Allow plenty of time to renew your passport this summer
Holidaymakers planning to travel this summer should check their passports are valid and leave plenty of time to apply for a new one.
The peak period for passport applications has begun, so if you need a new one, you should allow at least three weeks for it to arrive and longer if you are applying for the first time.
Check your passport now
Sarah Rapson, Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), said: ‘No one wants to discover a few days before their summer holiday that their passport has expired and have to face the effort of getting it renewed in a hurry.
‘Check your passport now, and, if you need a new one, allow plenty of time for it to arrive.’
You can also carry over up to nine months remaining on your existing passport, so there’s no need to wait until the last minute to renew it.
Apply early and save money
If you use the Post Office Check and Send service, or postal or online services, not only will you save yourself the last minute dash to the passport office, you could also save yourself as much as £52 on the premium one-day service.
Over the next three months, IPS will process more than 1.8 million passport applications, including more than half a million children’s passports, and around 1.2 million adult passports.
For further information on applying for a passport, go to www.direct.gov.uk/passports