Get Your Second British Passport, Quickly, Easily & Efficiently

Second Passport for Business Reasons

The FCDO and UK government understand how important it is to allow ease of travel for their nationals, especially in the sphere of business. The majority of clients that we assist in getting their second passport and support them as they facilitate their frequent travel needs to different nations that present different challenges to them. In terms of an additional passport for business travellers, the reasons vary significantly, and with that so will the requirements needed by the HMPO to support the application.

Please see the most common usecases where a client would require a second passport

Having a Second Passport needed when applying for Travel Visas

An embassy can hold a passport for a visa application for a few days or up to many months, which would restrict the option for travel if you need to surrender your current passport. If this is your reason, then your employment support letter needs to explain the full circumstances clearly.

Additional Passport for Conflict Countries

Please see our specific section about travel to incompatible countries. This is a common reason for business travellers, however there is a restriction to specific country sets. Please see our section specifically for that. Proof for this requirement is often a letter from the employer or applicant stating their travel needs, which country or countries they will be travelling to along with the duration and listing the countries. If the passport is currently inside or will be inside an embassy or consulate then this can also be stated in the letter as this is a common reason. The current information must be presented. If you require assistance in eliciting the relevant information and presenting this, then please do not hesitate to contact one of our additional passport officers and consultants.

Additional Passport for Regular Travellers

The HMPO may issue a second passport for applicants that have frequent travel where the passport gets filled up very quickly causing challenges during travel. This is a very valid reason that is considered, however supporting documentation does need to be presented for this. Common proof to support this type of application includes a copy from the applicant's employer stating the nature of the job, countries being visited and the main challenges. The HMPO will also need to see (either a copy of the original passport), and examine the pages to examine this. If this is the reason, we shall support the applicant in getting the relevant documents checked after drafting.

Additional Passport Employment Support Letters

If you fall into one of the business categories as listed above and you have evidence to justify the issuance, then one of the most important requirements is the employment support letters. This is critical in letting the HMPO officer understand your circumstances. As an agency, we shall work with you to draft up any paperwork, with over 10 years of experience in this we can assist. However please kindly see the the core information regarding the letter from your employer (or accountant if this cannot be provided) must be no older than 6 months from the date of the application, and signed by a senior officer within the company, a client of the application, accountant. Please note that as well as reviewing the content of any supporting documents and letters, the passport officer will also review the genuineness of the letter, its authenticity, the legitimacy of the company and if required the passport officer shall also contact the company to confirm the contents, and verify the existence of the company and its operations. Features such as the logo and email address can be checked along with for example if the company is from the United Kingdom, then a verification check against the companies house database may be undertaken.

Second Passport for Study Reasons

There are some unique situations where a second passport will be issued to applicants to support their study and academic purposes. There are some general and very specific reasons that will support this, he most common reason is when a student has to travel frequently across different countries (eg research students, those attending various courses, those were the study location is not in their country of residence).

Supporting Documentation to apply for a Second Passport for Study and Academic Reasons

The applicant needs to provide a supporting letter, ideally from the educational institution that gives content on how they can expect the pages inside the passport to fill up over a short duration of time due to stamps when crossing a border regularly. The letter then needs to lead onto how the second passport will help the student undertaken their studies so that there is continuity and no interruption or challenges that might be caused as a result of the frequent travel.

The applicant will also be require to provide their existing passport or a colour copy of each page of the current British passport in order to provide proof that they are a frequent traveller.

If you are a student or head of department and require assistance in obtaining a second passport, then please kindly contact one our team members.

Special circumstances for students needing an additional passport

The passport office considers the following examples as specific use cases.

Applicants that reside either in Singapore or Malaysia and therefore most likely will cross te border daily in order to get to their academic institution, school or university. Other examples are residents of Brunei for example Bandar Seri Begawan and are required to enter Borneo, or those that are students at the Raffles American school in Johor Baru but reside in Singapore and must cross daily. If your situation is not listed, please contact us and we can advise further. If you are a school with British nationals in similar circumstances, we request you to also contact us so that we can advise.

Second Passport for Frequent Travellers

This is a common reason that second passports are issued, mostly for business clients, government staff and students. A frequent traveller is considered to be a traveller that regularly must travel between countries for their employment or study, which would lead to their current passport being stamped and getting filled very quickly.

For frequent travellers, the HMPO will require several items of documentation, however the main ones include an employment support letter and either their existing passport or a colour copy of each page inside the existing passport.

Common industries and use cases where an applicant may require a second passport might include

• Airline crew that are entering different countries frequently and their existing passport is getting stamped regularly
• Staff in the distribution, trucking, logistics and haulage industry, where team members are required to enter/cross a range of countries.
• Entertainment and the arts, for example actors, photographers, cinematographers, audio and visual crew/artists, entertainers.
• Manufacturing and engineering where engineers and installation staff will be required to travel for their related work, especially field service engineers.
• Finance related work where travel to different countries is frequent and often.

If your profession is not listed above, please contact us so that we can advise you in further detail going forward. We shall assist applicants in preparation of their paperwork, understand their needs and submit the case on their behalf.

Please note that each case is considered on its individual merits therefore clients should focus on provide relevant information to the HMPO staff.

Second Passport for UK Government Staff

It is common for staff across all departments of the UK government to require a second or additional passport. Even they the second passport is for government staff, the HMPO use the same inspection process as if the applicant was from an external company except with a few variations. The departments covered include an additional passport for FCDO / Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Diplomatic and Official staff, staff from the ministry of defence. We can advise on this process.

For FCDO staff the application will be assessed using the same process as a business traveller with frequent traveller requirements or incompatibility between countries being mentioned. Please note however unlike a business client, the applicant does not need to state the countries that they are travelling to and an Portable Document Format which is an internal document type can be used instead of the letter. Please note that we can use this to assist.

For Diplomats and Office staff, a letter stating their reasons as listed on this webpage. The letter must be signed a senior member within the department. If you are a diplomat, and also have a specific diplomat passport along with your current passport, then this is not considered as having 2 passports, as they are considered different types.

Second passports for MOD staff are treated with a different degree of urgency given last minute and emergency travel situations. If you are a MOD staff, you will be able to hold onto your current passport whilst applying for a renewal, however a letter of support and authorisation will be required by someone senior within the department.

If you are a government employee and require our support, then please email us and we can support you with this process.