Introduction of Blue Passports

The design of the British passport will change in anticipation of the UK leaving the EU. This will happen in two stages.

Burgundy coloured Passports printed from 5 April 2019 will not include the words ‘European Union’ on the front cover. This includes passports issued by the Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar.

The new blue passport design will start to be issued from March 2020 by His Majesty's Passport Office. Full introduction will be phased in and from mid-2020 all new passports issued by His Majesty's Passport Office will be blue. During this period, individuals renewing a British passport will automatically be issued with either a blue or a burgundy British passport. There is no option for an individual to choose which colour book they get. All styles of passport will be equally valid for travel.

The Isle of Man will transition to issuing the new the Blue books in 2020, however there is currently no indication of when this transition date will be. It is our understanding that individual's applying for an Isle of Man variant British passport during the transition period will automatically be issued with either a blue or a burgundy British passport and that there will be no option for an individual to choose which colour book they get. Once the transition to the new blue book is complete, then all Isle of Man variant British passport will be blue.

HMPO has issued the following information in respect of the blue passport design.