Overview
- HM Passport Office used X on January 29 to advise applying for an adult passport if a teen’s 16th birthday is less than three weeks away.
- UK rules require an adult passport from age 16, which lasts 10 years compared with five years for a child passport.
- A child passport may be used until it expires, but any renewal after the holder turns 16 must be for an adult document.
- Standard processing is currently estimated at about three weeks and can lengthen in busy periods such as summer.
- An adult application costs £94.50 online or £107 by paper, the same-day fast-track is not available for child-to-adult changes, and roughly 750,000–800,000 people are expected to turn 16 in 2026.