Passport policy - Damaged and Faulty Passports
Introduction to Damaged passports
Definitions of wear and tear
Definition of a damaged passport
Establishing identity
Exceptions to policy
Annex A – Case notes for damaged passports
Introduction to Faulty passports
General principles
Responsibilities
Counter process
ePassport readers
Postal sections
Introduction to Damaged passports
This policy note: clarifies the definitions of wear and tear, and a damaged
passport; and states the procedures to follow for passports when they are
submitted as a renewal, but the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) deems it
as damaged.
Please note: Post Office Ltd staff are not trained to examine a passport for
degrees of damage. If a passport is obviously damaged they will ask for a
countersignature, otherwise they will accept the passport application as a
renewal.
Policy
When a passport that the examiner judges to be damaged has been sent in
for replacement or for renewal, the applicant’s identity should be established
and the passport cancelled and returned. Policy for cancelling passports: see
Cancellation of Passports.
Damaged passports should not be consigned to confidential waste aside from
the most exceptional of cases. The practice of destroying damaged passports
previously resulted in complaints from applicants who had applied expecting
the return of the passport. One such complaint was supported by the
Ombudsman. As a result, it was decided in 2006, to stop consigning damaged
passports to confidential waste as no definitive security benefits could be
proved to counter the number of complaints generated and the difficulty of
applying the policy consistently. The need to establish identity where an
application is supported by a damaged passport remains.
Definition of wear and tear
To assist in the decision over whether a passport falls under Wear and Tear
examiners should look at the travel history of the document; multiple visas
and stamps would indicate heavy use. Wear and Tear is therefore more likely.
Passports submitted which fall under the categories above can be accepted
as evidence of nationality and identity.
Where a passport has been accepted as evidence of nationality and identity
the passport should be cancelled and returned to the applicant in the normal
way.
These applications can be treated as renewals and do not need a
countersignature. See Tiered Application Service (TAS). However, any cases
of doubt should be referred to a line manager and should there be any
reasonable doubt then the application should be processed via the Fast Track
service.
Definition of a damaged passport
A damaged passport is one which is not in a condition to be accepted as
proof of identity. Damage may include the following:
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Details are indecipherable.
The laminate has lifted enough to allow the possibility of photo
substitution.
Discoloration to the biodata page.
Chemical or ink spillage on any page.
Missing or detached pages
The chip or antenna shows through the endpaper on the back cover for
the new style e-passports.
The chip has been identified as damaged following investigation.
Establishing identity
If a digitally-issued passport or e-passport is judged to be damaged and the
application has not been countersigned, the examiner must complete all
necessary identity checks against the electronic record. If the record is not on
the system (as in some British Overseas Territories Citizen (BOTC) cases), a
countersignature must be requested.
If an older style machine readable passport is judged to be damaged and the
application has not been countersigned, identity should be confirmed either by
requesting a countersignature or by obtaining the issue file. In counter
applications it will normally be appropriate to request a countersignature; a rebooking form stating the reason should be completed and agreed by a line
manager. In postal applications, it will normally be appropriate to obtain the
issue file.
If, after making the necessary checks or considering the fresh countersigned
application where one has been requested, the examiner is satisfied that the
application can be passed for issue, the passport should be cancelled and
returned. Where there is any doubt, the case should be referred to a line
manager.
Exceptions to policy
Very rarely, a passport sent in for replacement is received in such a poor
state that it should be handled as little as possible (e.g. it is already in pieces
or is damp). These may continue to be consigned to confidential waste.
Passports previously reported stolen that are sent in after a replacement has
been issued will not normally be returned to the holder.
Introduction to Faulty pasports
This policy will give guidance when IPS receives a letter or a telephone call
from customers claiming that their passport should be replaced because it is
faulty and following detection of possible faults at UK ports of entry.
This applies to all passport types currently in use, including both versions of
the e-passport.
The above does not replace guidance on Damaged Passports or on
Resolving Errors on Passports. Please also see Damaged Passports and
Resolving Errors on Passports.
General principles
Customers are expected to take reasonable care of passports. This is
explained in the Important Information Booklet that accompanies all
passports.
Free replacements should be provided in all cases where passports are
shown to contain manufacturer faults following a completed investigation.
An exception to the above is when a customer is unable to wait until the
analysis and report has been completed because of urgent government
business, compassionate travel or pre-booked travel. These customers
should be issued with a fully valid gratis replacement and the counter fee
should be waived. Customers should submit proof of urgent government
business and/or compassionate grounds as per TAS Policy - Compassionate
Grounds. Customers with pre-booked travel should provide evidence to
support this (travel tickets, confirmation of the booking). Details of the
evidence provided must always be case noted.
When a passport is claimed to be faulty, the first step will be to determine that
a fault exists and what it is (i.e. a book fault or a chip fault). It is possible that a
problem with reading an e-passport might be due to a faulty reader or
operator error rather than a faulty passport. This is only necessary for
complaints that the passport is faulty, not for ordinary applications to replace
damaged passports.
If a faulty passport or microchip is suspected, then the passport will be sent
for investigation. IPS aims to ensure that the analysis and investigation are
completed within two weeks of the complaint, but please note that this level
of service may not be achieved as where additional tests are identified the
turnaround is expected to be longer.
Responsibilities
The Central Customer Service Team will be responsible for handling all
correspondence and referring faulty passports submitted with applications for
investigation. In postal cases they will examine applications for replacements
or liaise with local examiners in the regions to deal with the application as
appropriate. (This is to minimise the need to transfer cases.) In counter cases,
the counter teams will make the initial check that a fault exists in the passport,
deal with the application as appropriate, then forward the passport with the
accompanying letter to the Central Customer Service Team.
UK Immigration officers will be able to view the information contained on the
chip in a holder’s e-passport upon entry to the United Kingdom. In such cases
they will alert the holder of the passport to the potential fault.
If the Immigration Officer has confirmed the identity of the holder and is
satisfied the holder and passport is not fraudulent then they will hand the
passport back to the person and advise them to contact the IPS Adviceline.
Teleperformance (TP) will make a Premium Service or Fast Track
appointment if the passport holder is travelling due to urgent government
business, compassionate grounds or has pre-booked travel. They will also
advise the passport holder to submit an application form (completing sections
1, 2 and 9), 2 recent photographs, the faulty passport and a statement
detailing the fault, the circumstances surrounding how they discovered the
fault and any other information relevant, including the evidence of urgent
government/compassionate or pre-booked travel to support the need for a
Premium or Fast Track appointment and a gratis replacement.
If the customer is not travelling urgently then TP will advise the customer to
forward an application form (completing sections 1, 2 and 9), the faulty
passport, 2 recent photographs, a covering letter detailing the fault and
explaining how it was discovered, and any other relevant information to the
Central Customer Service Team.
Counter process
Whatever the reported fault, when the customer is unable to wait until the
analysis and report has been completed due to urgent government business
compassionate travel or pre-booked travel, they should be issued with a gratis
replacement and the counter fee should be waived. These customers should
submit proof of urgent government business, or compassionate grounds as
detailed in the TAS policy – Compassionate Grounds. Customers with prebooked travel should provide evidence to support this – for example, travel
tickets or booking confirmation.
The customer will attend a Premium or a Fast Track Service appointment and
produce a completed passport application form (sections 1, 2 and 9), two
recent photographs, the faulty passport and a statement detailing the fault and
evidence to support the Premium or Fast Track appointment.
At reception, the passport reader should be used to check that a fault exists –
unless the complaint is about faults not related to the microchip. If the
passport reads successfully, this should be demonstrated to the customer.
The passport should then be returned to the customer confirming that there is
no evidence of a fault within the microchip and no further investigations will be
necessary. If the customer wishes to claim for unnecessary expenses, he or
she should be asked to write to the Central Customer Service Team.
Where the fault appears to be because of a chip being unable to read, the
machine readable zone (MRZ) chip and aerial should be cleaned using a soft
dry cloth or tissue to remove any debris. Testing carried out by the
manufacturer has shown that this sometimes causes passport chips to fail.
If the chip fails to read locally, customers should be advised that standard
testing will take a minimum of ten days and where additional tests are
identified the turnaround is expected to be longer. They should therefore be
given the option of waiting for the passport to be tested, or if urgent
government travel, compassionate or pre-booked travel, they should be able
to replace their passport.
Where a premium/fast track service is required because of urgent travel as
detailed above, the counter examiner should ensure that they confirm
nationality and identity by checking the details of the passport against PASS.
The counter examiner should inform the customer that they will be issued with
a gratis replacement and the faulty passport will be forwarded to the Central
Customer Service Team for investigation. The Premium or Fast Track service
fee should also be waived in these circumstances. It should also be explained
to the customer that if the passport is not found to be faulty, the Central
Customer Service Team will write to them and request the fee for the
replacement passport.
When authorising the issue of a replacement passport, the counter examiner
should then physically cancel the faulty passport without damaging the chip or
MRZ (see Note below for guidance). A casenote must be placed on the back
office sheet (green). This should instruct the back office examiner to cancel
the faulty passport on PASS, that a faulty passport was submitted due to (give
reason). All details agree, issue fully valid replacement, and forward the
cancelled faulty passport and complaint letter to the Central Customer Service
Team for consideration as potentially faulty. The Back office examiner must
ensure that a case note is added to explain the reason for the gratis
replacement together with what documents were provided to support the
need. See Case Notes and Documents to be Scanned - Annex A.
Please Note: the antennae, microchip or machine readable zone should
not be damaged in any way when cancelling the passport as this will
prevent a full analysis on the passport. (i.e. Examiners should not cut
through the antennae, microchip or MRZ when cancelling the passport the corner can be cut as long as any characters in the MRZ are not cut
off.)
ePassport readers
Passport holders will be able to check the information contained within the
chip in their passport by calling at the counter of any Regional Office. Please
see Biometric Passports.
Postal sections
All applications for replacement passports received with a letter of complaint
that the passport is faulty should be held in the region which issued the
passport in accordance with the policy on Preventing and Resolving Passport
Errors.
Where the fault is because of a chip being unable to read, passports received
in regional offices should be checked using the passport readers found in the
Customer Service section or public counter to confirm that the passport fails
to read. The machine readable zone (MRZ), chip and aerial should be
cleaned using a soft dry cloth or tissue to remove any debris.
The passport and accompanying letter should then be transferred to the
Central Customer Service Team. It is important that the passport is not
cancelled at this stage as the result of testing may establish the passport is
valid for travel. A case note should be added to explain the reason for the
application being on hold and the applicant advised of the delay.
If the customer indicates they are travelling urgently and need a replacement
passport, on production of evidence of urgent travel a replacement passport
may be granted. The current passport should be cancelled (without cutting the
antennae, microchip or MRZ as explained above), and passed to the Central
Customer Service Team for testing.
On completion of the investigation, the Central Customer Service Team will
liaise with the regional examining section over the issue of the replacement
passport, or the withdrawal of the application depending on the result.