Passport Applicants to Attend Interviews

Face-to-face interviews for british passports!

Applicants for British passports will have to undergo face-to-face interviews from May as the government tries to combat fraud, the Home Office said on Tuesday.

Passport application fraud has been rising and an estimated 10,000 were issued to fraudulent applicants in the 12 months to September 2006, media reports quoted Home Office officials as saying.

The requirement to attend an interview will apply to people aged 16 or over who have never had a passport before. "We are currently one of only a few western nations that do not have a face-to-face element to the passport application process," said Home Office minister Joan Ryan in a statement.

"We know that this leads to fraudulent applications and that is why things are going to change this year, starting with first-time adult customers."

The Identity and Passport Service said it detected some 6,500 attempted frauds last year, with 50 percent of those originating in the first-time adult application category.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said fraudulent passport applications showed the system was in disarray. "This is a shocking admission which betrays chaos at the heart of the passport system," Davis said. "It also further undermines the government's case for their expensive ID card system."

Last month, a report suggested more than 1,000 passports were going missing in the post each year.