Guidance

Local Services: how a customer applies

Published 15 February 2024

This guidance tells His Majesty’s Passport Office staff how customers can apply for a passport using Local Services.

About: Local Services: how a customer applies

This guidance tells His Majesty’s Passport Office operational staff about Local Services and explains who can apply using a Local Service, how customers can apply and what they must tell us, what documents customers need to bring to the Local Services office and how we will return them and what services are available to customers.

A Local Service office is either a Visa Application Centre (VAC) or a Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) post overseas.

Some people living abroad cannot apply using Local Services. You (the examiner) must follow guidance in the International Booklet on how customers can apply from those countries.

Contacts

If you have any questions about the guidance and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the guidance has factual errors then email the Guidance team

If you notice any formatting errors in this guidance (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the guidance then you can email the Guidance team.

Publication

Below is information on when this version of the guidance was published:

• version 9.0
• published for Home Office staff on 12 December 2023

Changes from last version of this guidance

This guidance has been updated with minor formatting changes.

Local Services: who can apply

This section tells His Majesty’s Passport Office staff about Local Services and explains how customers apply, who can apply and how to choose the correct service type.

TLS Contact, VFS Global and some Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Offices (FCDOs) provide international Local Services. Local Services staff are not passport examiners. They follow a checklist that we provide to check the customer’s application is completed correctly.

The main purpose of Local Services is to make sure there is a safe delivery of documents and passports both to and from HM Passport Office.

There are 2 types of Local Services available. They are called:

• full Local Services
• partial Local Services

Full Local Services

This is when the Local service submits the customer’s application. The customer must collect their passport and supporting documents from the Local Services office.

Partial Local Services

This is when the customer applies directly to us but we return the passport and supporting documents to the Local Services office for the customer to collect.

Some customers must apply for their passport through Local Service posts, for example, when the country they apply from has:

• limited internet access
• currency issues
• laws that stop customers taking original documents across borders
• restrictions that stop customers paying for services by credit card
• security restrictions that stop customers from sending us a passport application
• laws that require the customer to keep their identity documents

Some customers overseas may apply by post with a paper form but we will return their passport and documents to a Local Services office.

Who can apply using Local Services

Customers who have British nationality and who must use Local Services can apply for any standard service type application (except online applications).

Local Services application process

Customers applying for a passport using a Local Service must:

1. Access GOV.UK to find the location and email address of their Local Service office (some countries have more than 1 Local Service office).
2. Email their nearest Local Service office to book an appointment and include their first and last name and 3 alternative dates and times. In some countries, the customer does not need to make an appointment (for example in St Helena, they must follow the instructions on GOV.UK).
3. Download and complete their application form.
4. Bring original supporting documents (with translations of any foreign documents) and colour photocopies to their appointment.
5. Show photo ID (for example, a passport or driving licence) to apply in person at the Local Service office. If someone else is attending instead of the customer they must show their photo ID when they arrive.

Customers who cannot book an appointment online must contact the Visa Application Centre (VAC) that deals with applications in that country.

Local Services staff will reject an application, if:

• it is not fully completed or completed incorrectly
• the customer does not bring all the correct supporting documents
• the customer does not bring all the correct colour photocopies of supporting documents

How the application (service) type is chosen

The customer will select the correct application (service) type in section 1 of the application form.

You, the examiner, must change the application (service) type, and case note the reason why, if the passport processing system or the customer chooses the wrong one. For example, you must change the application type to ‘replacement’ if the customer’s passport has been lost or stolen and the customer has selected ‘renewal’ as the application type.

Local Services: how a customer applies

This section tells HM Passport Office staff how a customer completes a Local Services passport application.

The customer must give us their personal details by filling in section 2 of the paper form and provide their:

• full name
• maiden or previous name (if they have any)
• date of birth
• place of birth
• country of birth
• their gender (the sex marker shown on their passport)

Customer’s contact details

Customers must complete their address in section 2 of the application form. If the address is too long, the customer can write their full address, either on:

• section 8 of the paper form
• a separate piece of paper, which the customer must sign and date

The customer may provide us with a telephone number and email address on section 2 of the form but this is optional.

How the customer gives us their photo

Customers must provide 2 paper photos, including 1 countersigned (if needed) when they attend their appointment.

If a customer provides an alternative address

Customers may give us an alternative address, by confirming it either on:

• section 8 of the paper form
• a separate piece of paper which the customer must sign and date

Customers must provide evidence of their alternative address. Local Service staff will not check that the customer has provided acceptable alternative address evidence.

You, the examiner, must check that you can accept the evidence.

If a customer holds multiple British passports

Customers must tell us about any other British they hold. They will do this by filling in section 3 of the paper application form.

All customers must fill in section 3A, 3B and 3C (if needed).

If the customer wants to renew an additional passport, they must provide us with evidence to show why they need one (for example, a letter from their employer).

If the customer holds a foreign passport

Customers must tell us about any foreign passports they hold. They will do this by filling in section 3 of the paper application form.

All customers must fill in section 3A, 3B and 3C (if needed).

If a customer’s passport is lost or stolen

Customers must tell us about any British passports that are lost or stolen by completing section 3C. They must provide as much information as possible and confirm:

• the lost or stolen passport number
• where the passport was issued
• customer’s surname (at the time the passport was issued)
• first and middle names
• how the passport was lost or why it is not available
• date of loss
• place of loss

If a customer’s passport is damaged

If a passport has any damage, the customer must:

• select ‘replacement’ at section 1 of the application form
• write a reason for the damage (on section 8) of the application form or write the reason for the damage on a separate piece of paper and sign and date the letter

Customers may not realise there is any damage to their passport and so may not report it. You must check all British passports as part of the application for damage and follow current guidance.

When you need the details of a customer’s parents or grandparents

How the customer gives us their parent’s details

Customers must provide their parents’ details by filling in section 4 of the paper application form, when the intended passport holder is:

• under 16
• applying for their first adult passport
• applying to replace a passport that has been lost, stolen or damaged

How the customer gives us their grandparents’ details

Customer must provide their grandparents’ details by adding them to section 8 or on a separate piece of paper, when both their parents were born:

• on or after 1 January 1983
• outside the UK

If the customer has a naturalisation or registration certificate

If customers are applying for their first British passport and have become a British citizen through naturalisation or registration, they must give us their naturalisation or registration certificate details (on section 5) and include the documents.

How we capture signatures

Capturing a child’s signature (12-15 years)

The child (the intended passport holder) must sign the application (inside the box) on section 6 on the paper application form if they are 12 to 15 years old or will turn 12 within the next 3 weeks.

The customer (the person consenting to the application, for example, the child’s mother) must sign and date section 9.

How we capture the customer’s signature

The customer must sign the paper application form (inside the box in section 9).

How the customer declares their information is correct

The customer must declare that the information about the intended passport holder is correct. They will do this by signing the paper form (section 9) that lists what they are declaring.

Referees

When applying through a Local Service office, customers can only provide a paper referee (countersignatory). It is not possible to provide a digital referee or paper referee (1 page form) on a Local Services application.

How and when a paper referee (countersignatory) is needed

The customer will need a paper referee (countersignatory) if they are applying:

• for their first British passport
• to replace a lost, stolen or damaged passport
• to renew a child passport (if the child is 11 or younger)
• to renew a passport (adult or child, 12 to 15 years old) if they cannot be recognised from the photo in their current passport

How customers and paper referees (countersignatories) give us additional information

Additional information from the customer

Customer must tell us any additional information (if they have any) at section 8 of the paper form or on a separate piece of paper.

If the customer provides information on a separate piece of paper, they must sign and date the paper.

Additional information from the paper referee (countersignatory)

The paper form does not ask for the paper referee (countersignatory) to provide additional information. The paper referee (countersignatory) may provide information on a separate piece of paper that they must sign and date.

How Local Services check the application

Local Service staff must check all applications to make sure:

• the photocopied documents are a true likeness of the original and stamp and sign the colour photocopies to confirm this

• the payment mandate includes the correct fee and a signature (the mandate will be cashiered when the application is received)

  • occasionally, customers from some countries must pay cash at the Local Services office
  • occasionally, customers from some countries must make their application at a Local Services office but will have to go to an embassy to make the payment by card
• photos are included and meet standards
• parents who live in a different country to their child must complete the parent contact details form

Local Services staff will then complete the document receipt template, which includes the customer’s reference number, and:

1. Keep 1 copy of the receipt.
2. Give a copy to the customer.
3. Include a copy with the documents sent to HM Passport Office.
4. Complete the reconciliation log.

How Local Services will send applications and documents

Local Services will send a DHL envelope addressed to HM Passport Office and include:

• the application form
• the fee mandate
• colour photocopies of supporting documents
• a document receipt
• photos

Local Services will:

• send the application by secure delivery
• only send one application in an envelope, label DHL envelopes and assign track and trace numbers
• arrange DHL manifest and DHL collection

While applications are processed on AMS (Application Management System), the Local Services will send applications to a specified APC (Application Processing Centre) in the UK.

When Local Services cannot send the documents

In some countries, Local Services cannot post documents through the normal route to Passport Offices. In these cases, Local Services will send the customer’s documents by diplomatic bag to HM Passport Office.

If we need more documents

If you, the examiner, decide you need more supporting documents, you must contact the customer by email and ask them to provide them to send the documents through the post.

It may be that the customer is not permitted to send documents, because of local restrictions that prevent the customer, sending the passport or documents directly to the UK (or across borders). Unless otherwise stated in the relevant country Knowledge base documents, this should only apply to passports, other equivalent travel documents or identity cards.

You must only ask the customer to take extra documents to the Local Services office if the customer cannot post the documents.

The customer does not need to book an appointment to visit the Local Services office unless:

• they want to drop off their documents at a Local Services office provided by TLS Contact, and the customer did not apply using TLS

For such cases you must follow Local Services overseas guidance. The customer must:

1. Book an appointment at a Local Service office to send their documents, colour photocopies and translations (if needed).
2. Show a copy of the email requesting the documents to Local Services when they attend their appointment.

Local Services will validate the supporting documents and add the application number and examiner’s name to the DHL envelope that they will send to HM Passport Office.

How we return the customer’s passport and supporting documents

When we print a customer’s passport, we will send it to the Local Services office. You must check which country the supporting documents are being returned to, to determine if they will be returned by DHL or diplomatic bag. You, the examiner must refer to the Local Service booklet to find the correct return:

• address for the customer’s passport and supporting documents
• email for local service (if FCDO or supplier)

You must send an email to Local Services to confirm:

• who the passport is for
• if any supporting documents are to be returned
• the parent who signed the application (if the passport is for a child under 16)
• the decision (for example, if a passport was issued or if the application was withdrawn or failed)
• customer contact details (or the parent’s contact details for children under 16)
• any additional information

Local Services staff will:

• update Part 3 of the reconciliation log
• create a new record on the reconciliation log, by completing parts 1, 2 and 3 (if the passport is for collection only)
• contact the customer to arrange for them to collect their passport and supporting documents when they arrive
• cancel the customer’s previous passport (if they have one) when the customer comes to collect their passport and supporting documents