UK Passport Application Terms and Conditions

By applying for a passport you agree to these terms and conditions. You confirm that you or the applicant:

  • are a British national and haven’t lost or given up your national status
  • aren’t breaking the terms of a court order by making this application
  • don’t owe any money to the UK government for repatriation costs, for example when the government pays to get you home from abroad
  • understand by voluntarily applying for a UK passport you may lose citizenship of another country
  • will tell HM Passport Office if you were born through surrogacy

If this is an application for a child passport, you confirm that you:

  • have parental responsibility
  • will send any court orders relating to the child’s residence, contact or removal from the UK

We may ask for more information before we can continue with your application.

Warning - If you give untrue or misleading information to get a passport you could be prosecuted.

Your new photo

Your new photo must look like you and must not have been altered in any way. It must have been taken in the last month. Photos that pass our online checks may still be unsuitable for your new passport. We may ask for a different digital or paper photo.

Your new passport

When you get your new passport you must sign it with black ballpoint pen. You can’t use it until you do. If you can’t sign your name, provide an explanation before you pay. Your passport will show ‘the holder is not required to sign’.

Passport fee

Payments are managed by a company called Worldpay. They are responsible for the availability of their service.

Cancellation and refunds

You won’t get a refund if:

  • your application is delayed because we need to make extra checks
  • we move you to a different service and your application takes longer, for example you’re moved from Online Premium to Fast Track
  • we haven’t received your old passport or documents within 90 days of submitting your application
  • we withdraw your application because we haven’t received all the information we’ve asked for
  • you cancel your application or you’re not entitled to a passport

You can cancel your application at any time but you’ll need to do it in writing. Contact us to find out what you need to do.

Applying with Online Premium

You need to come to your collection appointment in person. You must bring your old passport with you – you can’t collect your new passport without it.

Warning - Your old passport will be cancelled on the day of your collection appointment. You can’t use it - you could be stopped by the authorities if you do.

If you can’t go to your collection appointment, contact us. We’ll arrange another time for you to collect your new passport. If you don’t collect it within 28 days we’ll cancel it. You’ll have to apply and pay again.

Lost, stolen or damaged passports

You confirm that you or the applicant will:

  • contact HM Passport Office immediately if the old passport is lost, stolen or damaged after you’ve applied
  • return a lost passport to a UK passport office if it comes into your possession

Privacy policy

This privacy policy relates to the online passport application service run by HM Passport Office. By agreeing to the declaration, you understand that:

  • the details you’ve given will be checked against information held by other organisations to decide whether to issue or withdraw a passport
  • we retain your data electronically and may use it to check our systems work securely and effectively
  • we may pass information about your passport or related records to organisations in the UK and abroad when you use your passport, obtain a service, or when it’s in the public interest to do so
  • we may ask for feedback through links and post-application surveys

Read the HM Passport Office privacy policy to find out how we store and protect your information.

Information we ask for

When you apply for a UK passport you’ll be asked for a range of information, including your name, date of birth, contact details and a photo. You may be contacted for additional information, for example if your information doesn’t match that held by HM Passport Office, or you need to ask someone to confirm your identity. Information you enter online will be held temporarily and securely in line with the HM Passport Office privacy policy. We store cookies on your computer and you can find more information about this in our cookie policy. We do this so you can progress through and complete your application. Your information and uploaded photos won’t be stored permanently until you submit your application.

We will store all photos, gender and date of birth details temporarily for up to 6 months. These photos aren’t stored with any other personal information. This will include photos, gender and date of birth data for applications which are not fully completed and submitted, or discontinued. We do this to test the tools we use and improve our service.If you don’t complete and submit your passport application, all other personal information you supply in your application will be deleted within 24 hours.

Payment details

The payment part of this service is provided by Worldpay in line with our terms and conditions. HM Passport Office doesn’t collect or store any of your financial information.

Additional feedback

We welcome your views on this service. We invite feedback through links in the website and post-application surveys. We’ll use what you tell us to improve this and related services.

Site usage

Apart from the data you enter, we also collect anonymous site-usage information. This helps us to see how the service is used and how we can make it better. HM Passport Office shares this data with the Government Digital Service and complies with the Data Protection Act. Read the Home Office information charter to find out how to ask to see your information or complain about how it’s used.