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How to get a second British passport for business reasons

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Did you know it is possible to hold two British passports at the same time?

If the ability to apply for a second British passport comes as a surprise to you, you’re not alone. The service is not advertised by Her Majesty’s Passport Office, nor is there an official application process. In fact, the top Google result for the topic is a PDF guide for HMPO staff on how to issue one.

Despite the semi-secrecy surrounding the service, there are a number of reasons why you might want – and be eligible for – a second passport:

How to get a second British passport
  • you need to get a visa to travel for business, which takes your primary passport out of use for some time
  • you need to travel to incompatible countries (eg. Israel and Iran)
  • you are a frequent traveller and need to cross borders regularly, such as airline staff

Neither Rob nor myself have ever needed to apply for a second British passport (I hold a German and British one, and Rob just makes do with one, unlike his kids ….). Reader Chris recently went through the process of applying for a second UK passport and offered to write up his experience for us.

Over to Chris:

“If you find yourself frequently travelling for business and needing a visa in your passport then you know the stress of waiting for your passport to be returned before you can fly. Pre-pandemic I spent a panicked morning tracking the delivery of my passport from the US Embassy for a flight that evening.

As travel starts to get back to normality I find myself with lots of international dates lined up [Chris is an entertainer]. Many of these require visas and the fear of being stuck without my passport has returned. Luckily there is a way round that. 

Although you’ll find almost no mention of this on the HM Passport site it is possible to get a second passport to avoid these situations. This isn’t a duplicate of your current passport, this is a brand new passport complete with a new passport number so if you’ve got Global Entry for the US be sure to update that.

With a lack of information online about the hoops you need to jump through to get a second passport, this guide should help.

Who can get a second passport?

HM Passport Office isn’t keen on giving out second passports to anyone who wants one, especially not leisure travellers. You need a legitimate reason and have to be over 16. 

Official advice says you can get an additional passport if you ’need to get visas to travel on business, travel to incompatible countries or are frequent travellers.’ You will need to prove why you need a second passport. 

How much does it cost?

The same as applying for a first adult passport. At the time of writing that’s starting from £75.50 but costs more if you need your passport sooner.

How to get a second British passport for business reasons

How long does it take?

It depends on the current passport office times. You can use the fast track service to get it back within a week and it’s possible to use the on-the-day service and get it back the same day.

How to apply for a second UK passport

You need to fill out the standard passport application form which you can get from the Post Office. You cannot print your own.

Even though you’re getting a second passport you need to fill in the form as if you’re getting your first passport. You must fill in the box in Section 1 for ‘Your First British Passport.’

Fill the rest of the form in as usual and in Section 8 note that you are applying for a second passport for business reasons and not to cancel your first passport.

As with a regular passport application, you will also need two identical passport photos and you’ll need to get a countersignature from a British or Irish Passport holder who you’ve known for over two years and isn’t related to you. This person needs to be in a recognised profession and will also sign the back of one of your passport photos. 

Once you’ve completed the form you will also need supporting documentation to prove that you need a second passport. You’ll need a supporting letter and your existing passport.

The supporting letter must be signed and on company headed paper with the company number clearly shown and explain the reasons why you need the second passport. It must be dated no later than four weeks before your the application.

If, like me, you’re the owner / operator of your own company then – despite what I was told on the phone by the Passport Office – you can not supply a letter written by yourself. I found out the hard way, but luckily was able to get an additional letter emailed to the passport office within ten minutes and continue with my appointment.

If you run your own company it is vital that your supporting letter is from an additional director or your accountant.  There are various drafts of the letter you can send doing the rounds on the internet, here’s a variation of what I used:

Her Majesty’s Passport Office

London

SW1V 1PN

To Whom It May Concern:

This is to confirm that NAME OF APPLICANT has been an employee of this company since DATE and is currently in the role of JOB ROLE. 

As part of HIS/HER job HE/SHE is required to frequently travel and therefore is in need of a second passport since we anticipate several trips over the coming years.

We have business lined up in many countries which require a visa and therefore we request a second passport so that HE/SHE may obtain the visas whilst still travelling internationally. Secondly there is planned travel to countries which are incompatible [only put this if it’s relevant to you.]

NAME OF APPLICANT is expected travel schedule over the next few years include ADD DETAILS HERE. 

Planned countries which will require visas include: LIST COUNTRIES HERE.

We can confirm that HE/SHE will be returning to the United Kingdom to resume employment with this company after these trips. Please assist HIM/HER in obtaining a second passport allowing HIM/HER to travel.

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

In practice I had to get my accountant to write the letter so the first part changed to the following:

This is to confirm that NAME OF APPLICANT is the owner and operator of NAME OF COMPANY since DATE. I am the registered accountant for his company and have been since DATE.

[EDIT: Reader experience is that, for your FIRST ‘second passport’ application, you must take along the ORIGINAL letter with an inked signature. A scanned signature / scanned letter is not acceptable. For renewals of second passports, a scanned letter is fine.]

To recap, you will need:

  • A completed application form for a first-time passport
  • Section 8 completed with details that this is a second passport application
  • Section 10 filled in by a counter-signer
  • Two passport photos (one signed)
  • Your original passport
  • A supporting letter

Once you have all that you need pay by cash, credit card or cheque and then either post off your form, photos, supporting documents and original passport or book an appointment online for the Fast Track Service.

Fast Track will involve you going to your nearest passport office with all the documents you require. They’ll do a short ‘in person’ interview with you. In my case this only involved flicking through my passport to check I was ‘well travelled’, as they put it, and got a manager to confirm I was allowed a second passport.

They took photocopies of my original passport, meaning I could take it back with me and my new second passport was to arrive within seven days. 

If you need a passport sooner you can make a same day appointment. To book this you need to call the passport advice line on 0300 222 0000 and ask for a Paper Premium Service. You cannot use the Online Premium service which is only for renewals. After your interview, which lasts around 30 minutes, you should get your new passport around four hours later.

What about renewals?

When it comes to renewing either of your passports you will once again need to submit a letter to explain why you need two passports. 

Once it arrives your second passport will operate exactly the same as a normal passport. Just be sure to use the same passport when travelling to and from a country – it’s wise to not travel with, or show both when going through immigration.

Category

General

Comments (212)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Alan says:
    10 Apr10 April 08:32

    Interesting article, thanks Chris.

  • Paul says:
    10 Apr10 April 08:33

    I had a second passport between 1987 and 2000. It was then, as with many things, a lot simpler to obtain. I travelled extensively and the need to obtain visas from London Embassies while in a third country made it essential. That and not have South African or Israeli stamps in a passport used to enter the Middle East.

    The image of the dumb leader and his little blue book that has all the international travel power of a bus ticket did nothing to enhance the article! But I suspect you knew that would please about half the readership and royally piss off the other half!

    • Mayfair Mike says:
      10 Apr10 April 08:45

      “has all the international travel power of a bus ticket” 🤥🤔

      So you don’t use yours then? Mine was fine for South America, North America and France. Complain all you want but passports and covid vaccinations/certificates are things we got very right in the UK.

      Seems to me the only “dumb person” was a clown who wasted 13 years of his life at airports, sitting in metal tubes with strangers and soulless hotels just to visit global backwaters as the office gopher 😂

      • Callum says:
        10 Apr10 April 09:26

        I know numerous people who have small tears on their photo page now that its changed to thin, fragile paper and always wince when I see immigration officers in select countries trying to swipe it through the old-fashioned readers!

        I have no idea whether other countries reinforce that page as standard or if it was a British thing though?

        • Rhys says:
          10 Apr10 April 09:34

          I think it’s been changed back for the new blue/black passports.

          My photo page is still in tact but it hasn’t worked at an eGate since before covid…

          • Callum says:
            10 Apr10 April 10:03

            Thanks I didn’t realise.

            Mine refuses to work on New Zealand eGates and usually doesn’t work on their desk scanners either. Absolutely no idea why as it works flawlessly everywhere else!

          • slidey says:
            10 Apr10 April 10:41

            I never had any problems with my old eu passport but this new crappy uk one causes problems at least half of the time its used at egates in the uk. Im not sure if its cos of the thick plastic insert for the photopage or what.

          • Alan says:
            10 Apr10 April 11:08

            Yep my photo page doesn’t work on my existing maroon one with eGates. They made it all flimsy plastic but didn’t put it the whole way to the seam so it means it gets slightly rumpled when trying to put it in the reader. Works fine on the ones the immigration staff use (and the similar ones they have in Norway) so the RFID itself is OK.

          • lumma says:
            10 Apr10 April 13:24

            Was in the “seek assistance” queue at Gatwick a few weeks back. There was plenty blue passports in that queue too.

        • QFFlyer says:
          10 Apr10 April 09:49

          The photo page in my IRL passport is solid plastic, I don’t really use it though.

          I have never had an issue with my GBR one, but know what you mean, mine has a crease from where it’s somehow ended up part folded when being closed.

    • John says:
      10 Apr10 April 08:48

      A British passport allows you to visit more countries visa-free, and for longer visits, than an Australian or Canadian passport. But you already knew that your “bus ticket” comment was nonsense.

      • David says:
        10 Apr10 April 12:33

        Hmm… But no longer travel, live or retire freely in our own continent, but you know that don’t you, which is why you missed it out and talk about comparisons with Canada rather than Spain, France or our former EU passports.

      • Louie says:
        10 Apr10 April 14:04

        My Aussie passport allows me to spend more time in many of the European countries than my UK one, sadly.

    • Mike says:
      10 Apr10 April 10:42

      Triggered by a photo of our Prime Minister, wow, you should charge him rent as currently he’s living rent free in head.

      • David says:
        10 Apr10 April 12:30

        Triggered by anyone that doesn’t worship at the Brexit alter, Mike?
        Good to know deep down you know we’re right and you have to defend Liar Johnson at every opportunity.
        Sad.

    • Alan says:
      10 Apr10 April 11:02

      I must say I thought the BoJo photo was a slightly strange editorial choice!

    • KK says:
      12 Apr12 April 02:06

      Oh yes. the silly non-Immigration officer guarding the immigration queue asked me why my british passport was blue.

      I was like, where on earth have you been living the last 5 year. Why did you ask me where this POLISH PRINTED passport was made

  • NFH says:
    10 Apr10 April 08:36

    Ireland has a much better solution – a credit card sized “passport card” for travelling within the EEA, Switzerland and UK, and a passport booklet for travel elsewhere.

    Unlike national identity cards issued by most European countries whose machine-readable data starts with “ID” or passport booklets whose machine-readable data starts with “P”, Irish passport cards use the code “IP”.

    The only other countries to issue passport cards are Ukraine and the United States, but both with much lower geographical validity.

    • Rhys says:
      10 Apr10 April 09:32

      What’s the difference between a ‘passport card’ and an EU ID card? Europeans can use their ID cards to travel around.

      • NFH says:
        10 Apr10 April 09:42

        The differences are very subtle, and primarily affect scenarios where passports are accepted and national identity cards are not, mostly in the private sector. It’s not just a name, but the types of document are different:

        P = passport
        ID = national identity card
        IP – passport card

      • QFFlyer says:
        10 Apr10 April 09:51

        The passport card is a passport and not an ID card, but in practice probably nothing. I’ve got one, annoyingly they’re valid 5 years and not the same length as the book.

        • lumma says:
          10 Apr10 April 11:53

          Can you enter the UK on an Irish passport card? As you can no longer us the EU ID card.

          • NFH says:
            10 Apr10 April 12:11

            Yes, absolutely you can, because Irish citizens continue to enjoy an unrestricted right to enter the UK. I’m not sure what you mean by “the EU ID card“. EEA and Swiss national identity cards can continue to be used to enter the UK until the end of 2025 by those with rights under the EU-UK withdrawal agreement.

          • points_worrier says:
            10 Apr10 April 13:07

            An interesting question. And there may well be a different answer if entering the UK from Ireland, and entering the UK from another third country.

          • lumma says:
            10 Apr10 April 13:28

            @nfh, you can only enter the UK using one of the id cards if you’re a settled resident and a few other reasons

            “You cannot use an EU, EEA or Swiss national ID card to enter the UK unless you:

            have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man’s settlement schemes
            have an EU Settlement Scheme family permit, or the equivalent from Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man
            have a frontier worker permit
            are an S2 Healthcare Visitor
            are a Swiss national and have a Service Provider from Switzerland visa
            In these cases, you can continue to use your national ID card to enter the UK until at least 31 December 2025.”

          • NFH says:
            10 Apr10 April 14:26

            Yes, @lumma, you are correct about EU/EEA/Swiss ID cards, but that’s not the topic of this sub-thread. We are talking about passports, specifically Irish passport cards.

          • KK says:
            12 Apr12 April 02:09

            points_worrier pointed that out.

  • Alan says:
    10 Apr10 April 08:41

    BTW does anyone know of other countries that have a ’10 years from issue’ vs actual expiry date rule that the EU has? I’ve got 9 months of carried forward validity on my existing passport and just trying to work out how much of it to lose. AFAIK Australia and the USA don’t have such a rule but I’m not finding it the easiest thing to check!

    • John says:
      10 Apr10 April 08:44

      I think most countries don’t care except EU and associates. But many countries have a 6 months rule anyway so you should probably just renew it around the 10 year mark

      • Matarredondaaa says:
        10 Apr10 April 10:19

        It was not the EU but the Home Office who changed the rules quietly in 2018.
        As Martin Lewis implied at the time it was a money making exercise as effectively passports now only last 9.5 years

        • Alan says:
          10 Apr10 April 11:36

          Not adding on the additional months is definitely a money maker for them, but AIUI the validity issue of 10 years from issue rather than up to expiry date (with 6 months remaining validity being required) is definitely related to no longer being an EU country.

        • KK says:
          12 Apr12 April 02:11

          Glad to know its the money grabbing conservatives party that causes the hoo ha as opposed to what some say its BRUSSELSSSSSSS

      • Alan says:
        10 Apr10 April 11:35

        Thanks, will probably end up doing so, just trying to work out logistics.

        • Peter K says:
          10 Apr10 April 12:30

          As the cost of a passport is less than £10 a year on average for its lifespan, save yourself the stress and renew early. If you lose 6 months of validity it’s less than a fiver and not worth the stress of not having it when you need it .

          • Alan says:
            10 Apr10 April 19:52

            Yep, indeed. Just have a few longer trips coming up so trying to work out the best timing in between. 👍

  • The Streets says:
    10 Apr10 April 09:05

    One of my first jobs was at the Passport Office issuing second passports! Applications were considered on a case by case basis but pretty much with how it has been set out in the article

  • Jeff77 says:
    10 Apr10 April 09:10

    I’ve enjoyed reading some of the angry Sunday morning posts on this thread 😂

    Lighten up!

  • Ianmac says:
    10 Apr10 April 09:56

    I had a second passport between 2004 up until one of them expired in 2021.
    It has always been an easy process – company letter listing reasons and countries to visit etc as per article.
    One downside that I experienced was having different visas in the two passports – from memory Kazakh in one and Russian Federation in another – I was leaving Kazakhstan to travel to Russia for transit to the UK and exit border control in Atyrau wouldn’t accept that I would transit in Russia to UK (so in theory would not need a visa) – to make the flight to Moscow I had to pull out my second passport with the Russian visa.
    Then all hell broke loose.
    Some countries don’t allow their citizens to have a second passport – Kazakhstan being one of them …. !!
    (I made the flight to Moscow … just)

    • Bagoly says:
      10 Apr10 April 10:47

      Similarly when filling in application form for Russian (or similar) visa where one had to list all countries visited with dates, in last ten years, I made sure *not* to include those for which the stamps were in the other passport!

  • Cheshire Pete says:
    10 Apr10 April 10:22

    Isn’t having a passport stamped (soon to be replaced by an electronic system) how the EU track your 90 days from 180 rule.

    • Bagoly says:
      10 Apr10 April 10:44

      Already electronic.
      Although if stamps are inconsistent with the electronic records, some border guards may get difficult.
      And the electronic system presumably tracks passport number, not person.

      • Bagoly says:
        10 Apr10 April 10:59

        So entering on one, and leaving on another could make it look as though one had overstayed the 90 day limit.
        Sticking to a country-passport connection seems sensible – mine was “difficult countries” and “easy countries” but that might not work if one is continually getting visas while travelling.

        • lumma says:
          10 Apr10 April 11:59

          I think you’d have trouble leaving the EU on a different passport than the one you entered on. I left Poland last Tuesday and the immigration officer was flicking through my passport looking for the entry stamp until I told him I’d entered at Denmark and not Poland.

          The worry is what happened to me a few years ago happening again. I landed in Rome from London and we never went through any immigration control – plane must’ve landed at an intra Schengen gate. Not an issue in 2017 but would be big trouble these days (I always wondered what happened to any no EU passport holders on that flight)

          • John says:
            10 Apr10 April 14:19

            Rome is well known for not stamping non-EU citizens such as Americans and Australians at least until around 2018

          • KK says:
            12 Apr12 April 02:16

            It would be an issue for non-EU citizens travelling on that flight you got to Italy on.

            But often I will just tell them I went through (one of those countries that does this a lot) and they didnt stamp.

      • Bagoly says:
        10 Apr10 April 11:22

        Check: there are at least 72 names from David Smith onwards, which are each held by more than 1,718 Brits.
        Even assuming evenly spread over 80 years; for each one the chance of no coinciding dates of birth is less than 1 per sextillion.

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