My British passport is due for renewal in a couple of months and I see that I can no longer renew it at the Consul in Malaga. It now must be sent to Belfast.

Has anyone renewed their passport with Belfast? I would be interested hearing from anyone who has done so and what method did they use to get the application papers, old passport etc to Belfast. Did you experience any problems? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

When I saw the price of ?147.86 for the new passport and courier service back to Spain I nearly died. The cost to get it to Belfast has yet to be added to this figure!! At the current exchange rate it is going to be around ?200.00. That’s more than a weeks UK pension.

Just to add another point to this thread. Why does it cost ?147.86 for the new passport and courier service back to Spain, when the cost in the UK for a passport renewal is ?72.50?

For information only. I have received a reply from the UK Passport Office explaining why passport renewals cost more for British nationals living abroad. I also am attaching a link to an article that appeared in the Sur in English on the same subject.

Good Afternoon

Jacqueline McCarthy
Customer Contact Centre
Rheolwr T?m y Ganolfan Cyswllt Cwsmeriaid

Link to Sur in English http://www.surinenglish.com/20110717/news/costasol-malaga/cost-passport-renewal-201107171414.html

I have to say that I am more than surprised not to have received any comments whatsoever on passport renewal, considering that there is estimated to be more than 750,000 British nationals living in Spain! Does nobody renew their passport?

Seems to me the response you received is the usual politically correct bullshit produced by the FCO in response to any enquiry fro the public.
I renewed my passport about eighteen months ago via the Embassy in Madrid but essentially all they did was to check that the application was correctly completed before passing it on to the London Passport Office.
I’m not actually sure just how the Embassy in Madrid can justify its continued existence. ?147 plus forwarding and courier charges is extortion, but its what the market will bear. Now that the entire system has been passed on to Belfast, it really dsoesn’t matter where the application originates the costs involved are the same, but dont expect for one minute that overseas applications will be reduced in cost as a result. I fully expect that domestic applications will be increased in cost to the same level as the overseas one…
Just another example of the Brit governments greed…

On another not entirely unrelated subject, applications for Issue or renewal of UK Driving Licences and Road Tax enquiries… Previously if one had any enquiries one could approach local or regional offices of DVLA for advice. My D/L came up for renewal at age70 and I tried to renew it online; I came up against a brick wall and so decided to go to the UK to talk to the nice people at the Portsmouth DVLA office. Problem solved in less than 5 minute, application submitted and I am now waiting for the issue of the renewed licence.

Whilst in the office my attention was drawn to a large notice on the wall… with effect from Dec 13th 2013 ALL regional and local DVLA offices will be permanently closed. Applications and Enquiries will be handled by either post, phone or online. Problem with that is that the online service has an IP address recognition facility permanently enabled. Enquiries from IP addresses outside the UK are stopped at the second page…

The online form requires completion of a section demanding to know your UK address for the previous three years; if you cant provide this information TOUGH SHIT, the application cannot be completed… Also… those of us who held UK licences prior to 1997 had ‘grandfather rights’ to groups C1, and D1 permitting one to drive vehicles up to 7.5 tons or minibuses up to 17 passengers; the online form does not permit continued access to these groups, and the rights will be removed. There is no online facility to enable continuance of access to these groups…

More Government interference, more bureaucracy more rights removed ... and a heavy increase in the workload of the DVLA phone lines, so instead of being able to discuss something face to face, one will be dealing with a customer service rep working to a script and if the answer isn’t on the script you can bet your life the answer will be some meaningless gobbledegook or a straight NO…

fb

Thank you so much Foxbat for the input. Although I appreciate receiving your reply, I really would like to hear from someone who has renewed their British passport under the new system via Belfast. I did consider returning to the UK to renew my passport, but I then discovered that, if I could not prove that I had been living in the UK for more than 3 years, I would lose the fee that I had already paid and then start all over again as a non UK resident and pay again.

I have lived in Spain since 1970 and it is times like this that I wish I had taken out Spanish nationality. I can also confirm that I have not returned to the UK for over 30 years.

Michael.

Michael… have you considered doing the online thing for Passport renewal?

Checkout this links, download the Application Form and the guidance notes, complete Sections 1,2,3,5 and 9 and 10 if applicable,  Add two pics and loadsamoney or credit/debit card details and send your application to the address given on the form. A UK Residential Qualification does not appear to be a factor and is not mentioned anywhere…

Basic Information
https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports/y/spain/renewing_new/adult

Guidance Notes
https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/static/overseas-passport/OS_Guidance_Notes.pdf

Application Form
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/207390/OS_Form_04-13.pdf

I think that one of the reasons you haven’t had a lot of response is that the actual Brit following on this forum is now very limited… I think we only have about five regular cotributors left… most of the readership appears to be India, Pakistan, China, or Nigeria clients who use the forum as a spamming or phishing platform.

Hope this helps a little.

fb
Mod/Admin

Thanks again Foxbat for the reply. I have always intended using the online service but it would be nice hearing from someone who has already gone through the process to hear how things went.

Michael.