HM Passport Office has quietly amended its “Dealing with customer documents” guidance to permit adult applicants renewing an expired British passport from a country that now requires an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to submit a colour photocopy of the old passport instead of the physical document. The update, published at 15:53 BST on 18 September, also clarifies that dual nationals may provide photocopies of their full foreign passport for all application types. Previously, couriering original passports added two to three weeks to processing times and posed travel-restriction risks for British citizens residing abroad who needed their other nationality’s passport for local identification. The acceptance of certified copies removes that friction and aligns with the Home Office’s broader shift toward fully digital immigration documentation by 2027. For global-mobility programmes the change reduces administrative overheads—assignees can keep their secondary passports on hand for visa renewals or local banking without breaking chain-of-custody rules. It also minimises courier costs and the risk of documents being lost internationally, which previously triggered emergency-travel-document applications and delayed deployment dates. However, employers should note that the photocopy must be in colour and the full document, including blank pages. Remote employees will still need a professional counter-signatory where applicable, and the Passport Office reserves the right to request the physical booklet if authenticity is in doubt. Action point: Update relocation checklists to reflect the new option, and brief service partners in ETA-mandated jurisdictions—especially the Gulf states and Latin-American markets where courier transit times have been longest—so they can switch to copy-based submissions immediately.
