Saturday, March 24, 2007

We'll have to save up

The British Embassy in Madrid has announced huge increases in passport and other consular fees from April 1.

Director for consular services in Spain, Michael John Holloway, said: “Over the past couple of years the cost of running the consular service has increased considerably. HM Treasury rules require us to recover the full costs from fee income and don’t allow us to make a loss; we do not make a profit from these services. We want to maintain the services we provide and given the increased demand for consular services from the British public, a fee increase is necessary.”

From April 1 the following fees will apply to passports (former prices in brackets):

Adult 32 page £119 (£91)
Adult 48 page £144 (£109)
Child £76 (£59)
Emergency £55.50 (£43.50)
Amendments £97.50 (£75.50)
Temporary £70.50 (£55)

There are 60 other chargeable consular services, all of which will be affected. Some are (former prices in brackets):

Registering of British Nationals’ births and deaths £92 (£64.50)
Charging call out fees £121 (£84.50)
Administering oaths £50 (£35)
Solemnising or attending a marriage £126 (£88)
Arranging a repatriation £121 (£84.50)
Registering a civil partnership £126 (£88)

No comments: