UK rolls out first passports in identify of King Charles III

By Press Trust of India: For the primary time in 70 years, British passports bearing the title of “His Majesty” will begin being issued this week within the identify of King Charles III.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman unveiled the brand new design replace on Tuesday night which modifications the passport salutation from “Her Majesty” following the demise of Queen Elizabeth II in September final 12 months. As is customary, the 74-year-old King himself doesn’t carry a passport as it’s a doc issued in his identify.

“For 70 years, Her Majesty has appeared on British passports and many of us will not remember a time when she did not feature. Today marks a significant moment in UK history, as the first British passports since 1952 start featuring the title of His Majesty, the King,” mentioned Braverman.

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“As HM Passport Office enters a new era in its history, it is delivering an exceptional service and I am extremely grateful for their outstanding accomplishments and the unwavering dedication of the whole team to meet the needs of the British public. While vast improvements have been made, I continue to urge the public to make sure they apply for passports in good time,” she mentioned.

The earliest recorded British passport may be traced again to the reign of Henry V in 1414 and paperwork have been generally known as secure conducts. It was not till 1915 that the primary modern-style British passports, together with {a photograph} and signature have been first issued.

The first safety characteristic, a particular watermark, was launched in passports in 1972.â€ï Since then, a big quantity ofâ€ï safety features have been included into British passports, from watermarks, holograms, elaborately printed patterns, to the polycarbonate web page. This is meant as reassurance to British nationals that there’s just one difficulty of their distinctive doc.

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The first burgundy-coloured machine-readable passports have been issued in 1988 and over 30 years later, in 2020, the distinctive blue cowl was re-introduced following the departure of the UK from the European Union (EU).

The Home Office mentioned within the first six months of this 12 months, over 5 million passports have been processed with greater than 99 per cent issued inside the usual UK service of 10 weeks, the overwhelming majority properly inside this timeline, with over 90 per cent delivered inside three weeks.

It hailed it as a “significant improvement” in His Majesty’s Passport Office (HM Passport Office) efficiency since 2022, throughout which period 95.4 per cent of passports have been issued inside this 10-week timeframe.

It attributed the enhancements to a sequence of strategic measures applied to beat the challenges confronted in early 2022, together with course of enhancements, vital developments in digital methods, enhanced entry to versatile assets, and the introduction of a second provider of buyer contact providers.

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Posted By:

chingkheinganbi mayengbam

Published On:

Jul 19, 2023