British Dependent Territories Citizen passport

British passport

British passports may be issued to people holding any of the various forms of British nationality, and are used as evidence of the bearer's nationality and immigration status within the United Kingdom or the issuing state/territory.

Issuing

In the United Kingdom, British passports (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) are issued by the Identity and Passport Service. In conjunction with the Post Office, it is possible to submit most passport applications at a number of branches.

In the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, British passports are issued by the Lieutenant-Governor.

In British overseas territories, British Overseas Territories Citizen passports are issued by the Governor of the territory, whilst British Citizen passport application are forwarded to the Passport Section of the appropriate Foreign Office mission covering the territory (e.g. the United States for all the Caribbean British Overseas Territories).

In Commonwealth and foreign countries, British passports are issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the Passport Section of a British consulate, embassy, or High Commission. Since 2009, some British embassies do not themselves issue full passports (though quickly available emergency passports of limited validity are issued for one-way travel to the UK or to another part of the Commonwealth), and applications must be sent by the applicant to a centralised processing point; applications from Chile, for example, must be sent to UK Passport Service Centre for the Americas and Caribbean, Washington DC, USA. The FCO says: "In their 2006 report on consular services, the National Audit Office recommended limiting passport production to fewer locations to increase security and reduce expenditure". In other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, applications for British passports can be submitted in person at the counter in a number of post office branches. Passport book production is limited to the UK from 2010.

As of 2011 holders of the following categories of British nationality can apply for a British passport:

The three-character codes appearing after each type of nationality above are the ISO/IEC 7501-1 machine-readable passport alpha-3 country codes of such British passports.

All British passports are issued in the exercise of discretion by Her Majesty's Government under the Royal Prerogative. In any event, discretion must be exercised reasonably and not on a whim, and even though there is no statute governing the issue of passports, such prerogative powers are susceptible to the normal processes of judicial review (Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service [1985] AC 374).

British citizens (except those solely connected to a Crown Dependency), British subjects with the right of abode and British Overseas Territories citizens from Gibraltar are UK nationals for the purposes of Community Law and are usually entitled to move freely within the European Economic Area and Switzerland with no more than a check on their identity and nationality at an external border of a Member State. Entry may be refused however, on grounds of public policy, public security or public health.

The right of abode, i.e., the right to enter and live in the United Kingdom freely, is held by all British citizens automatically. It is also held by some British subjects and those other Commonwealth citizens who were patrials under the Immigration Act 1971.

History

Safe Conduct documents, usually notes signed by the monarch, were issued to foreigners as well as English subjects in medieval times. They were first mentioned in an Act of Parliament, the Safe Conducts Act in 1414. Between 1540 and 1685, the Privy Council issued passports although they were still signed by the monarch until the reign of Charles II when the Secretary of State could sign them instead. The Secretary of State signed all passports in place of the monarch from 1794 onwards, at which time formal records started to be kept.

Passports were written in Latin or English until 1772, when French was used instead. From about 1855 English was used, with some sections translated into French for many years.

About 1855 passports became a standard document issued solely to British nationals. They were a simple single-sheet paper document, and by 1914 included a photograph of the holder.

The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 was passed on the outbreak of the First World War. A new format was introduced in 1915: a single sheet folded into eight with a cardboard cover. It included a description of the holder as well as a photograph, and had to be renewed after two years.

Historical passports

Some duplicate passports and passport records are available at the British Library; for example IOR: L/P&J/11 contain a few surviving passports of travelling ayahs for the 1930s. See also the MovingHere website.

A passport issued on 18 June 1641 and signed by King Charles I still exists.

Timeline

Various changes to the design were made over the years:

The old blue passport

A 32-page passport with a dark blue cover, known nowadays as the old blue style, came into use in 1920 with the formation of the Passport Service following international agreement on a standard format for passports, and remained in use until replaced by the European-Union-style machine-readable passport in late 1988. As with many documents worldwide and all booklet-format documents, details were handwritten into the passport and (as of 1955) included: number, holder's name, "accompanied by his wife" and her maiden name, "and" (number) "children", national status. For both bearer and wife: profession, place and date of birth, country of residence, height, eye and hair colour, special peculiarities, signature and photograph. Names, birth dates, and sexes of children, list of countries for which valid, issue place and date, expiry date, a page for renewals and, at the back, details of the amount of foreign exchange for travel expenses (a limited amount of sterling, typically £50 but increasing with inflation, could be taken out of the country). The bearer's sex was not explicitly stated, although the name was written in with title ("Mr John Smith"). Descriptive text was printed in both English and French (a practice which still continues), e.g., "Accompanied by his wife (Maiden name)/Accompagné de sa femme (Née)". Changed details were struck out and rewritten, with a rubber-stamped note confirming the change.

If details and photograph of a man's wife and details of children were entered (this was not compulsory), the passport could be used by the bearer, wife, and children under 16, if together; separate passports were required for the wife or children to travel independently. The passport was valid for five years, renewable for another five, after which it had to be replaced.

The passport had a printed list of countries for which it was valid, which was added to in handwriting as validity increased. A passport of 1955 was valid for the British Commonwealth, USA, and all countries in Europe "including the USSR, Turkey, Algeria, Azores, Canary Islands, Iceland, and Madeira"; during its period of validity restrictions eased and it was endorsed "and for all other foreign countries".

The British visitor's passport

A new simplified type, the British Visitor's Passport, was introduced in 1961. It was a single-page cardboard document valid for one year obtainable for many years from Employment Exchanges, as agents of the Passport Office, and then from a Post Office. It was accepted for travel by most West European countries, but was dropped in 1995 since it did not identify the holder's nationality or meet new security standards.

European Format Passports

On 15 August 1988, the Glasgow passport office became the first to issue burgundy-coloured machine-readable passports. They followed a common format agreed amongst member states of the European Community, and had the words 'European Community' on the cover, changed to 'European Union' in 1997. The passport has 32 pages; a 48-page version is available with more space for stamps and visas. There are two lines of machine-readable text printed in a format agreed amongst members of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, and a section in which relevant terms ("surname", "date of issue", etc.) are translated into the official EU languages. Passports issued overseas did not all have a Machine Readable Zone but these was introduced gradually as appropriate equipment was made available overseas.

In 1998 the first digital image passport was introduced with photographs being replaced with images printed directly on the bio-data page which was moved from the cover to an inside page to reduce the ease of fraud. These documents were all issued with machine readable zones and had a hologram over the photograph, which was the first time that British passports had been protected by an optically variable safeguard. These documents were issued until 2006 when the biometric passport was introduced. The bio-data page is printed with a finely detailed background including a drawing of a red grouse (a native British bird), and the entire page is protected from modification by a laminate which incorporates a holographic image of the kingfisher; visa pages are numbered and printed with detailed backgrounds including drawings of other birds: a merlin, curlew, avocet, and red kite. An RFID chip and antenna are located on the obverse of the data page and hold the same visual information as is printed, including a digital copy of the photograph with biometric information for use with facial recognition systems. The Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages have been included in all British Passports for the first time, and appear on the titles page replacing the official languages of the EU, although the EU languages still appear faintly as part of the background design. Welsh and Scottish Gaelic precede the official EU languages in the translations section.

Physical appearance

British passports are burgundy, with the coat of arms of the United Kingdom emblazoned in the centre of the front cover.

Passports issued by the IPS and FCO

Front cover

The words "UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND" are inscribed above the coat of arms, whilst the word "PASSPORT" is inscribed below. The biometric passport symbol appears at the bottom of the front cover under the word "PASSPORT".

The words "EUROPEAN UNION" are printed at the top of British passports issued to British nationals who are considered "Nationals of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the purposes of Community Law" (i.e. British Citizens, British Subjects with the right of abode in the UK and British Overseas Territories Citizens connected with Gibraltar). It is not included at the top of other British passports (i.e. British Nationals (Overseas), British Overseas Citizens, British Protected Persons, and British Overseas Territories Citizens.

Passport note

British passports issued by the UK contain on its inside cover the following words in the English language only:

Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State Requests and requires in the Name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.

In older passports, more specific reference was made to "Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs", originally including the name of the incumbent.

Information page

British passports issued by the Identity and Passport Service and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office include the following data on the information page:

The items are identified by text in English and French (e.g., "Date of birth/Date de naissance"); there is a section in which all this text is translated into all official EU languages, as well as Welsh and Scottish Gaelic.

Function-related passports

Besides the ordinary passports described above, special passports are issued to government officials from which diplomatic status may (diplomatic passport) or may not (official passport) by the text on the cover. A special passport is available for the Queen's Messenger. The latter passport contains the text QUEENS MESSENGER – COURRIER DIPLOMATIQUE below the coat of arms, and the text "BRITISH PASSPORT" above it.

Passports issued by Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar

Front cover

British passports issued directly by the Crown Dependencies as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar are slightly different from those issued by the Identity and Passport Service to residents of the United Kingdom and by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to British nationals abroad. The words EUROPEAN UNION still appear across the top of passport covers, signifying the special status of these nationals within the jurisdiction of the EU.

Passports for British citizens connected to the Crown Dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey (in the Channel Islands) and the Isle of Man (located in the Irish Sea) do not carry the words "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" on the front cover. In their place, these passports feature the words BRITISH ISLANDS — BAILIWICK OF JERSEY or BAILIWICK OF GUERNSEY or ISLE OF MAN, as appropriate.

Gibraltar passport covers are virtually identical to British passports issued by the IPS and FCO, except that they feature the word GIBRALTAR directly above the coat of arms and below the words "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

Passport note

In passports issued by the Crown Dependencies, the passport note request is slightly different to those issued by the UK, coming from the Lieutenant Governor of the respective island. This difference results from the dependencies owing allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II rather than the Government of the United Kingdom.

In Gibraltar passports, the "request" in the passport note is made by the Governor of Gibraltar instead of "Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State".

Information page

The special status of British Citizens with a connection to the Crown Dependencies can not be inferred from the machine readable zone as the issuing country code and citizenship code (both GBR) is identical to passports of other British Citizens.

Passports issued by British overseas territories

Front cover

Passports issued by British overseas territories to British Overseas Territories Citizens do not bear the text "UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND", but instead the words "BRITISH PASSPORT" above the coat of arms and the name of the Territory below it (e.g. "TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS").

Information page

The nationality reads "British Overseas Territories Citizens". On the machine-readable zone however the 3-letter abbreviation of the Territory is given (for example: VGB for British Virgin Islands) in the fields of nationality and issuing authority,, thus enabling automatic distinction between BOTCs related to different territories.

Endorsements

Certain British passports are issued with printed endorsements on the Official Observations page. These form part of the passport when it is issued, as distinct from immigration stamps subsequently entered in the visa pages:

Next Generation biometric passports and national identity registration

There had been plans, under the Identity Cards Act 2006, to link passports to the Identity Cards scheme. However, in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement that followed the 2010 General Election, the new government announced that they planned to scrap the ID card scheme, the National Identity Register, and the next generation of biometric passports, as part of their measures 'to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour Government and roll back state intrusion.'

The Identity Cards Act 2006 would have required any person applying for a passport to have their details entered into a centralised computer database, the National Identity Register, part of the National Identity Scheme associated with identity cards and passports. Once registered, they would also have been obliged to update any change to their address and personal details. The schedule for putting passport applicants' and renewers' details on the National Identity Register (NIR) has not been announced

The identity card was expected to cost up to £60 (with £30 going to the Government, and the remainder charged as processing fees by the companies that would be collecting the fingerprints and photographs). In May 2005 the Government said that the cost for a combined identity card and passport would be £93 plus processing fees.

The next generation of biometric passports, and which would have contained chips holding facial images and fingerprints, were to have been issued from 2012. Everyone applying for a passport from 2012 would have had their 10 fingerprints digitally scanned and stored on a database, although only two would have been recorded in the passport.

In May 2006 a "Renew for Freedom" campaign [3] was launched by the NO2ID opposition group, urging passport holders to renew their passports in the summer of 2006 in order to delay being entered on the National Identity Register. This followed the comment made by Charles Clarke in the House of Commons that "anyone who feels strongly enough about the linkage [between passports and the ID scheme] not to want to be issued with an ID card in the initial phase will be free to surrender their existing passport and apply for a new passport before the designation order takes effect" [4].

In response, the Home Office said that it was "hard to see what would be achieved, other than incurring unnecessary expense" by renewing passports early [5].

Fees

The cost of obtaining a standard passport over the years has increased greatly. While consumer prices in the UK have increased by 24% from early 1998 to 2009, the price of a passport renewal increased by 269%.

The above fees apply for passports issued in the United Kingdom by the Identity and Passport Service. Passports issued outside the UK by the Passport Section of a British Consulate, Embassy, or High Commission currently cost £124.

Number of passports and space for stamps

Some countries require that a passport contain one or more blank pages to allow space for stamps. Pages cannot be added into British passports. If a passport is full, the bearer must apply for a new passport. A standard British Passport has 32 pages, but a 48-page "jumbo passport" is also available.

Two passports

The Passport Office permits two passports to be held at the same time if there is reason to do so.

Expired passports

On expiry and replacement by a new passport the issuing office cuts off the corners of the expired passport and returns it to the holder. Expired passports are sometimes accepted as proof of identity and right of residence, but this has become more difficult as legislation has come into force penalising those who employ workers without the right to work in the UK, for example; but a British passport which expired not more than 10 years ago is accepted as proof of eligibility when applying for a new passport.

Vulnerabilities

According to The Guardian, the information contained on a biometric passport can be viewed using readily available hardware and software. Information is stored in encrypted form on an RFID tag, with the password as a combination of information written on the passport, so that anyone with access to the passport will be able to read the chip. The passport is also vulnerable to brute force attacks. And, because it is possible to read the RFID tags remotely at a distance of several centimetres, it is not necessary to be in possession of the passport to extract the data.

This makes cloning of the passport possible. Because the biometric passport is supposedly highly secure and therefore trusted, it is thought that the holder of a cloned passport might be more likely to escape detection than the holder of a traditional passport.

See also

External links

• Official site of UK Identity and Passport Service
• History of Passports at The National Archives.
• British Passport information on PRADO
• Images of an 1857 British passport from www.passportland.com

Gallery

Online references

Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_passport