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Emergency Travel Documents Explained (UK)

Last Updated on November 22, 2023 by MyBritishPassport

Emergency Travel Documents Explained (UK) |

Unexpected situations like losing your passport or encountering delays in its renewal while you’re overseas can be quite challenging. However, as a British citizen, you have a fallback – the Emergency Travel Document (ETD). This article breaks down what an ETD is, when you might need one, and how to go about securing it.

Why Might You Need An Emergency Travel Document (UK)?

There are certain circumstances where an Emergency Travel Document becomes a necessity:

• Your passport has expired, and there’s insufficient time to renew it before your journey.
• You’ve lost or had your passport stolen, and getting a replacement in time is impossible.
• Your passport has sustained damage, and your departure date is approaching.

Remember, an ETD is specifically for such emergencies and is valid for a single journey, expiring within a year. If you foresee more travel within that year, you’ll need a standard British passport renewal.

Securing an ETD from Abroad

The ETD is designed for those unplanned moments when you’re stuck without a valid passport. But before seeking one, you should begin the UK passport renewal process . While this is underway and you haven’t yet received your new passport, you can apply for an Emergency Travel Document .

You will need to apply online. Currently, it costs £100 to apply for an emergency travel document.

You might need to attend an appointment at your nearest British embassy, high commission or consulate after you apply online. You’ll be told after you’ve submitted your application whether you need an appointment.

You’ll need to give a contact telephone number and email address as part of your application.

Click here to apply:   https://www.apply-emergency-travel-document.service.gov.uk/

Important Points about the Emergency Travel Document

• An ETD permits you to travel to a maximum of 5 countries.
• Depending on the specifics of your application, you might receive the ETD the same day or after a few days.
• The document is only valid for the exact travel details you’ve given during the application.
• The ETD allows transit through up to five countries, but the specifics will be printed on the document itself. Altering your travel route after receiving the ETD will necessitate another application.
• While an ETD facilitates your journey, remember that it doesn’t override visa requirements. You’ll still need to check visa stipulations for countries you plan to visit.

Renewing Your British Passport with MyBritishPassport

An Emergency Travel Document is a stop-gap solution. For any subsequent travel, ensure you have your renewed British passport.  MyBritishPassport makes this process seamless:

• Complete the online application form. Click here to apply online.
• Pay the appropriate fees using a debit or credit card.
• MyBritishPassport will thoroughly check your documents, ensuring they’re in order, and then finalize the application for you.
• We ensure the secure and prompt dispatch of your documents to the relevant UK government office.
• You’ll receive your new British passport at the address of your choice in a few weeks.

Amazing simplicity from start to finish in the completion of my application for Passport Renewal. Excellent communication and responsiveness throughout the entire process. Was amazed at the short turnaround time in receiving my new passport. Thank you for exceeding my expectations and for providing exceptional service. Graham Sore via Google Reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i get an emergency travel document uk.

Click here to apply: https://www.apply-emergency-travel-document.service.gov.uk/

What is the difference between UK passport and UK travel document?

Conclusion: being prepared with etd knowledge.

Emergencies can happen. If you’re caught overseas without a valid passport, the ETD can be a lifesaver. Always remember, an ETD is a temporary solution. For unrestricted, stress-free travel, ensure your British passport is always up-to-date. Should you have further questions, MyBritishPassport is here to help, with seasoned professionals ready to assist.

Contact MyBritishPassport

Topic: Emergency Travel Documents Explained (UK)

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Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration examines Home Office's use of Emergency Travel Documents

New inspection report raises a number of concerns over the use of Emergency Travel Documents for the removal of foreign nationals by the Home Office

The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has released an inspection report examining the Home Office's processes for obtaining and using Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs).

An ETD is a travel document issued by a foreign high commission, embassy or consulate for the purpose of removing a person from the UK who has failed to produce a valid passport.

You can read the full inspection report here .

The Chief Inspector says the Home Office was working well with some foreign embassies to obtain ETDs. However, in many cases it was not actively generating removals despite already having secured ETDs for them.

"I was concerned to find that the Home Office had not used several thousand ETDs that had already been agreed by embassies. In some instances, these agreements dated back more than ten years. Many cases were not being actively progressed, leaving individuals' immigration status unresolved. This is unacceptable," the Chief Inspector said.

The Home Office was also criticised by the Chief Inspector for having no clear picture of the scale of non-compliance by individuals, and had no effective strategy for tackling the issue. The Chief Inspector says he was surprised to find that there was no high-level strategy in place to link the ETD application process with removals priorities.

A press release listed the Chief Inspector's concerns as follows:

• management of the stock of unused ETDs was poor and this pool was not being used to generate removals. 78% of those in our sample who were in contact with the Home Office were not being actively caseworked. 15% of the sample had been granted some form of residency or leave to remain, so should not have remained in the pool;

• the Home Office was applying for too many ETDs that had little prospect of being used, rather than focusing resources on cases where re-documentation was likely to result in removal;

• there was no central monitoring of the progress of the stock of approximately 4,000 outstanding ETD applications that the Home Office manages at any given time, which had led to some applications remaining unresolved for long periods;

• the average detention time for FNOs in our sample who were classified by the Home Office as individual non-compliant was 563 days. Where the embassy was categorised by the Home Office as 'non-compliant', the average detention time was 755 days;

• supporting information that could assist in securing an ETD was not retained on a systematic basis as part of the visa application process;

• there was scope to improve interview processes and increase the use of effective ones such as detained interview schemes;

• the quality assurance process for ETD applications was not standardised and there was no audit trail, which meant the quality of ETD applications could not be assessed;

• management information on aspects of the ETD process was inadequate and did not give an accurate picture of performance, including information on how many currently removable cases would need an ETD to be concluded.

On the plus side, the Chief Inspector was pleased to find that:

• the Home Office had developed good relationships with a number of embassies, which had resulted in efficient, successful re-documentation processes;

• detained interview schemes were particularly likely to result in the swift issuance of an emergency travel document;

• Returns Liaison Officers based at British embassies overseas and specialist investigation teams played an important role in obtaining ETDs in a number of cases.

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What Is An Emergency Travel Document In The UK?

Published: November 1, 2023

Modified: December 28, 2023

by Doll Velasco

• Safety & Insurance
• Travel Guide

Introduction

Traveling can be an exciting and enriching experience, but sometimes unexpected circumstances arise that may hinder our plans. In such situations, having the necessary documents to travel becomes crucial. One such document is an Emergency Travel Document (ETD), which is provided by the UK government to its citizens when their regular passport is lost, stolen, expired, or unavailable.

An ETD serves as a temporary travel document, allowing individuals to return to the UK or travel to a specific destination in urgent situations. While it may not be a long-term solution, it plays a vital role in assisting those who find themselves without a valid passport when they need to travel.

In this article, we will delve into the details of what an Emergency Travel Document entails, who is eligible to apply for it, the application process, required documents, processing time, cost, and the validity and usage of this document.

So, whether you’re planning a last-minute getaway or find yourself in an unforeseen travel predicament, understanding the ins and outs of an Emergency Travel Document will prove to be essential information.

Definition of an Emergency Travel Document

An Emergency Travel Document (ETD) is a temporary document issued by the UK government to British citizens who are unable to obtain a regular passport. It serves as an official identification document and allows individuals to travel under emergency circumstances when their regular passport is lost, stolen, expired, or otherwise unavailable.

The ETD is not a substitute for a full-validity passport but is rather a provisional travel document issued on an exceptional basis. It is typically valid for a single journey and a specific length of time, depending on the issuing authority and the purpose of travel. ETDs often come in the form of a one-page document, similar to a passport, containing the traveler’s personal information, photograph, and relevant travel details.

Emergency Travel Documents are recognized by various countries, airlines, and immigration authorities, enabling the bearer to return to the UK or reach their intended destination. However, it’s important to note that not all countries accept ETDs, and travelers may face restrictions or additional scrutiny at immigration checkpoints.

The issuance of an ETD is strictly regulated to prevent misuse or fraudulent activities. The UK government ensures that individuals who are genuinely in need of travel documents are able to obtain them quickly and efficiently while maintaining the integrity of the process.

Next, we will explore who is eligible to apply for an Emergency Travel Document in the UK.

Eligibility for an Emergency Travel Document

To be eligible to apply for an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) in the UK, you must fulfill certain criteria outlined by the government. These criteria ensure that ETDs are issued to individuals facing genuine emergency situations where a regular passport is not available. Below are the key eligibility requirements for obtaining an ETD:

• British citizenship: You must be a British citizen to be eligible for an ETD. This includes individuals who hold British nationality, British Overseas Territories citizenship, or British Overseas citizenship.
• Unavailability of a regular passport: You must provide evidence that your regular passport has been lost, stolen, expired, or is otherwise unavailable. It is essential to report a lost or stolen passport to the relevant authorities before applying for an ETD.
• Urgent travel requirement: You must have an urgent need to travel due to unforeseen circumstances, such as family emergencies, medical emergencies, or essential business or government-related travel.
• Proof of scheduled travel: You will need to provide documentation, such as flight tickets or a confirmed travel itinerary, indicating your planned departure from or return to the UK. This demonstrates the necessity and urgency of your travel.
• Age requirements: For applicants under the age of 16, a parent or legal guardian must always apply on their behalf. Applicants aged 16 or 17 may apply independently but may require additional documentation, such as parental consent.

It is important to note that meeting these eligibility criteria does not guarantee the issuance of an ETD. Each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis, and the issuing authority reserves the right to refuse an application if the circumstances are not deemed to be a genuine emergency or if the application is incomplete or inaccurate.

Now that we understand who is eligible to apply for an ETD, let’s explore the application process in the next section.

Application Process for an Emergency Travel Document

Applying for an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) in the UK involves a straightforward process that can be completed either online or in person. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you through the application process:

• Fill out the application form: Start by completing the application form for an ETD. This can be done online through the official government website or by obtaining a paper form from a nearby passport customer service center.
• Provide necessary information: The application form will require you to provide details such as your full name, date of birth, contact information, reason for travel, and any supporting documentation, such as proof of scheduled travel.
• Upload a suitable photograph: You will need to submit a recent passport-sized photograph that meets the UK passport photo requirements. This photo should be clear, in color, and taken against a plain background.
• Pay the application fee: There is a fee associated with applying for an ETD, which can be paid online using a credit or debit card. The fee may vary depending on factors such as the urgency of travel and the location where the application is submitted.
• Schedule an appointment (if required): If you are applying in person at a passport customer service center, you may need to schedule an appointment in advance. This ensures that your application is processed efficiently and allows for any additional documentation or verification if needed.
• Submit your application: Once you have filled out the form, attached the necessary documents, and paid the fee, you will need to submit your application. This can be done online or in person, depending on the method you chose.

After submitting your application, it will be reviewed by the UK Passport Office. If everything is in order and your application is approved, you will receive your Emergency Travel Document within a specified processing time. However, in some cases, additional documentation or verification may be required, which may extend the processing time.

Now that we have covered the application process, let’s move on to the required documents for an ETD application.

Required Documents for an Emergency Travel Document Application

When applying for an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) in the UK, you will need to provide certain documents to support your application. These documents are necessary to verify your identity, confirm the urgency of your travel, and ensure the accuracy of information provided. Here are the key documents typically required for an ETD application:

• Proof of identity: You will need to submit documents that establish your identity, such as a valid driver’s license, national identity card, or expired passport. These documents should include your full name, date of birth, and a recognizable photograph.
• Proof of UK citizenship: To confirm your British citizenship, you will need to provide evidence such as a previously issued passport, a UK birth certificate, or a certificate of registration/naturalization.
• Police report (if applicable): If your regular passport was lost or stolen, it is advisable to include a copy of the police report as proof of the incident.
• Proof of scheduled travel: To demonstrate the urgency of your travel, you should provide supporting documentation such as flight tickets, hotel bookings, or official invitations from a foreign country. These documents should clearly indicate your travel dates and the purpose of your trip.
• Photograph: You will be required to provide a recent, passport-sized photograph that meets the UK passport photo requirements. The photograph should show your full face, with no hats, sunglasses, or heavy accessories obstructing your face.
• Completed application form: Ensure that you have filled out the ETD application form accurately and completely. Any missing or incorrect information may lead to delays or the rejection of your application.

It’s important to note that additional documents may be requested depending on the specific circumstances of your application. If you are unsure about which documents to provide, it is recommended to consult the UK Passport Office or seek guidance from a passport customer service center.

Now that we have covered the required documents, let’s move on to the processing time for an ETD application.

Processing Time for an Emergency Travel Document

The processing time for an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) in the UK can vary depending on various factors, including the volume of applications, the urgency of travel, and the location where the application is submitted. It is essential to allow enough time for the processing of your ETD, taking into account any potential delays that may occur. Here is an overview of the processing time for an ETD application:

Standard Processing Time:

The standard processing time for an ETD application is usually around 4 to 6 working days from the date of submission. This timeframe may vary depending on the workload at the UK Passport Office and the completeness of your application. It is advisable to submit your application well in advance to ensure you receive your ETD in a timely manner.

Urgent Processing:

If you have an immediate need to travel due to a genuine emergency, you may be eligible for expedited processing of your ETD application. Urgent processing may be available at certain passport customer service centers or through online applications. The processing time for urgent applications can range from 24 hours to 48 hours, depending on the circumstances. However, it’s important to note that urgent processing is subject to additional fees.

Delays and Exceptions:

In some cases, there may be delays in the processing of ETD applications. This can happen if additional documentation or verifications are required, or if there is a high volume of applications during peak travel seasons. It is always recommended to allow a sufficient buffer time to accommodate any unforeseen circumstances.

To track the progress of your ETD application or inquire about the status, you can use the online tracking system provided by the UK Passport Office.

Now that we have covered the processing time, let’s move on to the cost associated with obtaining an ETD.

Cost of an Emergency Travel Document

Obtaining an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) in the UK incurs a cost, which varies depending on several factors. The fees associated with an ETD cover the processing and issuance of the document, as well as any additional services that may be required. Here is an overview of the cost of obtaining an ETD:

Standard Application Fee:

The standard application fee for an ETD is currently £100. This fee is applicable for both adult and child applicants and covers the processing and issuing of the document. It is essential to note that this fee is subject to change, and it is recommended to check the official UK government website for the most up-to-date information.

Urgent Application Fee:

If you require expedited processing of your ETD due to an urgent travel need, you may be eligible for an urgent application. The fee for urgent processing is higher than the standard fee and is currently £142 for adult applicants. This fee covers the additional costs associated with the expedited processing and issuance of the document.

Additional Services:

In some cases, you may require additional services when applying for an ETD. For example, if you need to provide biometric information (such as fingerprints) during the application process, there may be an additional fee associated with this service. Additionally, if you choose to have your ETD delivered through a secure courier service instead of regular mail, there may be an extra fee for this service.

Payment Options:

The application fees for an ETD can be paid using a credit or debit card during the online application process. If you are applying in person at a passport customer service center, you may have the option to pay by card or through other accepted payment methods as specified by the center.

It’s important to note that the fees mentioned here are for guidance purposes, and they may change over time. Therefore, it is advisable to check the official UK government website or contact the relevant authorities for the most up-to-date information on the cost of obtaining an ETD.

Now that we have covered the cost associated with an ETD, let’s move on to discussing the validity and usage of an ETD.

Validity and Usage of an Emergency Travel Document

An Emergency Travel Document (ETD) is a temporary travel document that serves as a substitute for a regular passport in emergency situations. Understanding the validity and usage of an ETD is essential to ensure a smooth and hassle-free travel experience. Here is a breakdown of the validity and usage of an ETD:

Validity Period:

The validity period of an ETD can vary depending on the issuing authority and the purpose of travel. Generally, an ETD is valid for a single journey and for a specific duration. This duration is typically determined based on the urgency of travel and may range from a few days to a few months. It is crucial to check the validity period mentioned on your ETD and ensure that it covers the entire duration of your intended travel.

Accepted by Countries and Airlines:

An ETD is recognized by various countries and airlines as a valid travel document. However, it is important to note that not all countries accept ETDs, and some countries may impose additional entry requirements or conditions. Before traveling, it is advisable to check the specific entry requirements of your destination country and consult the relevant embassy or consulate for the most up-to-date information.

Restrictions and Additional Scrutiny:

While an ETD allows individuals to travel in emergency situations, it is essential to be aware that certain restrictions and additional scrutiny may apply. Immigration authorities in some countries may subject ETD holders to further checks and questioning upon arrival. It is important to remain cooperative and provide any additional information or documentation requested by immigration officials to ensure a smooth entry process.

Limitations on Multiple Destinations:

One important aspect to note is that an ETD is generally issued for a specific destination mentioned in the application. If you intend to visit multiple countries or have a layover in a different country, it is crucial to ensure that your ETD covers all the necessary destinations. In some cases, it may be necessary to obtain visas or transit permits for countries not covered by your ETD.

Return to the UK:

An ETD can also be used to return to the UK in emergency situations when a regular passport is not available. It allows British citizens to re-enter their home country, provided they meet the immigration requirements for entry. It is advisable to contact the nearest UK embassy or consulate if you encounter any difficulties when trying to return to the UK using an ETD.

As the ETD is a temporary travel document, it is important to consider obtaining a regular passport as soon as possible once you return to the UK or after resolving the circumstances that led to the need for an ETD.

Finally, let’s wrap up this article.

In situations where unexpected circumstances arise and a regular passport is lost, stolen, expired, or unavailable, an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) serves as a temporary solution for British citizens to travel under urgent circumstances. While it is not a substitute for a full-validity passport, an ETD plays a crucial role in assisting individuals who find themselves in emergency travel situations.

We have covered various aspects of an ETD, including its definition, eligibility criteria, the application process, required documents, processing time, cost, and validity and usage. It is important to note that each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis, and meeting the eligibility requirements does not guarantee the issuance of an ETD.

When applying for an ETD, it is crucial to provide accurate and complete information, along with the necessary supporting documents. Allowing sufficient time for processing and being aware of any additional requirements or restrictions is essential to ensure a smooth travel experience.

While an ETD is recognized by many countries and airlines, it is important to check the specific entry requirements of your destination before traveling. Some countries may impose additional conditions or restrictions on ETD holders, and failure to comply with these requirements may result in denied entry.

Once your travel has been completed or the circumstances that led to the need for an ETD have been resolved, it is recommended to obtain a regular passport as soon as possible to avoid any future travel difficulties.

Understanding the ins and outs of an Emergency Travel Document is vital for anyone who may find themselves in an urgent travel situation. By familiarizing yourself with the eligibility criteria, application process, required documents, and other aspects of an ETD, you can navigate through emergency travel scenarios with greater ease and confidence.

Remember to always stay informed, plan ahead, and seek guidance from official sources if you have any questions or concerns regarding an ETD or any other travel-related matters.

Safe travels!

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Emergency travel documents online: getting people home the complicated way

Last year I wrote a number of ‘Photo casebooks’ talking about what an emergency travel document is , and our plans to digitise the application process for an emergency travel document .

The project is still invitation only, but has now been rolled out worldwide; and at least until our legalisation online project goes live, it is unambiguously the best website the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has ever released 1 . In a series of slightly longer blogs, I’d like to tell you a little more about several aspects of the project: the challenges we have faced, the technical details, our successes, and in at least one case our failures too.

To start with I’d like to write a little about the levels of complexity we have had to deal with. We decided to do the project largely on the belief that we could offer our customers a much better experience, and that the current process was an inefficient use of our staff’s time. Our service owner Rebecca did warn us that issuing a document which allows someone entry into the UK was a complex old business – but armed with our trusty optimism, and the knowledge that the Passport Office were working on digitising the application process for a full passport , we sailed on.

A surprising amount of use cases

One of the first problems we had was that although an emergency travel document has many of its features set very strictly by international agreement, there are at least 6 valid reasons why you might need a document – these include losing your passport or having it stolen but there are more. These different cases need slightly different information to be collected and checked.

Combining these cases with what we are able to offer locally means that we had to cope with a phenomenal number of cases:

• There are 196 consulates, embassies, and high commissions around the world who can issue an emergency travel document
• Most consulates will accept online payments for your emergency travel document but others can’t for one reason or another
• Most consulates offer online appointment booking but a few don’t
• Some consulates were on a new case management system, while others were on the old. Consulates moved from the old to the new during the course of the project.

To begin with then, the website had to deal with 9 408 (6 x 196 x 2 x 2 x 2) different but perfectly valid customer journeys.

Which countries would you like to go through?

Additionally, an emergency travel document is not like a full passport: it is only valid for a single journey which is printed in the document itself, reading for example ‘Issued for a single journey to United Kingdom arriving on 17-04-2016 2 . Many of our users will simply get a direct flight home, but around half go via another country which must itself be written on the document. In fact, you can transit up to 5 countries using your Emergency travel document as long as they are all specified in it.

In order to collect this information, we needed to make a page which was usable both for people simply flying from Spain to the UK, and those who were on a cruise ship travelling home via 5 separate countries.

For a good deal of the application process we were able to look at the good work done by the Passport Office on their transaction to cancel a lost and stolen passport : we knew they had heavily user-tested their work so we had an excellent chance of it being usable for our users too. The Journey Details page was the most complex in our application however, and it had no precedents at all across government – we had to work it out ourselves.

What you see above is about draft 70: we went through several rounds of user testing just on this screen. As we tweaked and tweaked it, the feedback inched from people failing to complete the page entirely, to ‘this page is very confusing!’, to the above version where eventually we had a run of people who simply wrote ‘no problems’.

The mathematics spiral out of control a little here. Not including the UK, there are 228 different countries and territories in the world , and you could theoretically lose your passport in any of them. Therefore, this page needed to cope not only with people planning to travel from 1 of 228 places to the UK; it also needed to deal with people leaving 1 of those 228 places, transiting 1 of the 227 remaining, making a further transit of 1 of the 226 remaining – I could go on. All in all, this page copes with over 10 trillion different possible journeys. And that’s before we even get to the next question:

Yes – many people need to travel and then return to where they are on the same emergency document. They are allowed 5 transit countries on the return journey too.

I hope that gives some flavour of the challenges we faced but also how interesting the project was; I’ll write again shortly on how we dealt with the different local requirements countries have and how we try and keep up to date with countries changing their laws.

1. There isn’t much competition.

2. If you change your plans after you have got your document – too bad my friend, you have to pay for another one.

23 comments on “ Emergency travel documents online: getting people home the complicated way ”

Hi Tracey and Megan –

Apologies, this blog is run by the digital team and we can’t answer these questions.

Tracey, if you haven’t already done so, can I suggest you contact the Embassy or Consulate nearest to where your daughter is and they will be able to help? We have several offices around the USA, their details are at https://www.gov.uk/government/world/usa .

Megan – in your case, your best bet is to speak to the Consulate which issued your Emergency travel document who will be able to advise.

Sorry I can’t help more, best wishes both –

I have a emergency passport and my final travel date will be May 18. Can I fly anytime before this and land in my designated country with my approved visa or do I have to fly on may 18 specifically?

If I fly on the May 18 I will arrive to my designated country on a different date anyways due to time difference?

I need help.. my 15year old daughter is in the USA and has had her passport stolen and I have no idea how to get her home.. when she’s a minor stuck in another country.. and her visa has ran out. What do I do

Hi ThuongDaLat-

It depends on what you mean:

British citizens in Southeast Asia are able to use our system now; Other countries may have their own digital system – though I don’t know of any who do, either in SE Asia or elsewhere: I think the UK is the first.

Very happy to share our experience with anyone who wants to give it a go though!

Best wishes-

Do you think it will expand the idea in Southeast Asia? I find this idea great but it will be difficult to implement in less developed countries like Southeast Asia.

I’m afraid this blog is run by the Emergency travel documents web team – we do our best but I don’t think we can answer your question. You might do best to contact Eurostar directly?

Best wishes and sorry I can’t do more to help –

great insight. I am seeking advice please. I am British citizen with a biometric passport. I have discovered that my passport went though the washing machine and the photo is now 75% washed out.

I have a colour image of the bio page from this passport before the washing incident. I also have a fully filled in application form for replacement passport.

I am traveling to Belgium tomorrow and return on Eurostar. Will the documents above plus valid EU driving licence be acceptable? If not, what will?

John R – thanks very much for your feedback, that’s great to hear!

Tony –

If you are in the UK you can’t get an Emergency travel document – it’s better in any case to get a full validity Passport which will last for 10 years. Try from https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport ?

Best wishes –

hi sir how long will take for emergency travel doucment to issued? I’m resident in uk but fornght passport expired 6 years ago ?

As a recent user of this service I am happy to confirm that it really is good and took much stress out of a horrible situation – I had my passport stolen on New Year’s Eve/early 1 Jan in Istanbul. Not mugged or anything like that – just pick pocketed in crowds in Taksim Square. Alas had to wait until 3 January to see consulate as they were taking the 2nd as holiday in accordance with UK bank hols, but the process was efficient.

I rang the emergency number, they directed me to the site, I filled in the form and received an email the next day inviting me to interview.

The big worry had been trying to deal with local police: they would not let me report the loss of my passport without having a document from the British Consulate proving I was who I said I was!

In fact in filling the form in I had to give a random police case reference number in order to satisfy the system rule and then explain in a text field what happened.

Incidentally I had no other photo ID – I don’t drive – and don’t have a photocopy of the stolen passport or a copy in Dropbox – and not even a note of the number (this is the first time ever in many years of travelling I didn’t make a copy etc – and look what happened!). But because I was able to tell the consulate – who asked in their email for any further info – things like my national insurance number in addition to when the passport had been issued and where, when I entered Turkey, travel itinerary etc., they managed to retrieve a copy of the stolen passport and everything was plain sailing from there on.

Re police report, I explained the situation and the consulate staff said ‘Sometimes the police here are not very helpful’. It was a relief that I did not need to go back to the police to get the ETD – the consulate said they would issue it that afternoon without a report.

If it had not been for the incident taking place on a Sunday, and the following day being treated as a bank holiday, I would have received the EDT within 36 hours. Very impressive.

Hi Confused, thanks for your comment.

This blog is maintained by the web team rather than by consular staff – however, with thanks to them, the best thing to do here is probably to ring the consulate and make sure that they have availability?

The telephone number will depend on whereabouts in Spain you are (we have several consulates in Spain), but if you start at https://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-embassy-madrid , there is a list of consulates near the top of the page – click on the nearest one to you, and their office number will be at the bottom of the page.

They can normally issue an ETD within 24 hours though it depends on your exact circumstances.

Thanks and best wishes –

Hi, I’m trying to find any info on how long it takes to get an appointment from the day of application. The website won’t show me appointment times until I pay. I’m due to travel in four days time from Spain to the UK for a wedding, but my passport application got delayed. I don’t want to waste the money & then find out that there are no appointments before I am due to travel. I can’t find any details to contact them either. The regular helpline didn’t have any information on ETDs.

That’s great, thanks. Going on a very long trip soon, hoping I won’t need your service but just planning for the worst! Thanks

I see that you can use the ETD through 5 countries. If I were on a big trip of say nine countries and I lost my passport in country number one, got an ETD to country number 6, could I then get a second ETD to complete the last three countries and head home?

Also, is there a time limit on how long the document lasts, for example if I were on said trip and it were to take six months and I had lost it in month one, would it be valid for my trip home five months later?

Hi Dan –

Thanks for your comment and for these tricky questions! With thanks to my FCO policy colleagues for their help here:

For your first question, an ETD is designed to allow someone to return to the UK or their country of residence – so our normal advice is that 5 countries is sufficient to get home. If you were on a longer trip, our advice would be to alter your plans or apply for a new passport and wait for it to be issued. If this is really impossible it would probably be best thing to give us a ring, and one of the team will try and work out what’s best.

For the second question, the maximum duration allowed is 9 months. This is because some countries require 6 months validity on entry.

I hope that is of use, best wishes-

Hi Williems – if you are already in the UK, you should get a full passport – there is a premium service to get a passport in 1 day: see https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently/1-day-or-1-week-service .

Can i get a 7 days fastrack travel document if i leave in the uk and want to travel abroad for burial

as someone who recently had to use this service, i can confirm it is one of the best user interfaces i have had an interaction with. The whole end to end process works (including the people part during the appointment itself) which is such a relief for someone who is completely stressed out as a consequence of losing their passport in the first place! Thanks for this – makes a big difference.

Thank you very much sir.

Hi Andrew –

Thanks for taking the time to comment! Yes- this is a real challenge though also probably the most interesting part of the project.

The next blog will be on how we have attempted to deal with it, but always keen to know when things are and aren’t working – I’ll contact you to make sure we are getting it right for posts in America.

The “different local requirements countries have and how we try and keep up to date with countries changing their laws” will be a challenge and will probably need quite a lot of liaison with posts.

Just as an example; a lot of our customers need to use an ETD to transit through the USA, who (as you know) require a full non-immigrant visa (not an ESTA) which takes at least 3-4 days to obtain and (oddly) while there’s no minimum validity requirement to use either a full validity passport or an ETD for this, the USA visa application online questionnaire asks for 6 months validity (which we provide, as a precaution).

Not easy to include this information in a standardised process without complicating the issue massively. I’m sure there are similar issues at every post. I guess it’s just a matter assessing at which point to tell the customer – “Your issue is complicated – you need to discuss it direct with the Consulate”. The trick is to do this soon enough, so that they leave themselves time. If we don’t provide this information they tend to book an appointment they day before they are due to travel, and come unstuck!

We’re grateful that this piece of work is being done and don’t hesitate to ask us for info on local ‘glitches’ and potential pitfalls. Good luck!

Hi Ed –

Yes, applicants still have to attend an appointment in person and a Consular officer checks their application. However, applicants can now book their appointment online as part of the process, so it should be easier to organise doing this alongside any other things they need to do (getting a police report, for example). There’s another blog coming up in a fortnight or so on how we handle the data if you are interested.

Thanks for taking the time to comment – best wishes-

Excellent work, provided someone sees the customer in person and is satisfied that there is no impersonation of a British Citizen who has provided his passport details to aid unlawful entry. Is the UK Border Force content?

Comments are closed.

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• Entering and staying in the UK
• Visas and entry clearance
• What are acceptable travel documents for entry clearance: ECB08
• UK Visas and Immigration

ECB08: what are acceptable travel documents for entry clearance

Updated 5 August 2021

© Crown copyright 2021

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected] .

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-are-acceptable-travel-documents-for-entry-clearance-ecb08/ecb08-what-are-acceptable-travel-documents-for-entry-clearance

1. ECB8.1 Why a passport or travel document is needed and what constitutes one

The Immigration Rules state that persons seeking entry to the UK are to be refused entry by an Immigration Officer if they fail to produce a valid national passport or other document satisfactorily establishing their identity and nationality (Rules paragraph 320(3) ).

This applies equally to applicants requesting entry clearance from an ECO.

A bona fide passport or travel document should:

• contain the photograph, name and date of birth of the holder;
• state the holder’s nationality (or disclaimer if the holder is stateless or of undetermined nationality);
• be valid for travel to the UK.

2. ECB8.2 States not recognised by HMG

HMG does not recognise certain ‘states’ and does not recognise the passports or travel documents issued by them. Entry clearances should not therefore be put in such passports or travel documents.

However, this does not mean that an entry clearance may not be issued. If the requirements of the Immigration Rules are met, an entry clearance must be issued on an EU Uniform Format Form (EU UFF).

The UK does not recognise:

• ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (‘TRNC’)
• Yemen (Royalist authorities)**.

*Visas may be placed in ordinary Taiwanese passports. But the EU Uniform Format Form should be used when a diplomatic or official Taiwanese passport is presented.

**Passports which may be in circulation although they are being phased out.

3. ECB8.3 Passports not recognised by HMG

Although HMG does not recognise certain passports as evidence of identity and nationality, the Secretary of State does not have the power to tell ECOs which passports to accept. If ECOs are unsure whether a passport is acceptable and can be endorsed then they should contact their regional operations manager.

4. ECB8.4 What to do when a government issues a new form of travel document

When a new type of passport / travel document is first issued by a foreign or Commonwealth government, or an International Organisation decides to issue a travel document, the Post should as a priority:

• request four specimens.

These examples are required so that the passport / travel document can be formally recognised and notifies the Home Office.

5. ECB8.5 Passports and travel documents in current use

Listed below are passports and travel documents in current use. Although most are acceptable for entry to the UK, some are not.

• Collective passports (ECB8.6)
• Emergency travel documents (ECB8.7)
• European Union Laissez-Passer (ECB8.8)
• EU Uniform Format Form (replaced Declaration of Identity form)(ECB8.9)
• Hong Kong travel documents (ECB8.10)
• Identity cards of EEA Nationals and Swiss Nationals (ECB8.11)
• National passports (ECB8.12)
• Refugee or stateless persons travel documents (ECB8.13)
• Travel documents issued by International Organisations (ECB8.14)
• Travel documents issued by the United Nations (ECB8.15)
• Unofficial and self-styled ‘passports’ (ECB8.16) back to top

6. ECB8.6 Collective passports

6.1 ecb8.6.1 as with national passports, these travel documents are issued by governments. each collective passport must:.

• be issued by an authority competent to issue passports;
• be in a form recognised by the Home Office;
• give the date and place of issue and the name of the issuing authority;
• certify that all persons included in it are nationals of the country in which it is issued, excepting Italian collective passports (which are not certified in this manner because they never include persons not of Italian nationality) or certain stateless persons (see section below);
• describe the party (for example, a sports team, a school class);
• state the country or countries of destination;
• give the surnames (in alphabetical order), first names, date and place of birth and place of residence for each member of the party;
• have adequate space for the Immigration Officer’s stamps.

6.2 ECB8.6.2 Amendments or additions to collective passports

Any amendments or additions to a collective passport may be made only by the issuing authority. Immigration Officers will accept the validity of documents upon which deletions have been made provided each alteration is separately authenticated by an ECO.

6.3 ECB8.6.3 A collective passport may be used for travel to the UK provided:

• All those included in it are to engage in a common enterprise, and full arrangements are made for the visit before arrival.
• The visit is of a temporary nature and will not exceed six months.
• The party enter, remain and leave the UK together.

The number of people included on one collective passport must not be less than five or more than fifty.

6.4 ECB8.6.4 Additional requirements for collective passports:

• Each member of the party who is aged 16 years or over must be in possession of an official identity document bearing a photograph (for example, an identity card, driving licence, certificate of nationality for travel purposes or a passport which has expired not more than three years previously).
• Alternatively, a certified photograph of each such member may be affixed to the collective passport opposite his / her name. The photographs may be certified by the organising body, or by the leader of the party. After they have been affixed to the passport, each must be stamped by the ECO in such a way that the photograph cannot be removed and replaced by another.
• It is helpful, but not a requirement, that young persons under the age of 16 years carry with them some kind of official identity document.

6.5 ECB8.6.5 Requirements for the leader of the party travelling on a collective passport:

• Be at least 21 years of age and remain in company with the party.
• Be responsible for complying with the immigration requirements.
• Ensure that the members of the party remain together.
• Possess an individual passport.

6.6 ECB8.6.6 Authentication of collective passports by ECOs

In addition to being endorsed with entry clearances, when necessary, collective passports must be authenticated by an ECO or Consular Officer.

No authentication is required for collective passports issued by the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey

6.7 ECB8.6.7 Collective passports and Stateless persons

Stateless persons under the age of 21 whose residence in the countries listed above is authorised by the national authorities concerned, may be included on collective passports issued by those national authorities provided:

• The names of stateless persons must be listed separately from nationals, and their status clearly shown.
• The collective passport must bear a clear indication at the top that the party includes stateless persons.
• Each stateless person aged 16 or over carries an identity card bearing a photograph.

The inclusion of stateless young persons on a collective passport commits the issuing government to their readmission without time limit to its own territory, even when the stateless person does not return with the party.

6.8 ECB8.6.8 Advice if a person on a collective passport must unavoidably remain longer in the United Kingdom

Any member of the party who is unable for some unavoidable reason, e.g. illness or accident, to leave the UK with the main party must obtain an individual passport from his/her Consul in the UK. The passport must be sent with a letter giving the reason for prolonging the stay to:

Public Enquiry Office UK Visas and Immigration Lunar House 40 Wellesley Road Croydon CR9 2BY

In addition, when the party leaves the country, the leader should inform an Immigration Officer at the port of entry if any members of the party have been left behind.

6.9 ECB8.6.9 Entry clearance fees for collective passports

Unless entry clearance is to be gratis (see ECB06 Entry clearance fees for guidance) each person travelling should be charged a fee.

7. ECB8.7 Emergency travel documents

Emergency travel documents are issued by governments. They are usually for specific journeys. The ECO should normally consider them satisfactory documents for travel to the United Kingdom

8. ECB8.8 European Union Laissez-Passer

The European Union (EU) provides certain officials and their dependents with a laissez-passer. This laissez-passer is accepted in lieu of a passport or national identity card for entry to any of the EU member states.

9. ECB8.9 EU Uniform Format Form (UFF)

9.1 what is a uff.

The UFF is a document on which a visa can be placed when a travel document is not recognised as a valid travel document by HMG. It is used by all EU Member States.

It replaced the previous Declaration of Identity form (GV3). Unlike the previous GV3 form, the UFF does not confer nationality and neither does it confirm identity.

A UFF is not a statutory declaration in the true sense and may be witnessed by an officer responsible for signing entry clearances.

The ECO should not issue a UFF unless they intend to endorse a visa on it.

9.2 Is a referral to the regional operations manager mandatory?

No, ECOs may issue a UFF after authorisation from an ECM in straightforward cases, that is, first time family reunion or settlement cases or cases where and applicant does not have an acceptable travel document.

*(family reunion guidance) SET10 - Family reunion .

In all other circumstances authority to issue UFFs must be obtained from the regional operations manager. Each region should set up local processes for referring UFF’s for authorisation.

What is the procedure for issuing UFFs authorised by an ECM?

See ECB9.3 (c)

9.3 What period of leave should be granted?

If the applicant is applying under the Family Reunion policy and the sponsor has 5 years Limited Leave (LTR) the applicant should be granted LTE in line with the sponsor’s leave, expiring on the same date. If the sponsor has Indefinite Leave (ILR) the applicant should be granted ILE for 12 months.

The ECO should add the initial and surname of their sponsor in the ‘Add endorsement’ field. If the applicant is applying under a category other than Family Reunion, the visa should be valid for the duration of the category under which they have applied, for example, Settlement 27 months.

The ECO should add the initial and surname of their sponsor in the ‘Add endorsement’ field.

It is important to ensure that a UFF is issued in conjunction with a travel document, wherever possible. But where the applicant does not hold a travel document, the application should be referred to the regional operations manager. See referral procedure above.

As the UFF is personal to the holder and only one visa may be attached to it, the ECO must issue a separate form and vignette for each applicant.

Where appropriate, the ECO may issue a multiple-entry entry clearance on a UFF.

9.4 What is the fee?

The standard entry clearance fees are payable, except for categories which are exempt (see Exempt (EXM) )

There is no fee for the UFF itself.

You can download a (specimen EU Uniform Format Form (UFF) on this guidance page.

For information on the issuing / processing of EU UFF see ECB9.3 .

10. ECB8.10 Hong Kong travel documents

10.1 ecb8.10.1 since july 1998 there have been four different types of hong kong travel documents:.

• the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport; (ECB8.10.2)
• the British National (Overseas) passport; (ECB8.10.3)
• the British Overseas Citizen passport; (ECB8.10.4)
• the Hong Kong Document of Identity for Visa Purposes. (ECB8.10.5)

10.2 ECB8.10.2 The HKSAR passport is issued by the HKSAR Immigration Department on the authority of the Chinese Government. It is issued to all Chinese nationals who have right of abode in the HKSAR and hold the Hong Kong permanent identity card. BN(O) passport-holders who are eligible for the HKSAR passport can hold both passports simultaneously.

10.3 ecb8.10.3 the bn(o) passport can be held and used as a travel document by hong kong residents. some 3.4 million hong kong people (mostly chinese nationals) are bn(o)s - a status held for life. bn(o) passports have a ten-year validity and are renewable at the british consulate-general in hong kong, at uk passport offices and at other british consular posts overseas. bn(o)s have visa-free access for visits to the uk., 10.4 ecb8.10.4 the british overseas citizen passport is held by those people, who were formerly british dependent territories citizens and who failed to register for a bn(o) passport before 1 july 1997 and who would otherwise be stateless., 10.5 ecb8.10.5 hong kong documents of identity for visa purposes are issued to residents of hong kong, who do not meet the residence criteria to qualify for the right of abode and thus the hksar passport and / or cannot obtain a national passport., 11. ecb8.11 identity cards of eea and swiss nationals.

EEA and Swiss nationals may use identity cards as travel documents for travel to the United Kingdom.

12. ECB8.12 National passports

National passports are issued by governments to persons who are accepted as their citizens.

Unless there are particular problems with a national passport (in which case Posts will be informed of special handling procedures to be taken) ECOs should treat all such passports as bona fide for travel to the UK.

There are special arrangements for handling entry clearance applications from persons who hold national passports of countries not recognised by HMG [see ECB 8.2 above].

13. ECB8.13 Refugee or Stateless Persons’ travel documents

13.1 ecb8.13.1 refugee or stateless persons travel documents.

Most governments issue travel documents to stateless persons, refugees or others living within their borders who are not eligible for national passports.

The Home Office issues documents as outlined above. These documents are used for entering and exiting th UK.

These documents cannot be renewed. When they expire, the holder must apply for a new document and this can only be done in the UK

13.2 ECB8.13.2 1951 Convention Travel Documents

1951 Convention Travel Documents (CTDs) are issued to refugees by states who are party to the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees. All holders of 1951 CTDs, except those issued by the UK, are required to give a record of their fingerprints on arrival in the UK. Visas endorsed on 1951 CTDs do not confer leave to enter. Instead they are valid for presentation at a UK port for six months, where the holder can seek leave to enter.

Visas endorsed on 1951 CTDs should be:

• restricted to six months validity, this includes EEA Family Permits; but
• multiple-entry visit visas can be valid for up to two years.

13.3 ECB8.13.3 Refugees or Stateless Persons entering for longer than 6 months

Those entering for longer than six months, such as students, PBS holders and others, will need to seek an extension from UK Visas and Immigration after their arrival in the United Kingdom.

People granted settlement and family reunion (who would normally be granted indefinite leave to enter on the visa) are limited to six month visas and will need to seek further leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain from UK Visas and Immigration.

13.4 ECB8.13.4 Refugees or Stateless Persons: limited validity, biometrics and fees

The ECO should make applicants aware of their need to seek leave to enter on arrival in the UK and the limited validity of their visas. They should also advise applicants that failure to comply with the requirement to give fingerprints could result in refusal of leave to enter (see ECB1.3 Biometrics in the legislation ).

When assessing applications from 1951 CTD holders, the ECO needs to consider the full duration of the intended stay. Fee charges (usual charges apply) and appeal rights will be in line with the proposed length of stay.

13.5 ECB8.13.5 Travel documents issued by the United Kingdom to refugee or stateless persons

*Refugee Travel Document (1951 Convention)

• The 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, which came into force in the UK on 9 June 1954, provides in Article 28 for the issue of travel documents to refugees lawfully staying in the territories of contracting governments. The Convention defines a refugee as a person who, “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country”.

The current version of the refugee travel document is in book form, has a dark blue cover and contains 32 pages. There are two gold lines across the top left hand corner of the front cover, each 5mm wide and 3mm apart, and the title ‘Travel Document (Convention of 28 July 1951)’, the official crest and ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’.

Special attention is drawn to the following points about the refugee travel document issued in the UK:

• It is normally made valid for travel to all countries except the country of origin and/or from which the holder sought asylum.
• The period of validity varies with the holder’s immigration position in the UK. (It may be as short as 6 months for a holder on time conditions or as long as 10 years for one who has achieved settlement). The holder’s immigration position will be apparent from the Home Office endorsements on the visa pages.
• While valid, the holder can use the document to return to the UK without requiring a visa. However, this does not guarantee entry and the holder will still need to satisfy the Immigration Officer on entry to the UK.

The holder of an expired refugee travel document who has taken up permanent residence in another country should be advised to apply to the authorities of that country for a replacement travel document (note 2 on inside front cover of document). Similarly, if he / she has obtained a national passport, by re-availing himself / herself of the protection of the country from which he / she sought refuge or by acquiring another nationality, he/she may not be issued with further CTD’s. In either case it should be explained that withdrawal of the UK travel documentation would not in itself affect the outcome of any application he / she may make for a visa to re-enter the UK.

It is not possible to re-new Home Office travel documents outside the UK. Those wishing to return to the UK and who are not in possession of their travel document (lost / stolen) should, once satisfied that they meet the criteria after following the guidance in ECB8.9 and notifying travel document section, be considered for a EU UFF (See ECB8.9 above).

13.6 ECB8.13.6 Travel documents issued by the United Kingdom to stateless persons

• Stateless Persons’ Travel Documents (1954 Convention)

Under the terms of the 1954 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, which came into force on 6 June 1960, the Home Office issues a Stateless Person’s Travel Document similar to the refugee document but having a red cover and valid for travel to all countries. The rules regarding periods of validity, return to the UK without a visa and extensions abroad are the same as for the refugee document.

13.7 ECB8.13.7 Certificates of Travel issued by the United Kingdom

*Note: Issued since 17 March 2008

• This travel document, which is in the form of a 32-page booklet with a black cover, is issued to resident foreign nationals who need to travel abroad and can show that they have formally and unreasonably been refused passport facilities by their own national authorities. It is normally made valid for travel to all countries except the holder’s country of origin and/or the country from which asylum was sought.

Its validity, upon issue in the UK, varies with the holder’s immigration position. For a holder who is settled, it would normally be made valid for up to 5 years; for one on time conditions it would normally be in line with that leave. Where these documents have been issued exceptionally, they are usually valid for 12 months.

The holder’s immigration position should be apparent from the Home Office endorsements on the visa pages.

Prior to 17 March 2008, Certificates of Identity were issued instead of Certificates of Travel. The criteria for issue were the same as for the Certificates of Travel and these documents had a brown cover**. **There will no longer be any valid Certificates of Travel in circulation.

13.8 ECB8.13.8 Document of Identity (1S 137) issued by the United Kingdom

The 1S 137 is a single journey document issued solely to facilitate repatriation from the UK. It is not a renewable document.

13.9 ECB8.13.9 Home Office documents issued to stateless seamen

It is very rare to see one of these.

Stateless seamen resident in the UK who hold Discharge Books (Continuous Certificates of Discharge) issued by the Home Office and which are endorsed as valid for return to the UK without a visa may be issued with a Stateless Persons Document (SPD) if he fulfils all the following conditions:

• When last given leave to enter the UK he was given indefinite leave to enter.
• He has remained continuously in sea employment since last leaving the UK.
• He has not been granted permission to take up residence in any other country.
• He is not on any Home Office data bases or otherwise known to be undesirable.
• He has not been in sea employment outside the UK for a period longer than four years.

Any cases of this nature should be referred to the Travel Document Section (TDS) in Croydon.

13.10 ECB8.13.10 How to deal with the loss of Home Office travel documents

Persons who claim to have lost their Home Office issued Travel Document should be treated as applicants for visas to be issued on a UFF (see ECB9.3(b) ). For all lost travel document applications the ECO must email the Travel Documents Section giving the following details about the applicant:

• Any Home Office reference number
• The number of the document
• Surname and all forenames
• Date and place of birth
• Date of last embarkation from the UK
• Circumstances of stay abroad
• Ties with the UK
• The applicant’s address in the UK
• The circumstances of the loss of the document and details of the police report
• Any available document or information which would help identification * Authorisation should only be sought from the regional operations manager once the travel documents section have confirmed that they have taken the appropriate action.

13.11 ECB8.13.11 Can Home Office travel documents be issued abroad?

On no account should applications for Home Office travel documents be accepted from persons outside the UK, unless instructions to do so have been received from the Home Office. Only in very exceptional cases, by prior arrangement, will the Home Office issue a replacement document to such a person overseas and where this is agreed, the new document will be sent to the nearest Entry Clearance Issuing Post.

14. ECB8.14 Travel documents issued by International Organisations

The African Development Bank (ADB), the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the International Red Cross issue travel documents.

• Only the Red Cross document may be considered acceptable for travel to the UK.

15. ECB8.15 Travel documents issued by the United Nations

15.1 ecb8.15.1 there are two types of travel documents issued by the united nations:.

UN Certificate Do not endorse a UN Certificate with an entry clearance. Holders should be asked to obtain a national passport or other travel document.

UN Laissez-passer This allows the holder to travel to the United Kingdom on official business without a national passport or entry clearance. However, when holders travel to the UK for any other reason, they should use their national passports (and visas will be required by visa nationals).

Exceptionally, the following may use UN laissez-passer when not on official business:

• Members of the staff of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and their families, based in London;
• Stateless persons genuinely unable to obtain any other form of travel document (in such cases visas should be attached to the UN laissez-passer).

15.2 ECB8.15.2 Spouses, civil partners and children of holders of UN laissez-passer

The inclusion of the names of spouses, civil partners and children in a UN laissez-passer merely indicates their right to claim immunities and privileges.

Spouses, civil partners and children of holders of UN laissez-passer must carry national passports or other suitable travel documents. If they are visa nationals, they are not exempt from UK visa requirements.

When accompanying the holder of a UN laissez-passer travelling on official business the spouses, civil partners and children may be granted a gratis visa.

16. ECB8.16 Unofficial / self-styled passports

An organisation calling itself ‘The United Nations Office Inc’ issues so-called ‘passports’ which are not acceptable.

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Blog Data in government

https://dataingovernment.blog.gov.uk/emergency-travel-documents-service-service-assessment/

Emergency Travel Documents Service - Service Assessment

An emergency travel document (ETD) enables you to get back to the UK or your country of residence from wherever you are if your passport is not available for one reason or another. It is only usable for a defined journey which is written into the document: when you get back, the document is withheld by Border Force and later destroyed by the Passport Office (HMPO). It is more expensive than a passport and so is usually for emergencies. The service has a very wide user base, including:

• people who have lost their passport when travelling
• expatriates who have to return home urgently and find their passport has expired
• children of expatriates who have never had a British passport but need to travel urgently to the UK
• prisoners about to be expelled from a country
• people involved in a crisis situation abroad

Department / Agency: FCO

Date of Original Assessment: 21/07/2015

Date of Reassessment: 21/09/2015

Assessment Stage: alpha

Result of Original Assessment: Not Pass

Result of Reassessment: Pass

Lead Assessor: L.Scott (Original) / M. Knight (Reassessment)

Service Manager: R. Sayce

Digital Leader: A. Daniels

Reassessment Report

21st September 2015

The Emergency Travel Documents Service has been reviewed against points 1, 2, 3, 6, 12 and 14 of the Service Standard which were not passed at the original assessment.

After consideration the assessment panel has concluded that the Emergency Travel Documents should proceed to private beta.

The service does not yet meet point 3 of the standard because some key roles were missing from the team currently delivering the service. The panel believes that the service is now ready to proceed to gather more feedback from a limited private beta, in line with the conditions set out below.

The service team presented the details of the recent assisted digital user research done with the Age Concern centre close to Alicante in Spain. The panel were impressed with the efforts that the team has made to identify user needs for support, and to test the service with users who are, by the nature of the service, not UK based at the time of use. The team are participating in a cross-government group to share findings and identify best practice for researching assisted digital users overseas, which will contribute towards greater consistency for British users needing government support from abroad. It was noticeable that the assisted digital work done had delivered a better service for all users, not just assisted digital users, and the panel would like to encourage the team to continue this good work in the next phase.

Some concerns remain over the way the team had approached the alpha. The aim in alpha stage should be to prototype and explore approaches to meeting user needs, rather than to produce production ready code and functionality. The panel were also concerned at the balance of the team. In particular, the panel was concerned about the way that development resource was prioritised, and other important skill sets were not present throughout the alpha (for example, content design, design and user research).

The panel looks forward to seeing some of the improvements mentioned in the assessment (for example, the removal of the need to enter duplicate information to book an appointment at the end of the flow). As the team move forward into beta, the panel would encourage the team to continue to test and iterate the current journey in addition to adding new features, as well as balancing the skills available to the team.

Recommendations

The service should address the following recommendations ahead of the beta assessment.

Private beta

• The private beta must be limited in scope by users and time, with an overall plan to be agreed with GDS before entering the private beta.

User research

• The team should create a plan for future user research, including assisted digital research. This should include face to face research in the UK with potential users to compliment the existing WhatUsersDo work. Participants must include less experienced travellers, people with low and no digital skills who are likely to need assistance, and people with a range of disabilities and access needs. The research must cover finding the new service, and test the service on the device the potential user is likely to have access to while travelling.
• The team must carefully test any support for ‘proxy’ applications before including it in the private or public beta. This could introduce significant confusion into an otherwise simple service.
• In addition to completing and acting on the planned research with Age Concern in Alicante, we recommend the team does research in countries where access to digital services can be more problematic, for example by continuing with the plans for sessions in Addis Ababa and Islamabad.
• At this early stage, the team is considering different design options for assisted digital support, largely based on existing support through consulates and contact centres. As the service develops, the team must demonstrate how support is being designed and iterated to meet user needs.
• The Service Manager should prioritise the recruitment of design and content design resource for the team for private beta and future phases. Borrowing patterns from other services or having a designer ‘look in’ on the service are not substitutes for these necessary skill sets, and this will become more important in future phases. These designers should actively participate in user research.

Tools and systems

• The team should reconsider their decision to send personal data by email in the clear; sending this by email poses a risk to the security of the data. The team should instead consider sending a receipt only.
• The team should note that the GOV.UK APIs that they rely on are unsupported, and as a result may break or change without notice. The service should have plans in place to identify if this happens and also consider what the impact on users might be if the APIs change significantly.

Simple and intuitive service

• The team work on the content of the service with a content designer. Particular issues include poor validation messages, content not to GOV.UK style, and long headings.
• The team review the design feedback document that will be sent separately. Particular issues include frustrating summary screen, validation that can be distracting, and handling of approximate information.

This is a complex service and it was great to see the work that has gone into developing it. The panel hope that the pass at alpha and the recommendations above encourage the team on their journey towards a beta assessment. The panel look forward to hearing about the private beta when the team return for the beta assessment.

Summary of Original Report

21st July 2015

After consideration the assessment panel has concluded that the Emergency Travel Documents Service is not yet on track to meet the Digital Service Standard at this early stage of development.

User needs and user research

Point 1 - Understand user needs. Research to develop a deep knowledge of who the service users are and what that means for the design of the service.

Point 2 - Put a plan in place for ongoing user research and usability testing to continuously seek feedback from users to improve the service.

Point 12 - Create a service that is simple and intuitive enough that users succeed first time.

The service team has identified the top user need for the service (I need to travel on a booked journey without a passport) and have identified improvements to be achieved and current pain points e.g. reducing waiting time in the consulate. The vision for the future service (to apply online, be verified remotely, digital photos, pay online, receive an emergency travel document (ETD) at departure destination) is compelling.

However, the panel could not see how the team had used research and discovery to evidence and validate these needs and pain points. We reviewed the report from IFF, which suggested that users feel reassured attending the consulate, and showed little appetite for a digital service. More research is needed to understand the needs of users, and ensure that the service design meets these.

Relying on remote, scenario-based user research means the team aren’t exposed to the needs of their genuine users, and that the users doing the testing are not fully engaged with the service (e.g. where they select a country at random).

The team have also not researched specifically with lower-skilled or lower-confidence users, or those with assisted digital needs. As such the prototype service lacked informed assisted digital support routes to test and iterate, instead relying on users requiring assisted digital support to use the inferior paper service.

The alpha is the time to get a deep understanding of users and their needs, and the landscape for transforming the digital service. The service team has spent much of the alpha building the real service, missing the objective of an alpha. The service team hasn’t used the alpha to explore many of the identified user needs.

The prototype demonstrated seemed to focus on feature completeness rather than building something that would help the team learn about their users. The panel were unclear why many paths of the journey were built if they weren’t being tested at alpha. The panel would recommend the service team investigate using the GOV.UK prototyping kit. This would deliver a more functional prototype that is more realistic than the client-side javascript solution demoed.

The prototype does not yet include the most complex elements, such as payments and photo upload. The team had surveyed previous users and had an understanding that digital confidence decreased when abroad, with particular concerns around the potential data costs of completing a form online.

The team has iterated the prototype frequently, although much of this was addressing smaller content changes. Many identified needs have been left for beta development. The team has identified some user groups to engage with in beta, e.g. farmers in Africa and expats in Spain. We’d encourage far more of a focus on non-scenario based research. A user researcher joining the team is essential.

The team were concerned that the service planned to stop using the prototype and only use production code going forward. Prototyping and testing regularly with users is an important part of the process for the entire development of a service. Whilst testing with production code may appear to save time, it increases the risk of building the wrong thing, and it slows down the time taken to iterate changes for user research.

Significant portions of the service overlap with two existing services - passport renewals and lost and stolen passports. The panel would have liked to have seen more evidence of the team having engaged with these existing services and incorporating their findings from user research. The service team mentioned they had engaged in trying to share code, but at alpha stage learning about existing research and design patterns would be more valuable.

Point 3 - Put in place a sustainable multidisciplinary team that can design, build and operate the service, led by a suitably skilled and senior service manager with decision-making responsibility.

Understandably for a small team, there are many overlapping roles. There are however key roles (including design, content design, user research and data analysis) that are not represented on the team, with responsibility being shared for theses between the product manager (FCO) and the business analyst (supplier side).

A user researcher, working at least 3 days a week, is currently missing, and is a vital role on a service team. This would reduce the reliance on an outsourced user research company and help address some of the concerns the panel had around the research methodologies used. Having a user researcher on the team would have helped the service team better target their research in alpha.

Currently a content editor at FCO reviews the content. A content designer should be working more closely with the service team to design content to ensure the service meets user needs, rather than providing a proof read at the end of the process. The service has particular challenges around supporting applications from people applying on another person’s behalf - we recommend further research in this area.

The service uses the GDS design patterns and toolkit, however there are small inconsistencies that will need to be addressed. The panel will send through design recommendations separately, as well as a review of the service’s content.

Point 6 - Evaluate what tools and systems will be used to build, host, operate and measure the service, and how to procure them.

The panel believes the front-end of this application is over-engineered. The team should reconsider the technology choices used and build for progressive enhancement. For example, the use of an isomorphic front-end complicates the build and will make it more difficult to iterate.

The majority of the journey could be delivered as HTML, with JavaScript used to enhance aspects (e.g. validation). There is no need to deliver the entire journey using JavaScript. No allowance was made for users who have JavaScript enabled but don’t receive it.

The architecture includes a Scala backend. The choice of language itself is not unreasonable in this case, but Scala is a very difficult skill to recruit for and makes it more difficult to move from an incumbent supplier, so the team should weigh this against potential recruitment problems.

There are a number of services that need to be called in order to complete a transaction or submit an application, e.g. create a PDF, send an email, insert into the case management system. There is no plan to keep data consistent between these services or deal with a partial failure. If one of the services fails this has an affect on the whole transaction, e.g. the case management system fails but the email confirmation succeeds. This needs to be addressed.

At the moment there is no data store on the server and it is important to address audit of applications. Mismatches between the case management system and the web front-end will otherwise be very difficult to identify.

Digital take-up

Point 14 - Encourage all users to use the digital service (with assisted digital support if required), alongside an appropriate plan to phase out non-digital channels/services.

The panel did not hear a compelling reason for the lack of a plan to increase digital take-up to 100%. In particular, it was not clear why there shouldn’t be an ambition to remove the paper channel (where anyone needing help accessing the digital service would be supported via the assisted digital channel, and understanding that paper is not an appropriate assisted digital support route).

The panel recommends that the service address the following:

• Hire a user researcher to work alongside the service team.
• Research all user journeys, including the least happy path.
• Using appropriate recruitment methods, carry out research with users with all levels of digital skills and confidence (including those who would seek support from third parties or friends and family) to inform the design of both the on-screen service and any assisted digital support.
• Ensure ongoing research to account for extra service complexity as new features are added.
• Collaborate with the Home Office to learn from the user research carried out for the ‘lost and stolen passport’ service.
• Hire a content designer to work alongside the service team.
• The panel were concerned about mailing large amounts of personal data being sent between the embassy and to the recipient in the clear. The panel recommend sending notifications only and that users log in to get the data. The panel noted that this step is short term until the case management system is in place. It might be better to mock the interface to the case management system for testing and omit the email stage.
• The session caching server will hold very sensitive data, by default the server is designed to exist within a trusted environment. Security around this store needs to be defined.
• Reconsider the technology choices for the front end. Build for progressive enhancement. The team should discuss this further with GDS.
• Consider using the GOV.UK prototyping kit for future prototypes.
• Consider the licence you need to open your source code.
• Establish a plan to achieve 100% digital take-up.

There are positives to the work the team has done so far, for example, the team showed empathy with the distress many users would be experiencing, especially if they were in need of an emergency travel document as a victim of crime, and as mentioned earlier the vision for the future service is compelling.

It was also positive to see the collaboration in the team and to hear how all team members understood the value of their work and how it relates to the overall vision, and were able to contribute ideas and suggest change.

The panel were pleased to hear that the team have already put a lot of thought into how they will measure success, and are speaking to the Performance Platform to share data in the open.

However, as detailed above there are a number of areas where the team should carry out further work, in the alpha stage, to ensure that the service is well positioned for beta development, and delivers a high quality service which will meet user needs.

Digital Service Standard criteria

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Applying for a UK Emergency Travel Document (ETD)

The FCO has produced a video aimed at assisting British nationals when travelling abroad. The key messaging within these focuses on preventing losing personal property when abroad, with a particular focus on the loss of passports in Spain, Portugal and Italy. There is also an additional video providing travellers with information on getting Emergency travel documents whilst abroad.

The advice is the same for Saudi Arabia, though the key telephone number is:

British Consulate-General, Jeddah Tel: 02 622 5550 Fax: 02 622 6249

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Consulate of the Republic of San Marino to the UK

ETD: Emergency Travel Document

In case of theft or loss of the passport or any other travel document, San Marino citizens need  to follow the procedure below: 

On the basis of an agreement between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italian diplomatic and consular missions can release also to San Marino citizens the Emergency Travel Document (ETD), intended for the EU citizens. 

The San Marino citizen needs to contact the Italian diplomatic and consular missions to get the ETD, submitting the following documentation:

• Theft or lost report of the passport or any other travel document issued by the  local police; 
• 2 photographs of the individual according to ICAO 9303 standard; 
• ride ticket of the individual, if possible; 
• appropriate payment of the cost of the printing procedure and of any shipping costs.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in San Marino will be promptly informed by the Italian offices, as a competent body for the emission of the authorisation for the issuing of the ETD to San Marino citizens. 

Further information can be requested by sending an email to [email protected] . 

For emergencies, in late hours or in non-working days, you may call the Interforce Operations Centre at the following number: + 378 (0549) 888888.