Justice and
Home Affairs
Customs and Immigration Service
Report
To: Minister for Home Affairs
Submitted By: Acting Assistant Director
Date: 1st August 2019
Subject: Passport Fee and Service Increases from 1st October 2019
Purpose of Report
To enable the Minister for Home Affairs to approve the increase in passport fees, Temporary Emergency Passport fees and “Express Service” fees from 1st October 2019 to align with those in the UK.
Background
On 6th September 2007 the Minister for Treasury and Resources, in exercise of his powers under paragraphs 5.12 of Financial Direction 4.1, approved the adoption of a formula for all future passport fee increases in Jersey. It was agreed that passport fees may be set at the same level as those in the UK.
On 31st May 2019 the Treasurer of the States, in exercising his powers delegated to him from the Minister of Treasury and Resources (delegation 2.1, authority for agreeing non-contentious charge increases above 2.5% may be delegated to the Treasurer of the States, or in their absence , another person as nominated by the Treasurer), under paragraphs 5.12 of Financial Direction 4.1, approved the addition to the formula for all future passport increases to include passport services “Express Service” and Temporary Emergency Passport fees to align with those in the UK.
The UK implemented new fees for both passports and the services provided on 27th March 2018. Jersey did not increase fees at this time. Those increases saw the cost of a standard passport paper application for an adult increase to £85 and £58.50 for a child, which equates to an increase of £12.50 (a rise of 17.24%) for each application. Passport fees have not effectively increased since 2007, although they rose in 2009 and were then subsequently reduced in 2012 to current levels.
The Jersey Customs and Immigration Service (JCIS) currently provides an “Express Service” to customers for the processing of passports within 8 working days. This Service is akin to the UK “Fast Track Service” for which the fees increased from £103 to £142 for adult applications and from £87 to £122 for child applications.
JCIS has not historically followed the UK increases for the “Fast Track Services” and has instead charged an additional fee of £38.50 to the cost of a standard passport for the “Express Service”. This fee and has not increased since September 2009. Adult passports applications under the “Express Service” currently cost £111 and child passports applications cost £84.50.
To align with those fees in the UK, this would mean that the fee for the “Express Service” inclusive of the passport cost would increase to £142 for an adult application (a rise of 41% since 2007) and £122 for a child application (a rise of 53% since 2007). The rises equate to an average of 3.4% and 4.4% respectively since 2007.
The cost for a Temporary Travel Document in Jersey is currently £71.50 whilst the UK charge £100 to apply for the same document. This would mean that the fee for a Temporary Passport would increase to £100 from £71.50 (a rise of 40% since 2015).
Recommendation
That the Minister for Home Affairs approves the fee increase for standard passport, Temporary Emergency Passports and passport services from 1st October 2019 as follows:
Adult passports: £85.00
Child passports: £58.50
Adult Express Service : £142.00*
Child Express Service: £122.00*
Temporary Emergency Passports: £100.00
* Inclusive of passport fee
Resource Implications
The additional income will continue to be used to offset the cost of Service provision which continues to rise with the implementation of new systems, passport security features and the resources implications of British Citizen passport holders using their passports at the borders. The increased fees will reflect those of the UK and will ensure passport applicants contribute significantly towards the cost of passport services. Customers issued with Jersey variant British passports benefit from identical services such as consular support to that of any other British passport holder.
Acting Assistant Director Immigration and Nationality
gov.je