Welcome to the pages of the Western European Passport Service, based in the British Consulate General in Paris.

This service is available to British nationals in Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Switzerland and The Netherlands. If you live in a French or Dutch Overseas Territory, please click here.

Please note that our posts in Brussels, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Florence, Milan, Naples, Rome, Venice, Luxembourg, Valletta, Berne, Geneva and Amsterdam continue to provide consular assistance in their districts, including the provision of single-journey passports needed in genuine emergencies.

We aim to issue all correctly submitted applications within 10 working days of receipt. Please note that we do not accept personal cheques - see passport fees page for more details.

If you are travelling urgently, please consider the following:

Instead of posting your application, it will arrive more quickly if sent by courier. Alternatively, you can apply in person in Paris.
The front page of the passport application form C1 for adults, C2 for children invites you to enter your date of travel. Please do this if you are travelling urgently; we will aim to meet your deadline.
You can apply up to nine months before your current passport expires without losing any validity. For example, if your passport is due to expire on 01 May 2010 and you were to apply to renew it today, your new passport would have an expiry date of 01 May 2020.

Graeme Wise
Consul-General, Paris and Consular Regional
Director for Western Europe

Important passport information

Processing Time

For customers who wish to renew their British passport, the current processing time is 10 working days from receipt of a complete application. These processing times do not include the time it takes to post or courier the passport to and from the Passport section. If your previous passport has been lost or stolen, it may also take longer to process.

If you need to travel within 72 hours, you may be eligible for an Emergency Passport. An Emergency Passport is a one page document valid for one journey only to the UK or elsewhere in the EU. It is issued to British Nationals previously issued with a British Passport, (i.e. they cannot be issued to anyone applying for the first time), in emergency and compassionate situations. Please click on Lost and Stolen Passports and follow the advice given.

In fairness to all our customers, applications are dealt with in the order that they are received. Applications received that do not have all the correct supporting documentation or fees will be returned to you.

If you are going to be in the UK for a long period of time and have an address there, you can apply to the IPS for a new passport.

Photographs

Please ensure that your photographs meet the required standard, by checking the latest information on the Directgov website. Photographs reproduced on a home PC are unlikely to be of sufficient quality to be accepted.

Telephone Enquiries

As a last resort, if you need to enquire by telephone please call our call-handling providers, Careline, whose details are provided below. Careline will be able to advise you on the status of your application. You can also call this company if your circumstances have changed and you need your passport more urgently than within 10 working days.

Calls to Careline will be charged at GBP 0.69 per minute for the duration of the call. Telephone service providers will also charge for the cost of the international call. Calls made on a mobile phone may be subject to additional charges, please check with your mobile phone provider. Please ensure you have your credit card details ready before calling.

Careline telephone lines are open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, from 9am Monday to 6pm Friday.

For applicants in Italy please call +44 208 082 4733

For applicants in Malta please call +44 208 082 4741

For applicants in Switzerland please call +44 208 082 4728

For applicants in France and Monaco please call +44 208 082 4729

For applicants in Belgium please call +44 208 082 4730

For applicants in Luxembourg please call +44 208 082 4731

For applicants in The Netherlands please call +44 208 082 4732

For customers with hearing difficulties, a Textphone service is available by contacting +44 1750 725368. This is a credit card payment service, charged at the same rates as above.

If you feel that your experience with Careline Services was below the high standards the Foreign and Commonwealth Office aim to provide, please email Careline Services directly at ukpassportservicewesterneurope@careline-services.co.uk All complaints will be acknowledged within 1 working day.