The cost of getting a British or BN(O) passport may rise with the closure of the British consulate's passport centre.
Charles Hay, director of consular services at Britain's Foreign Office, said the centre would close in April 2014, after which holders of British passports, including British National (Overseas) passports, would have to apply directly to Britain.
This was one of many steps Britain was taking to improve its passport services, enhance security and provide 'economy of scale', he said.
There would not be much change in the cost of getting a passport, Hay said. The current application fees for a British passport are HK$1,600 for a 32-page passport and HK$1,932 for one with 48 pages.
London was considering lowering the fees for applications, he said, but acknowleded applicants would have to cover the big expense of sending documents to Britain by courier. 'The aim is that people will be able to apply online. But they still need to send original documents and any supporting documents through to the UK,' Hay said.
In response to recent reports about businessmen worried that renewal of passports in Britain may take longer and restrict their travel plans, a spokeswoman for the British consulate in Hong Kong said that businesspeople who were frequent travellers could obtain a second passport as a backup. And when their passports were not readily available, they could apply for an emergency travel document.
The British government recently announced it would centralise the printing of all passports in Britain for security reasons. Hay said this was one of the key ways London could improve its passport services.