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Delays continue for expat passports

passportThe number of British expats who required help with emergency passports jumped more than 8% last year.

A total of 31,134 people asked the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for help over the course of 2013/14, compared with 28,783 the previous year.

That figure does not include many who were caught in the lengthy backlog after the report was released.

HM Passport Office’s long delays have been put down to the closure of seven processing centres which were run by the FCO in Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, Madrid, Paris, Pretoria, Washington and Wellington.

Responsibility for passport issuing was shifted instead to the Home Office and its UK passport office. Although the gradual transfer took place between December 2012 and March 2014, it still found itself unable to cope.

Many expats were obliged to apply for emergency travel documents.

Perhaps in the absence of joined-up thinking, passport applications are now dealt with by the Home Office in the UK while emergency documents are issued by FCO offices around the world.

The Foreign Office website states: "An emergency travel document lets you leave another country if you can’t get a new or replacement British passport in time to travel. You can apply for an emergency travel document (sometimes known as an emergency passport) if you’re a British national outside the UK and your passport has been lost, stolen, damaged or has expired. You should first try to renew or replace your passport if it has expired or is damaged. Only apply for an emergency travel document if you need to travel before you can get a replacement."

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