Estimated 10% of Brits can qualify for 'world's most powerful passport' as cost of UK's set to rise tomorrow
The clock is ticking for Brits to avoid spending more than they have to on making sure their passport is up-to-date as the cost is climbing a few quid from tomorrow (10 April) onwards.
By the time you're reading this, it's going to be less than 24 hours before you can get your new passport before the prices go up so you'd best get a move on if you like saving money.
Last year the cost of renewing your passport online climbed from £82.50 to £88.50, and this year the price is set to rise again to £94.50 for adults.
The changes kick in tomorrow, and the cost of an online application for children is going up from £57.50 to £61.50 as well.
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Doing your passport by post is getting more expensive too, going from £100 to £107 for adults and £69 to £74 for children.
If you want to get your new passport as quickly as possible then you'll be wanting the Premium Service which currently costs £207.50, but from tomorrow that price will increase to £222.
Getting a child's passport on the Premium Service is also set to rise from £176.50 to £189.
Applying from overseas will get more expensive too, as the price for doing it online will rise from £101 to £108 for adults and from £65.50 to £70 for children.
A paper application overseas will set you back £112.50 for an adult passport and £77 for a child's passport, but from tomorrow those costs will climb to £120.50 and £82.50 respectively.
It's quite the price hike and will take the cost of your passport far above what it was just a couple of years ago, so if ever you needed motivation to get a new passport this is it.
Speaking of getting a new passport, an estimated 10 percent of Brits qualify for one that is not only cheaper but more powerful.
The Irish passport hit the top spot in the Nomad Passport Index 2025, while the UK is tied in 21st place alongside France, Estonia, Croatia and Romania.
Nomad says the Irish passport is the strongest 'thanks to a slight edge in visa-free, visa-on-arrival and ETA-based travel, combined with fast-track citizenship options'.
They go on: "Irish citizens enjoy the right to live and work freely across the EU and, uniquely, in the UK. With its strong international reputation, entrepreneur-friendly tax policies and the overall flexibility of its passport, Ireland claims the title of the world’s strongest passport for 2025."
Plenty of Brits went and got Irish passports after Brexit, but if you still haven't then you might want to check your eligibility to get a passport that'll make travel around the world easier.
Since they cost €75 (£64.56) they're also a good deal cheaper than the UK one, but most Brits won't be able to get one for the rather obvious reason that they're not Irish.
You qualify if you were born in the Republic of Ireland before 2005 as that makes you an Irish citizen, being born in Northern Ireland under the same circumstances means you can choose to be an Irish citizen.
After 2005, if you were born in Ireland but your parents weren't British or Irish citizens then your citizenship depends on their residency rights.
If you have an Irish grandparent you can attempt to claim 'citizenship by descent', while if you were born abroad to an Irish parent you can apply for Foreign Birth Registration.
Back when the Brexit vote passed it was estimated that about 10 percent of Brits could be eligible for an Irish passport, which came out at about 6.7 million actual humans, but many who already wanted one to deal with the problems arising from leaving the EU may have likely secured theirs already.
Who knows how many people could still take advantage of these rules and travel a little easier?
Joe Harker