Passports

Customer information notice – 7 August 2019

This office will be closed from 09:30-12:15 on the 07 August 2019 please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. Applications with cheque payments can be posted in the passports letterbox by the main entrance any urgent passport enquires can be sent by email to passports@gov.im

The power to issue Isle of Man British passports is derived from the Royal Prerogative. The Isle of Man is an issuing authority for British passports and complies with Her Majesty’s Passport Office issuance policy for British passports. On the Isle of Man this is formally exercised by the Lieutenant Governor on behalf of the Crown.

The powers of the Lieutenant Governor allow the issuance of an Isle of Man British Passport to:

a person resident in the Isle of Man; or
a person who is born in the Isle of Man and who is resident in the United Kingdom; for example a student at University; or
a person whom His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor considers there are exceptional grounds for example a person born overseas to parents who were Isle of Man born, and were serving in the RAF or Navy at the time the child was born and the child was then brought up in the Isle of Man and went to University in the United Kingdom.

The powers of the Lieutenant Governor do not extend to the issue of passports to British nationals resident overseas where the Prerogative is exercised by the Home Secretary exclusively.

Check your passport for travel to Europe

Since 2001, if you renewed your passport before it expired you were allowed to have the time left on your old passport (up to a maximum of 9 months) added to your new passport. The maximum validity period possible was therefore 10 years and 9 months. From the beginning of September 2018, extra validity was no longer added to British passports meaning the maximum validity for a new adult British passport is 10 years, and for a child passport it is 5 years. This change has been made to follow recommendations set out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and to help provide clarity about passport validity in the future.

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019, new rules will apply. You should have at least 6 months left on an adult or child passport to travel to most countries in Europe (not including Ireland).

Therefore, any extra months over 10 years that were added to an adult British may not count towards the 6 months needed for travel to Europe under the new Schengen Border Rules.

You can use the UK Passport Validity Checker to see if your passport will be compliant for travel to Europe, in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019.