Passports to 'temporarily' be available on a standard service

Fri, 04 Aug 2023

Isle of Man Passports will only be available on a ‘standard service’ from August 18, which will take 35 days, or as an ‘emergency travel document’ which is one working day.

From August 18, the ‘express five day service’ will be suspended temporarily. The situation will be reviewed again the Isle of Man Passport Service by September 30.  

This suspension is due to “changes” to the delivery service to the Island, staff changes and the “significant increase in the number of passport applications”.

According to the Isle of Man Government the Passport Service has been “trying to honour the express five day applications” and due to changes to the delivery service to the island it has been taking “around 8+ days”.

It added that “residents planning to travel in less than 35 days urged to check the validity of their passport early, and if they need to make an application at short notice, to be aware that any Express applications must be received before 2pm on 18 August”.

Diane Kelsey MLC, Cabinet Office Member with responsibility for Immigration, said: “Passport Officers are dedicated to delivering their services without uncertainty for applicants. In order to do this we need to focus our limited resources on Standard applications and, sadly, need to temporarily suspend a service that is now undeliverable due to combination of factors. The team is working hard to solve the current issues.

“As we are currently in summer holiday season, we are keen to ensure everyone has notice of the changes as soon as possible. If you have any overseas travel planned in the next couple of months, please take time to check the expiry dates on your family’s Isle of Man Variant British Passports so you can take action if you need to before these changes come into force.”

Passport enquires can be sent by email to passports@gov.im, or for more information visit the Isle of Man Passports webpage.

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