i went to the british consulate today here in madrid see what i need to get my u.k. passport renewed and almost passed out when they told me that renewals cost 142 euros
ena paid like 28 euros to renew her spanish one a few months back.
how do the brits justify 142 euros?
any other nightmarish passport renewal prices out there?
Nope, but it cost me 200 dollars to get extra "emergency rush extra pages" put into my US passport two years ago because the lady at the Spanish embassy told me that she wouldn't give me my visa until I got extra pages becuase I had too many pages used. So I was leaving the next day and had to get RUSH extra pages...good times...outrageous...and I had to have proof that I was leaving the next day..Why? I don't know. Apparently there is a large amount of people that wake up in the morning with 200 dollars extra, nothing to do, and go try to get extra rush pages put in their pockets, so now they have to ask for proof, so they don't waste their time on the people that dont REALLY need them... hahaha besos, joy
Posts: 537 | Location: Madrid (but from Boston) | Registered: 16 December 2002
A standard UK ten-year adult ePassport will cost £66 from 5 October. This compares reasonably to the equivalent fees over ten years for ePassports in other countries (Australia £72, Belgium £96, France £41, Iceland £81, Japan £163, New Zealand £123, Norway £87, Switzerland £219, USA £54). The UK is one of forty countries deploying ePassports. From October ePassport production will be a requirement for countries wishing to remain within the US Visa Waiver Scheme.
"Switzerland £219"
that is 327 euros, HOLY CRAP
well, from what i have read i am apparently getting a fancy shmancy epassport, woopdy freakin dooooo!!!
if you renew by mail, it is 66 pounds (100 euros). problem is, i have to renew at the consulate and according to http://www.passport.gov.uk/general_fees_passport.asp , that costs 91 pounds (136 euros) so i guess they just round up to 142?
ok, i'm done venting, gonna bite the bullet and pay it.
well, i finally got my passport renewal applications in (both u.s.a. and u.k.).
did the u.s.a. one at the u.s. embassy in madrid (calle de serrano, 75). no probs whatsoever applying even though my passport was 2+years expired. cost was just $67.
wish the u.k. on was that cheap. applied at the british consulate in madrid (paseo de recoletos, 7). also easy to apply for but the price i was quoted (see opening post on this thread) of 142 euros shot WAY THE HELL UP in april to a whopping 121 pounds (185 euros at the days exchange)
I-N-S-A-N-E!!!
when i told the lady at the cashier of the u.s. embassy what my u.k. passport cost she thanked me since americans seem to complain about the $67 fee so now she can tell them the u.k. charges $242 and shut them up.
now it is just a waiting game as i was told i can pick up my u.k. passport on june 14th and the u.s. one should come before then via courier (u.s. embassy does not let you pick up the passport, they must send it to you).
hope at least the u.k. one is ready when they say it will be since ena and i are going on a cruise that leaves on the 18th from alicante and i need my u.k. passport since one of the ports-of-call is tripoli and the cruise co. has told us that you cannot get off the boat in libya with a u.s. passport (as well as some other nations passports).
the u.s. one should come before then via courier (u.s. embassy does not let you pick up the passport, they must send it to you).
just a reminder jer, to have the money ready to pay the courier when they deliver your passport. At least that was the process a year ago when we got Ángel Rubén's passport. I cannot understand why the embassy doesn't just include the courier fees with the renewal fees...
i did not know i would have to pay the courier, they said nothing about that but i will have the cash ready just in case.
since i am out mostly all day, i have had them send it to the Broadsheet offices where there is always someone around as well as a doorman which we do not have at home.
Ack--I got a passport renewed recently and meant to come back here and post about that change. To get around the courier thing, you can bring a self-addressed stamped envelope with you. When it got delivered here by courier it cost around 10 euros. I believe they called the day before to let us know when they were coming by.
For anyone renewing a child's passport, both parents need to be there with ID and you have to have the child's birth certificate. If both parents aren't there, you need more documentation.
Oh, and the photo in there sucks!
Posts: 1064 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 10 December 2002
i ask becuase normally you are so wise and give such great advice and now you are suggesting we put our passport in the hands of the spanish postal service
i have a hard time trusting it to a spanish courier service much less to the postal service here.
Ha-- I've got to say, I've never lost mail here due to the Spanish postal service.* But, yeah, if you don't have any time to spare, I certainly wouldn't take a chance. I'm still annoyed with the embassy for not letting us pick them up. They practically give you a strip search when you go in there. I don't see what the problem is--that's what they are there for.
P.S. Knock on wood. It's UPS and USPS international "express" mail that have really done me wrong.
Posts: 1064 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 10 December 2002
"Passengers who take such flights from both airports will have to be photographed at check-in and give four fingerprints on a pad at a special station before passing through security.
The process will be repeated just before getting on the plane to ensure it is the same person boarding. Airport staff will also check the photograph against the person's face."
Hey all, I just wanted to update on this subject here, with this news article that I just read, and having read it I feel that it is only a matter of time before this becomes the norm, in all countries, UK Heathrow, Spain Barajas, etc, etc, and can only see this as making the business of flying into and out of countries like Spain and the UK an even more gut wrenching experience than it has already become over the last few years, not to mention the significantly increased time that it will now take to get people through all the shite that we have to go through before actually getting on the plane and taking off, and of course there will be many people who will not want their photo & finger prints taken when catching a flight, what then? more arguments with port staff, more hold-ups? who knows what the end result to all of this scrutiny will be, or how it is going to impact upon the ordinary traveler, the holiday maker, the people with screaming kids around them, I dare not try to imagine some of the scenarios that are going to unfold in the wake of this new wave of security measures. I don't know about how you feel about it, but I do not like being told that I have got to have my photo & prints taken, I for one do not trust what will be done with that, even if they say it is erased after 24 hours, I don't think so, I think they know exactly what they are doing, and what they intend to do with that data once they have got it. It's only a matter of time before it becomes compulsory for all travelers into & out of Barajas Spain, to be subjected to this, each and every time someone wants/needs to fly somewhere, and whereas the normal check-in times are 2 hours for UK and 4 hours for US (for example) internal domestic flight are not that much better either these days, and that I can only see as needing to be increased in order to compensate for all this new high level of security/scrutiny. It's interesting how those two words are so similar, isn't it!!
Thanks Shawn, me too, the overall feeling of safety when traveling now, seems to have been marred over the last several years, extreme security measures are rife all over Europe and just about everywhere else in the world now, but as you say, it don't make anybody feel any safer. What is of more concern to me though, having worked a capacity for many years, dealing with data protection, and other peoples data, I'm concerned about how peoples civil liberties are being infringed and sometimes blatantly broken & abused, and that by those who implemented legislation to protect people from this kind of thing, as an example, I know that in many offices, they have cctv cameras all over the place, and according to current legislation, the images captured on them is covered by the data protection act, and cannot be accessed & used, not even by the police, not without going through the proper channels and getting a court order, yet I also know that, that has not alway been observed, and that cctv data has been and still is viewed regularly, by those not entitled to use it that way, without going through proper channels, the authorities will always say they comply with data protection laws, but you don't know what is going on behind closed doors these days, generally I think they do whatever they want to do these days, and all in the name of national security.
Of course, most of us have done nothing wrong, and so have nothing to hide, but that is not my point here, the point I'm trying to make is, where is all of this leading us? into what kind of world? our freedom(s) Liberty, democracy, are all being eroded, we are being systematically subjected to increasingly higher levels of scrutiny while just trying to go about our daily lives, in places like London now (for example) I can tell you that you cannot move or do anything without being videoed, followed around all over the place in the department stores, any basically everywhere else for that matter, they have profilers everywhere, not just at the Airports, or did you not know about that one? at the Airports they have been profiling all passengers for years, but that has been extended to cover basically all public places. So this is the world that we now live in, and this thing with the photos & finger prints is I fear only the beginning of even greater so called security measures.
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