The Home Office and National Passports: Resolving Validity, Expedition, Retention and Return Issues

A person may need to have a current, original  passport  to enable  submission of a valid  Home Office  application. There are however other reasons why such a document may be required including:

  • Needing a valid passport for identity purposes, for example in order to register to marry or in order to undertake a relevant English test;
  • needing to travel urgently.

The home office may have retained the passport following a refusal decision- a question might  then arise  as regards  under  what power the home office can do so. Where the home office have retained  a passport and are not willing to return the original document, are they able to send a certified copy of the document instead?

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