Skip to main content
Guidance

Urgent government business or compassionate reasons: processing the application

Tells HMPO staff how to process passport applications for customers who urgently need a passport for urgent government business or compassionate reasons.

Updates to this page

From:
HM Passport Office
Published:
21 February 2025
Last updated:
26 June 2026
Show all updates

  1. This guidance has been updated throughout, to link to the priority services: handling customer documents guidance, Priority services: transferring an application to the Exceptions Handling team guidance, and DAP: quality assurance checks guidance.

  2. This guidance has been updated to remove reference to the Expedited service as this is no longer available.

  3. Published version 6.0 of the urgent government business or compassionate reasons: processing the application guidance. A full list of changes can be found in the guide.

  4. Guidance updated to tell examiners they must add a mandatory case note when they are ready to issue a passport in an urgent government business or compassionate application. References to the Application Management System have been removed.

  5. Guidance updated to tell counter examiners how to deal with applications where the customer has originally applied using a paper form, met the Urgent and Compassionate (U&C) criteria and they have not provided a photo with their application.

  6. First published.

Documents

Urgent government business or compassionate reasons: processing the application (accessible)

HTML

Details

This guidance tells His Majesty’s Passport Office staff how to process passport applications for customers who urgently need a passport for urgent government business or compassionate reasons.

Sign up for emails or print this page

Related content