If you are a British citizen and living in the Republic of Ireland, then you have not to need to travel to the UK to renew your passport. The government of the UK allowed all its citizens who are living abroad, to get renewal of their passports by online service. The process of online passport renewal is very easy and fast. There are not any additional documents required for the passport renewal. Citizens can easily get their passports renewed following a few steps. Before applying for online passport renewal application you should make sure that you meet the following requirement:
- your passport is still valid or expired less than ten years ago
- the data page information is not changed
- your passport was never reported stolen, lost or damaged.
The online passport renewal service is valid for all over the Irish territory, the HM passport office welcomes all online applicants for renewal of their passport. If you meet all the above requirements then you can easily get your British renewed passport by following simple four steps.
- Necessary document
There is not any need for an additional document for your British passport renewal, or there is no need to prove your identity. Based on your existing British passport, the HM Passport Office only need the following documents:
- Your current passport, issued by the UK government
- A recent digital passport photo for online application
Ensure that your existing British passport is up-to-date, in original condition, and not damaged. The data page of your passport is not changed. Additionally, ensure that your digital passport photo is fresh and fulfilling the requirements of the UK passport photo standard. There are several standards for a digital passport photo, such as the size of the photo should be 35 mm X 45 mm in length, the file size of the digital photo should be more than 50KB and less than 10MB, and the background of the photo should be white. Furthermore, make sure that your face is in direction of the camera while taking a photo, there is not any kind of shadow on your face or background, your photo is clear, identical and not blurred, and there is no presence of any kind of object or person in your photo. Sunglasses, red eyes and lenses are not used in the passport photo. Your face is not covered with any object or your hair. You did not wear head covers in your passport photo (except in exceptional cases). Digital photo has a high level of importance in UK passport service, therefore you should take them seriously and take the services of professional passport photo providers instead of taking photos on your own. A major reason for the delay of passport service is inappropriate passport photos.
- Online passport application form
You have to visit the home official website of the UK government and fill out the passport application form. Make sure that your provided information is correct because inappropriate information causes delays in verification resulting in a delay in passport renewal. You must provide your contact numbers and residential address in Ireland, where your new passport would be delivered. In some cases, your financial information would be asked while filling out the online passport renewal application.
- Pay the fees
Once your online passport application form is completed you have to pay the passport renewal fees. The current fee for UK passport renewal is £86, additionally, you have to pay a courier charge of £19.86, and they will deliver your renewed passport to your given address. Only credit or debit cards are accepted at the HM passport office for the renewal fees.
- Send back your old passport
Once your application has been completed and fees have been paid, the online system will provide you with the address of the passport processing office in London to send back your old passport to a given address. Finally, the office will check your documents and your renewed passport would be delivered to you after the final approval of the authority. It will take four to ten days to be finalized and the documents to be ready.