Blue Passport

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has been issued a Blue Passport yet?
The information on the gov website is that "The new blue passport design will start being issued from late 2019".
Just wondering if the Brexit extension has affected this or HMPO has started issuing blue passports. Not that this makes any difference. I am just a little bit curious.

Decisions on the colour of the passport cover has always been within the national remit. My understanding is that stocks are being used up and there's also a change over to a new printer.

A new era dawns for the British passport

The new blue non-EU electronic passport would be gradually introduced from late 2019 and full production of blue non-EU passports would be in place by early 2020.

Djsuccess wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:40 am

Brexit extension has affected this

No, because, as alterhase65 mentioned, there is no requirement for passport standardisation across the EU. It was only convenience (of being able to identify at a glance) rather than a requirement of EU law. The UK could have introduced a blue passport even without Brexit.

It would be quite interesting to know what colour passports members of the forum are getting. Could we run such poll, or maybe include this into the British passport processing timeline as well?

alterhase58 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:43 am

Decisions on the colour of the passport cover has always been within the national remit. My understanding is that stocks are being used up and there's also a change over to a new printer.

To add to the above, I presume some of the switch-over also has to do with the change in the manufacturer. I believe it was last year when the Government announced that the contract had been awarded to Gemalto as opposed to De La Rue who used to manufacture the existing passports.

As a result of the change in manufacturer, the passport was meant to see an "upgrade" in the various security technologies being used in addition to the change of colour. As far as I am aware passports that are currently being issued are exactly the same as the previously existing generation less the "European Union" heading, so we have yet to see what "next generation" actually means.

AnotherUUID wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 19, 2019 7:22 am

we have yet to see what "next generation" actually means.

secret.simon wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 18, 2019 1:08 pm

A new era dawns for the British passport

The link above on the Gemalto website explains what the changes in the new passport will be.

@secret.simon,

Yes, that's the same link as the one you and I (under "Gemalto") referred to. It only hints wrt what it might look like and what security features it might use, but does not necessarily show any actual samples of said passport or its security features.

This is in contrast to what you might find on the PRADO database here which is actually an excellent page for those interested in passports, as it shows actual samples of current and previous passport generations and their security features.