Enjoy Unobstructed Business Travel with the Power of 2 UK Passports
| October 8, 2017 | Posted by Steve Williams under Second UK Passport, UK Passport |
With businesses increasingly looking at building global enterprises and conquering new markets, employees travelling to various countries has become the need of the hour. The improving economy worldwide has further allowed companies to set substantially large travel budgets for their employees as well.
According to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), global business travel spend reached an all-time high of a total of US$1.2 trillion in 2015. The GBTA also forecasted that at this pace, the spend on global business travel would touch US$1.6 trillion by 2020.
Rise of Business Travellers in the UK
With business travel spend rising by 30% to £5.82 billion in 2016, UK travellers have established themselves as true and frequent business travellers. The significant increase in the number of application for a second UK passport only gives testament to this fact.
Eurostar, the high-speed railway service connecting London with Brussels, Avignon, Lille, Lyon, Marseille and Paris, accepted having benefitted from the rise in the number in UK business travellers, a figure that witnessed a 9% increase in the first quarter of 2017, as compared to the previous year. This, in turn, led to a rise in the railway service’s sales revenue by 15% to £232 million during the same period, according to Buying Business Travel, a leading publication in the UK for buyers and arrangers of travel and meetings.
Brits who frequently travel for work are arming themselves with not just one but two UK passports, also known as “concurrent passports” at the same time. However, they are not opting for a second passport by choice.
What is a Second UK Passport?
Don’t confuse a second UK passport with a duplicate one. A second passport is treated as a standalone, valid for 10 years from the date of issue. The second passport is completely separate from the original one and has a unique passport number and expiry date. Even the photo used in the second passport is different from the one used in the first passport.
Those travelling frequently for work to different destinations across the globe are required to apply for multiple visas. In most situations, to get a new visa issued in an embassy, the passport is submitted and held for some period of time. This ends up obstructing or delaying their travel to other countries in the meantime.
In other situations, UK-based professionals need to travel to “incompatible countries” that conflict with one another. Seeing one’s stamp on the passport, the other refuses to issue or delays the visa for the traveller. Here again, a second UK passport can be a saviour.
Second UK Passport: Application Process
The interested traveller needs to submit a second UK passport application form to Her Majesty’s Passport Office. During application, the need for a second passport needs to be made completely clear. It is useful to know that the officials at the passport office do not believe leisure travel to be a good enough reason for the issue of a second passport. Her Majesty’s Passport Office will require a letter from the employer to support the application for a second passport, stating the reasons for the application.
To spare one of any hassles, it is best to contact a specialised passport agency that is authorised to submit such applications on behalf of the applicant to Her Majesty’s Passport Office, without the need to book any appointments. What’s more, the British passport will be delivered within a week, helping the UK-based business traveller keep up with their travel plans.