Guidance

British overseas citizens: caseworker guidance

Tells HM Passport Office staff how to deal with passport applications from customers who hold British overseas citizenship.

• From: HM Passport Office
• Published: 13 September 2021
• Last updated: 15 October 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 15 October 2026

     This guidance has been updated to clarify the Rights of British overseas citizens.

  2. 24 March 2026

     Updated the guidance to remove reference to Application Management System (AMS) and to tell examiners when they must deal with a British overseas citizen case as a first time application.

  3. 13 June 2025

     Guidance updated - a full list of changes is in the 'changes from the last version of this guidance' section.

  4. 7 November 2022

     Updated the First BOC passport: customer is in the UK section and references to the sovereign.

  5. 23 September 2022

     Accessible version added.

  6. 13 September 2021

     First published.

Documents

British overseas citizens (accessible)

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Details

This guidance tells HM Passport Office staff how to deal with passport applications for customers holding British overseas citizen (BOC) status.

Only examiners with the correct level of training must deal with BOC cases.