Interviewing passport applicants has been established practice in many British Embassies and High Commissions worldwide for a number of years and has proven to be an effective deterrent against passport fraud and identity theft.  To bring our current procedures into line with the IPS in the UK, all FCO posts will adopt the same policy and approach to passport interviewing.  This has become necessary to:

• establish your eligibility and entitlement to a British passport
• prevent other people impersonating you and using your identity to commit fraud. Sadly, this is happening more frequently with distressing consequences for victims
• reduce passport fraud and forgery. This sort of crime is becoming more sophisticated and more organised
• counter terrorist activity, making international travel safer and hassle-free
• prevent illegal entry into the UK and other countries.  
  

Many UK banks, building societies and other organisations now ask for photographic proof of identity prior to transacting business, with a valid passport increasingly being required. A misappropriated passport therefore can open the way to bank accounts, mortgages, benefits and many other services.  
The interview has a vital role within the passport application, in ensuring that customers are the rightful owners of that "identity.”