OT: Passport "Issued By" location
Mar 30, 2009, 9:01 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Blue, VS Silver
Posts: 2,575
OT: Passport "Issued By" location
Hello All,
I want to pick your brains, my wife has just 2 clear pages, and a few half used pages left in her two year British passport! (with hindsight she should have got a 48 pager) So was thinking of getting a new passport in British High Commission in Accra. Now I'm in this thinking and another guy I spoke to who travels a lot, said it is better to have "Issued by: UK IPS" as this will attract less scrutiny at border posts.
Any views on this?
Ta
John
I want to pick your brains, my wife has just 2 clear pages, and a few half used pages left in her two year British passport! (with hindsight she should have got a 48 pager) So was thinking of getting a new passport in British High Commission in Accra. Now I'm in this thinking and another guy I spoke to who travels a lot, said it is better to have "Issued by: UK IPS" as this will attract less scrutiny at border posts.
Any views on this?
Ta
John
Mar 30, 2009, 9:29 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,647
Mine and my wife's were issued in Muscat Oman and just have Authority:FCO on the photograph page. We have travelled extensively with them and the only comment I've ever received was in New York when the immigration officer said "why all the arabic stamps" to which I replied "I live there". No one seems to have noticed where the passports were issued though, or just didn't care.
From the FCO website I found the following answer to a question about passports issued in Washington, which also applies to all new passports issued overseas:
Q: Will my passport say that it was issued in Washington?
A: No. All British passports issued overseas have the issuing authority listed simply as FCO, which stands for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office."
So it doesn't say where it was issued. Personally I wouldn't worry about it.
From the FCO website I found the following answer to a question about passports issued in Washington, which also applies to all new passports issued overseas:
Q: Will my passport say that it was issued in Washington?
A: No. All British passports issued overseas have the issuing authority listed simply as FCO, which stands for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office."
So it doesn't say where it was issued. Personally I wouldn't worry about it.
Mar 30, 2009, 9:45 am
#3
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: France
Programs: MUCCI, BA LTG/GGL/CCR, AF PLAT, ETHIHAD AND LH USELESS PLASTIC
Posts: 2,063
No issue at all in my experience. First passport issued at British High Commission New Delhi, and current one at Pretoria - it is marked ZAF. Never had any problems anywhere. I guess the new ones simply replace this by FCO.
HL
HL
Mar 30, 2009, 10:21 am
#4
In Memoriam
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Katoomba (Blue Mountains)
Programs: Mucci
Posts: 8,083
Mine and my wife's were issued in Muscat Oman and just have Authority:FCO on the photograph page. We have travelled extensively with them and the only comment I've ever received was in New York when the immigration officer said "why all the arabic stamps" to which I replied "I live there". No one seems to have noticed where the passports were issued though, or just didn't care.
From the FCO website I found the following answer to a question about passports issued in Washington, which also applies to all new passports issued overseas:
Q: Will my passport say that it was issued in Washington?
A: No. All British passports issued overseas have the issuing authority listed simply as FCO, which stands for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office."
So it doesn't say where it was issued. Personally I wouldn't worry about it.
From the FCO website I found the following answer to a question about passports issued in Washington, which also applies to all new passports issued overseas:
Q: Will my passport say that it was issued in Washington?
A: No. All British passports issued overseas have the issuing authority listed simply as FCO, which stands for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office."
So it doesn't say where it was issued. Personally I wouldn't worry about it.
Dave
Mar 30, 2009, 10:45 am
#7
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,647
Mine (with FCO) was issued in 2004; maybe they were phasing it in and now all have FCO. My old (pre-2004) passport had Issuing Authority: Muscat and that was never a problem either so either way I don't think johnny5a should be worried.
Mar 30, 2009, 1:37 pm
#9
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: London
Programs: BA
Posts: 2,368
UK Passports issued in the UK now have 'IPS' (Identity and Passport Service) as the 'Issued by' location. Previous locations were 'UKPA' and prior to that, the physical location at which it was issued.
UK Passports issued outside of the UK, have 'FCO' whereas they used to state the location.
Whereas passports issued in the UK have always included the most advanced security features, for various reasons (cost mainly), the documents produced abroad have not. There is also the view that in some countries, the facilities for producing a UK Passport are less secure than in the UK.
The US DHS in particular can be difficult with passports from developed countries produced by Embassies / HC outside of the developed world.
UK Passports issued outside of the UK, have 'FCO' whereas they used to state the location.
Whereas passports issued in the UK have always included the most advanced security features, for various reasons (cost mainly), the documents produced abroad have not. There is also the view that in some countries, the facilities for producing a UK Passport are less secure than in the UK.
The US DHS in particular can be difficult with passports from developed countries produced by Embassies / HC outside of the developed world.
Mar 30, 2009, 2:35 pm
#10
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine, & London, UK
Programs: BA Gold; HH Gold; M&M; PS Classic; VV Silver (deceased); BD Silver (deceased).
Posts: 3,604
UK Passports issued outside of the UK, have 'FCO' whereas they used to state the location. Whereas passports issued in the UK have always included the most advanced security features, for various reasons (cost mainly), the documents produced abroad have not. There is also the view that in some countries, the facilities for producing a UK Passport are less secure than in the UK.
One word of caution - as a colleague found to his cost - if your passport was issued outside the UK and does not include the biometric chip then you cannot use the same-day renewal service in the UK.
Mar 30, 2009, 3:12 pm
#11
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: London
Programs: BA
Posts: 2,368
Mine was processed through what was at the time the British Office in Prishtina but was actually issued at the British embassy in Vienna. Is says Authority: FCO.
One word of caution - as a colleague found to his cost - if your passport was issued outside the UK and does not include the biometric chip then you cannot use the same-day renewal service in the UK.
One word of caution - as a colleague found to his cost - if your passport was issued outside the UK and does not include the biometric chip then you cannot use the same-day renewal service in the UK.