About us

HM Passport Office is the sole issuer of UK passports and responsible for civil registration services through the General Register Office.


Established in 2006, HM Passport Office provides accurate and secure records of key events and trusted passport operations.

Our role is to issue passports to citizens of the United Kingdom on behalf of the Crown; we are the official government service to British citizens at home and abroad. The General Register Office oversees civil registration in England and Wales.

Prior to 2013, HM Passport Office was known as the Identity and Passport Service.

Responsibilities

We are responsible for:

  • providing passport services for British nationals residing in the UK and, in association with our partners at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, to those residing overseas
  • administering civil registration in England and Wales

Priorities

We contribute to achieving the Home Office’s priorities of securing our borders and reducing immigration, cutting crime and protecting our citizens from terrorism.

Who we are

Each year we issue over 5 million passports - exceeding our customer service performance targets. We provide a passport validation service (PVS) to support the business community and government departments in preventing fraud. We have 7 regional passport offices and over 50 passport interview offices across the United Kingdom.

The General Register Office (GRO) joined with HM Passport Office in 2008. GRO oversees the system of civil registration in England and Wales: it administers the marriage laws and secures the provision of an efficient and effective system for the registration of births, stillbirths, adoptions, civil partnerships, marriages and deaths.

Purpose and principles

Our purpose is to provide accurate and secure records of key events and trusted passport services. We will do this by embedding the following principles into everything we do:

  • trusted and secure - we will maintain our high standards of integrity and reliability across all our products, services and the data we hold
  • customer service - we are proud of the service we provide to customers and will deliver a modern and affordable service that meets the needs of today’s society
  • operational focus - we will create a more efficient and connected organisation with operational excellence at its core
  • people - we value the contribution of all our people, treat them with respect and will support them through change
  • cost - we will provide value for fee-payers and reduce our burden on the taxpayer

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