Renewing your passport
Same route for most adults and for children under 16, with a few differences in cost, validity and countersigning.
Adult renewal
You can renew if you are 16 or over (or turning 16 within the next 3 weeks). It costs £102 online or £115.50 on a paper form. Children need a separate application.
You must renew before travelling if your passport has expired or does not have enough time left on it. How much time is enough depends on where you are going: use the travel dates calculator.
What you need
- Your old passport.
- Any valid passports from another country: a colour photocopy of every page (including blank ones) or the passport itself.
- Online: a digital photo, a credit or debit card and your passport.
- Paper: two new, identical printed photos.
Your old passport is sent back to you. The new passport has a different number from the old one, so do not book travel until you have it. It may come by courier or Royal Mail, possibly as a card or letter that does not say it contains a passport.
If your name or other details have changed, or you can no longer be recognised from your photo, see name changes. A paper application needs a countersignatory if your appearance has changed so much that you cannot be recognised from your current passport.
Need it quickly? See Fast Track and Premium.
Child renewal
Renew a child's passport if the child is under 16 and already has a British passport. Child passports are valid for 5 years. It costs £66.50 online or £80 on paper. Someone with parental responsibility must apply and give both parents' details, or explain why they cannot.
On a paper application, a countersignatory is needed when the child is 11 or under. If the child is over 16, use the adult renewal process if they held a child passport, or the first adult passport route if they never did.