HM Passport Office

His Majesty's Passport Office
Agency overview
Formed1 April 2006
Preceding agencies
JurisdictionUnited Kingdom
Headquarters2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF
Employees3,180 (2013)
Minister responsible
Agency executive
  • Joanna Rowland, Director General
Child agency
Websitewww.gov.uk/hmpo

His Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO) is a United Kingdom government agency. As a division of the Home Office (HO), it provides passports for British nationals worldwide. It was formed on 1 April 2006 as the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), but was renamed HM Passport Office on 13 May 2013.

The General Register Office for England and Wales, which produces life event certificates for births, deaths, marriages, and civil partnerships, became a subsidiary of HMPO on 1 April 2008.[1]

HMPO's headquarters is co-located with the Home Office at 2 Marsham Street, and it has seven regional offices around the UK: in London, Glasgow, Belfast, Peterborough, Liverpool, Newport, and Durham, as well as an extensive nationwide interview office network (as first-time adult passport applicants may be required to attend an interview to verify their identity as a fraud prevention measure). [2][3][4]

The department was known as Her Majesty's Passport Office, until Queen Elizabeth II's death on 8 September 2022 and the subsequent inheritance of the throne by Charles III; it has since been renamed to reflect the change of monarch.

  1. ^ "General Register Office transfers to Identity and Passport Service". Federation of Family History Societies. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Getting your first adult passport".
  3. ^ "Find a passport office for your Fast Track or Premium appointment". gov.uk. 8 November 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  4. ^ HM Passport Office business plan 2013–2014 (PDF). gov.uk (Report). HM Passport Office. 15 May 2013. ISBN 9781782461302.