Passports Travel Advice | Blue Stamp Travel

Q: How long does it take to get a passport renewed?

According to the UK Passport Office, it takes around three weeks to renew a passport once your documents have been received through their online service. However, this is not a guarantee and we strongly advise applying as early as possible, as it can take significantly longer at peak times. You can apply at a Post Office for an additional fee of £16. A fast track service is available for an additional fee, but you will need to travel to a passport for an in-person appointment. The one-day premium service for adult passports only costs £222, while the one-week premium service costs £178 for an adult passport and £145 for a child’s passport. The one-week service includes courier delivery. See the Passport Office advice on fast track passports.

Passports and travel documents

For UK citizens, a valid passport is essential if you want to travel to the EU and rest of the world. This page provides important information on what to check before you travel so you can be confident of passing through border control without a hitch. Blue Stamp Travel takes no responsibility for travellers’ passports or other travel documentation. It is the responsibility of each traveller to ensure they have a valid passport for their travel purposes.

The information on this page is aimed at UK travellers visiting the EU or Schengen area. If you are travelling further afield, check the UK Government Foreign Travel Advice page.

Passport FAQs

The passport should be valid for 3 months after the planned end date of the trip.

Check the date that your passport expires and where necessary allow plenty of time for a replacement to be issued before your trip.

TUI provides a helpful passport validity checker if you are in any doubt that your passport may not be valid for your travel.

Your passport must have been issued not less than ten years before your departure date.

Your passport must have at least three months’ validity beyond your planned return date. In other words, if you plan to return from a trip on 1 April, your passport must be valid until at least 1 July.

According to the UK Passport Office, it takes around three weeks to renew a passport once your documents have been received through their online service. However, this is not a guarantee and we strongly advise applying as early as possible, as it can take significantly longer at peak times.

You can apply at a Post Office for an additional fee of £16.

A fast track service is available for an additional fee, but you will need to travel to a passport for an in-person appointment. The one-day premium service for adult passports only costs £222, while the one-week premium service costs £178 for an adult passport and £145 for a child’s passport. The one-week service includes courier delivery. See the Passport Office advice on fast track passports.

You must return your old passport to the Passport Office when you request a new passport. It is therefore not possible to travel on an old passport while waiting for a new one.

UK citizens must present a passport in order to travel. Other forms of photographic ID, such as a driving licence, are not valid.

If you lose your passport while travelling abroad, you can apply for an emergency travel document that will allow you to return to the UK.

Go to the UK Government web page on Urgent Travel from Abroad without a UK Passport for full instructions and the application process. You will be charged a fee (currently £125).

We strongly recommend keeping a note of your passport details to speed up the process of requesting an emergency travel document. If you have uploaded your passport to Babel, log in to your account to see all your passport details there.

You will need a biometric passport to register for the EES system on arrival in the EU. Once the system is fully operational, you will no longer need to have your passport stamped on arrival and departure from the EU/Schengen area. Read our full guide to EES, ETIAS and visas to find out more about how the new systems will affect you.

Depending on the nature of your trip, we may ask you to upload to Babel a photo of the photo page from your passport. Passport images are stored securely and in compliance with our GDPR policy. Images of passport pages are used for purposes such as booking and checking in flights, identifying you, or confirming your identity to hotels.

If you hold dual nationality with citizenship of the UK and another country, you must travel on your UK passport to enter the UK. If you do not hold a UK passport, you must apply for a certificate of entitlement which costs £589.

The rules concerning dual citizenship and eligibility for dual citizenship are complex, so we strongly advise consulting UK Government advice on dual citizenship if you are in any doubt about your status.

If you are travelling to the EU/Schengen area with Blue Stamp Travel and you hold a passport from a third country, you should check the advice from the embassy of your destination country.