Biometric British Passports

Are you a British national?  If so you might be interested to know that the British High Commission in Lusaka began producing Biometric passports during March this year. 

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, working closely with the UK Passport Service, has initiated a programme to rollout Biometric passports to all overseas British passport issuing posts.  These new Biometric passports are produced using an automated process that verifies an individual’s identity based on their physical characteristics.  This should make them much harder to forge.  Each contains a chip using new technology that records a person’s facial features by measuring the distances between eyes, nose, mouth and ears. This information is taken from photographs attached to applications.  These photographs must meet the required standard otherwise your application will not be accepted. Current passports will remain valid until their expiry dates and therefore do not need to be exchanged for biometric ones.

All passport applications will continue to be processed by the British High Commission in Lusaka.  Application forms will remain the same and can be downloaded from their website www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/zambia. The aim is to continue to process straightforward applications within ten working days once they have received the required documentation and the fee. Applicants are advised to apply well in advance of any planned date of travel.

Given the new security features, Biometric passports are more expensive than the previous format. A child's passport costs K 360,000 and an adult’s passport K 550,000. 48-page Biometric passports will not be available for the time being.

If you require any further information please log onto their website www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/zambia or send an e-mail to ConsularLusaka@fco.gov.uk or call Consular section on 01 251-133

Site hosted by Niner.Net Communications

Home     About Us   Links     Photos     Archives    Contact Us