What Is My Passport Worth ?

The British Passport boasts quite a history. From the invention of pen and paper until 1794 a Passport consisted of a hand written letter from the Reigning Monarch stating that the bearer was entitled to the protection of the British Empire and should be treated accordingly when traveling abroad.

Today British Passports still contain the following message,

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.

The wording may have changed but the message hasn’t.

Since the outbreak of War in 1914 all British Passports have included a Photograph and the current Passport issued by the United Kingdom goes one step further. A microchip contained within the Passport stores the same information and can be read with a Scanner by Immigration Officials at Passport Control. If any of the details on the Passport are changed they will no longer match the data on the chip.

As a result a UK Passport costs £77.50 and if you need it the same day it will cost you £129.50.  A Children’s Passport will cost you £49.50 and if you are in a hurry it can be yours in a week for £109.50.

For anyone born before September 1929 a Passport is free, but someone born in October that year would by now be on their 12^th Passport. A family of four who need Passports for a holiday abroad will have to pay £245 and if they are in a hurry it will cost them £478. For someone earning minimum wage it will cost more than a week’s wages and probably cost more than the Holiday.

So what’s so special about a UK Passport that people pay so much money for them ?

The main advantage is that you can travel abroad. If you want to leave the British Isles you will need a Passport, whether it’s a business trip to Spain, a French Booze Cruse or a lads weekend in Amsterdam, you need a Passport.

Another advantage that’s not to be underestimated is it will allow you back in the UK. A British Passport holder is entitled to British Healthcare, Benefits and Public Services and is free to travel almost anywhere in the world.

For anyone entitled to the above benefits, paying £75 to prove it seems expensive, but to those not entitled to them a Forged or Stolen UK Passport is extreamly valuable and regularly sold by Criminals for large sums of money. Nobody knows how many people enter the UK each year with Forged or Stolen Passports.

Currently traveling between most EU Countries except the UK and Ireland doesn’t require a Passport. As a British National living in Holland, when I arrive at Schipol Airport from the UK I need to show my Passport before I’m allowed in the Country but when I arrive from Vienna or Copenhagen I just walk straight out on to the street.

Same person arriving at the same Airport, sometimes I need a Passport sometimes I don’t. It’s the same story on the train, from Brussels to London you need a Passport, from Paris to Amsterdam you don’t.

When I travelled to New York I had my Photograph and Fingerprints taken by US Immigration and they are now stored on a government database in the US, but what I don’t know is if they are now also stored on my Passport.

The Biometric Passport has the ability to store this information but it is not recorded when Passports are issued in the UK. I honestly do not know if my Biometric Information recorded at JFK Airport is now available to anyone who can read the microchip in my passport, or if it is only available to the Americans.

Despite this my British Passport is one of my most valuable possessions.