1st British Passport

Hi there, 2 quick questions about 1st passport:

I noticed from people who are sharing their timeline that identity interviews are not being conducted. Are they no longer holding these or done on certain cases?

If the passport is delivered by a courier and no one is at home? Do they leave a note to reschedule or post it through the door?
I recall that they would not part it through the door when they delivered BRP.

Interviews are only done for a very small number of applications.

The passport is posted through the letterbox - the postie didn't even ring my door to check if I was at home when my passport was delivered.

contorted_svy wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 25, 2025 5:13 pm

Interviews are only done for a very small number of applications.

In your opinion, what would triger interview? a new address?

SInce moving to UK, I always stayed at the same address. Now I moved south and staying with friend while looking for job, I have not changed my address with DVLA or HMRC since it is temporaray and not sure when I will get my own flat. Will this triger an interview if I use this address?

It’s random selection.
Note the interview is a last step before passport is printed. To make sure you are actually the applicant. It will consist of mainly very personal questions for which only you know the answer. Not reviewing your immigration history.
I have had one, couldn’t answer a couple questions but no issue passport received in a couple of days.

We don't know how interviews are allocated. I would advise not to overthink this too much but if you are staying there for longer than a couple of weeks I would take the time to update my address on government services.

At the time I got my first British passport (more than a decade ago), all first adult British passport applicants, including those born British citizens, had to attend a passport interview. Therefore if you went on websites aimed at university students (such as TheStudentRoom), many of whom would be applying for their first adult (18+) passport at about the same time, you would also have seen many questions about passport interviews.

Nowadays, passport interviews for first adult British passports are random rather than for all applicants. But it is not based on your immigration journey or anything you did. It will likely just be a random selection of all applicants for first adult British passports, including people who were born with British citizenship.