such as fingerprints and iris scans, will be able to be used on passports by 2005.
Political opponents have condemned the price rise, while the travel industry seems no more impressed; a spokesman for ABTA told the newspaper that while it appreciated why the rises were being introduced, they were still less than welcome: “It is regrettable that this has happened. We would ask the Government not to put the price of passports up again in the foreseeable future.”
