Changes to passport services for Belgium’s British nationals

The British Government is making important changes to the passport service for British nationals living overseas.  From June 3, 2013, the application process will be centralised and British nationals in Belgium will have to submit their passport application to Her Majesty’s Passport Office in the UK.  This important change follows reviews by the National Audit Office and is designed to achieve economies of scale, greater security and consistency in decision making. All British passports have enhanced sophisticated security features designed to reduce the likelihood of identity theft and passport fraud.

Until now, British nationals living in Belgium submitted passport applications to a regional processing hub in Paris, France.  From June 3, information on the UK Government website will advise British nationals on the new passport application process.  All the information required to make an application will be found at https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports. Applicants will be required to send their applications to the Passport Customer Service Centre in Durham.  There will be no change to processing times. Fees charged to British nationals applying overseas are based on the current costs of providing the service. As overseas volumes are much less than UK volumes it is harder to gain efficiencies overseas.  That is why the decision was made to repatriate the issuing of passports to British nationals overseas to the UK.  Once this has been completed Her Majesty’s Passport Office will be seeking to create closer alignment between the two sets of fees.

The contact number for the British Consulate in Brussels is 0032(0)2 287 6211. You can find out more about the British Embassy to Belgium at www.gov.uk/world/belgium , www.facebook.com/ukinbelgium and on Twitter @UKinBelgium