Disgusting - Childrens Passport Prices!!!

dfarry

I'm really angry... not helped by having a bad day!!!

but.... my youngest daughters passport is due to expire...

She was born in 2000 and we got her a passport shortly after she was born for a trip to France. My eldest daughter was born in 1998 and we got her first passport in 2000.

As children their passports last for 5 years, I can't remember what we originally paid but I believe it was about £20.

Last year my eldest passport was renewed...again for 5 years and this cost £25 (my partner seems to think).

Today we check the prices for our youngest and a 5 year childs passport has jumped to £34....a £9 increase in a year.... how can that be justified!!! (I wish my salary increased by such a large percentage amount!!).

Then to add insult to injury, a adult passport lasts for 10 years and is £51.... so when you weigh up the cost of getting passports that last for 5 years...compared to 10 year adult passports it is in my opinion like the government discriminating against children (or people with children), which would probably travel less than their parents anyway.....

Am I the only one to think that this is wrong.... just another cash-cow for the powers that be!

OK the simple answer I guess is if you don't like it don't travel abroad!! but as the only treat we get as a family every two years or so is it far that such high prices for passport be charged...then lets add VAT, travel Insurance tax, airport taxes....the list goes on....

How wise this country has become....when I was a kid I was simply added to my parents passport and things were so much more easier.

Rikki

You can have your children added to one of your passports. Its just easier for them to have one of their own so they can travel with either parent not just the one.

The price is still discusting though.

PeteMc

Try renewing one when you live outside the UK...£75 for a standard adult passport :eek:

small

Rikki - I thought that kids had to have their own passports now - they can't go onto a parent's anymore.

ely

Rikki wrote:

You can have your children added to one of your passports. Its just easier for them to have one of their own so they can travel with either parent not just the one.

The price is still discusting though.

Ok in therory until you need to go somewhere where kids must have own passport ie bulgaria and USA or child goes on a school trip or with friends.

Jay-Jay_4

All children have to have their own passports now, the passport office will not put a child on a parent's passport anymore..... and yes, the cost appauling.

I had to get myself and my two daughters a new passport each last year and I was gutted when I had to write the cheque

Altarf

Rikki wrote:

You can have your children added to one of your passports.

Not any more.

http://www.ukpa.gov.uk/passport_child_law.asp

dfarry

Yup thats right all kids have their own passports..... though there are benefits I'd say for the majority of people a combined passport would be fine.

Also back in the good ole days...I think you could still get a separate temporary passport that at the time cost a few quid.

Thing is....what is the money actually for... the nice little red book with a photo?... the time it takes to investigate and then issue the passport... surely if that were the case then it should be a flat rate fee for all ages. But if you are paying for the number of years the a childs passport should be exactly half the price...

It just seems that the prices have been plucked out the air with a "what can we just about get away with" attitude

dfarry

Child abduction, where a child is taken out of the country (often by one parent or guardian against the wishes of the other parent), is a rare but serious crime. At the UK Passport Service we are working to help prevent child abduction, so hard in fact that we pass all the costs and more onto ever single family in this fair land!

Incidently if you go to the link above it talks about parental responsibility..... as my children were born before 2002 and I am not married to their mother I do not have any parental responsibility....

It's a nonsense that fortunately was changed in 2002... but they didn't apply the changes retrospectively... so even with their brand new expensive 5 year passports I have absolutely no rights whatsoever to take my children on holiday unless mum agree's, I can't even comment on their health or wellbeing.....no wonder these Fathers for Justice people get so agitated and start cross dressing! :P

nearlyrich

My DD just had to pay £51 for her first adult passport, she's a student but there are no concessions....DS will need one too as he has a course related field trip coming up. The annoying bit from DD's perspective was her passport runs out in early April but to go skiing in Feb she has to have 3 months left after the trip:mad:

cundall

Yeh i know what you mean i went to the passport office today and for the week return on the adult passport it has cost me 77.50