Renewing a British passport from abroad

You renew online through HM Passport Office wherever you live, it costs a bit more than in the UK, and the main rule is simple: don't book travel until the new one is in your hand.

The short version

Renew online through GOV.UK's overseas passport service. Most adults and children can apply from wherever they live [1].
From 8 April 2026, an overseas online application costs £116.50 for an adult and £75.50 for a child. Paper applications cost more [2].
Your new passport has a new number, so update airlines, banks and residence permits once it arrives [3].
Allow plenty of time, and longer if you're sending documents or it's a first passport.
If you need to travel within six weeks and can't get a passport in time, an emergency travel document costs £125 [4][5].

How overseas renewal works

Back home in Blighty you can wander into a Post Office for a Check and Send. Abroad, it's all online. GOV.UK's overseas passports page is the start point. It covers renewing, replacing and first applications, for adults and children, and sends you into the same HM Passport Office online service used in the UK [1].

Start at GOV.UK's "Renew or apply for a passport from overseas" page and answer the questions about where you live and what you need [1].
Get a digital photo. You can take one on a phone against a plain, light background, or use a photo booth or shop that gives you a code. The photo is where applications most often get held up: no glasses, no shadows, no grinning like you've just been handed a proper cuppa.
Pay online with a debit or credit card.
Send your old passport and any documents if the service asks you to. It gives you a cover sheet and an address. Use a tracked courier. Don't send originals unless told to.
Track your application with the reference number [3].
Receive the new passport by courier. The package won't say it contains a passport [3].

Your old passport will be cancelled. If a visa or residence stamp sits in it, check with the immigration office where you live what they need from you, and keep the cancelled passport with your new one if it comes back to you.

When you'll need to send documents

A simple adult renewal of a recent passport often needs nothing more than the old passport. You'll need more if:

you're applying for a first British passport (for example, a child born abroad)
your name has changed since the last passport, through marriage, divorce or deed poll
your old passport was lost or stolen, or is damaged
your old passport was issued before you turned 16

The online service tells you exactly what's needed. Translations may be required for foreign documents, such as a local marriage certificate.

What it costs in 2026

Passport fees rose on 8 April 2026. These are the overseas fees from that date, from the Home Office announcement [2]:

Application from overseas	Before 8 April 2026	From 8 April 2026
Adult (16 and over), online	£108	£116.50
Child (under 16), online	£70	£75.50
Adult, paper form	£120.50	£130
Child, paper form	£82.50	£89

For comparison, applying online from inside the UK now costs £102 for an adult and £66.50 for a child [6]. The overseas premium is a few pounds, and the paper route costs more than online either way. GOV.UK also lists a larger frequent traveller passport at a higher fee [6]. Anyone born on or before 2 September 1929 gets their passport free [6].

Children's passports

A British child's passport lasts five years, so if you're raising kids abroad you'll be doing this more often than you'd like.

Renewing a child's passport works through the same overseas service, at the child fee [1][2].
Both parents' details are usually asked for, and someone with parental responsibility applies and signs.
A first passport for a child born abroad needs more evidence: the full local birth certificate (translated if needed), proof that a parent was British when the child was born, and often the parents' own passport details. Registering the birth with the UK isn't required for a passport [7]. Our guide to registering a child born abroad covers whether your child is British in the first place.
Turning 16: a teenager can apply for an adult passport if they're 16 or turning 16 within three weeks [3].

How long to allow

GOV.UK gives the current processing times on HM Passport Office's service pages, not as a fixed number on the overseas page, and they change with the season [3]. Spring and early summer are the busy months, as half of Britain remembers its holiday at once.

In practice:

Renew when you have at least six months left, or earlier if you're in a country that wants six months' validity on arrival.
Allow several weeks for a straightforward renewal, plus courier time in both directions.
Allow longer for first passports, name changes, lost passports and anything where documents go by post.
Don't book travel until the new passport arrives. Its number is different from the old one, so a booking made on the old number won't match [3].

The new passport doesn't carry over unused months from the old one, so there's no bonus in renewing late.

Emergency travel documents

If you need to travel urgently and can't get a passport in time, the FCDO issues an emergency travel document (ETD). You can apply if all of these are true [4]:

you're a British national outside the UK
you need to travel within six weeks
your passport is lost, stolen, damaged, full, recently expired, or is with HM Passport Office or a foreign embassy
you can't renew or replace it from abroad before you travel
you've held a valid UK passport issued on or after 1 January 2006

ETD detail	What GOV.UK says
Fee	£125, non-refundable [5]
Usual time	Ready to collect 2 working days after applying [5]
Can take longer	Expired passport, child under 16, more documents needed, appointment needed [5]
Valid for	Usually one single or return journey, through up to five countries [4]
Collection	You may need an appointment at the nearest embassy, high commission or consulate [5]

Your travel plans may be printed on it. If they change, you reapply and pay again [5]. Border control may keep it when you arrive [5]. Check that every country you'll leave, enter or pass through accepts an ETD, including any visa you need [5].

If you've never had a passport issued since 2006, an ETD is only for genuinely urgent, unplanned trips, such as a close relative's funeral, the unexpected birth of your child or urgent medical treatment. Holidays, weddings and job interviews don't qualify [4]. An ETD is a one-off fix; you'll still need a full passport afterwards. Our guide to consular help from the FCDO covers what else the embassy can do in a crisis.

Dual nationals: use your British passport for the UK

If you also hold another nationality, keep your British passport valid. GOV.UK says British dual nationals can't get an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to enter the UK on their other passport, so you need a valid UK or Irish passport or a certificate of entitlement [8]. Airlines decide who boards, and some may accept an expired UK passport issued in 1989 or later alongside a valid passport from an ETA-eligible country with matching details [8], but you'd be relying on the check-in desk's mood. Renew before it becomes a problem.

Renewing a British passport from abroad: fees, timings and emergencies