Title: How did I get a 10-year UK passport as a child?
Tags: uk;passports;children
Question: As far as I know, UK child passports are valid for 5 years, with no exceptions.
However, I got a passport in (I think) 2004, shortly before my tenth birthday, which didn't expire until 2014. By that point, as you might expect, I looked very little like my passport photo, which depicted a nine-year-old, but my passport was still valid. I even managed to get into the United States at JFK airport with it.
Obviously, the passport has expired by now, and I currently have a normal 10-year adult passport. My question, asked purely out of curiosity, is, how did this happen? Are there any other cases of children being given 10-year passports? What are/were the criteria?
Comment: I think you should visit the passport office today so get the information from there.

Comment: Sounds like a mistake...

Comment: I *thought* you were supposed to pay for a 10 year passport (because they didn't have a price for a 5 year child passport), and then after 5 years you were supposed to get the photo changed (for free / minimal admin fee).

Comment: @user61366 I _could_ visit the passport office, but it'd be a long journey for a casual question about a now-expired passport. (The nearest passport office is 70 miles away!)

Comment: @AndyT That may well be the case; obviously I didn't apply for it myself, and I don't have children of my own so I don't know how it works. Does this mean my parents simply forgot to send off for an updated photo and nobody ever bothered to chase it up?

Comment: Were the regulations the same in 2004 as they are now in 2017? The website linked will only give the current information about passports?

Comment: You were born close enough to 11/9 that things may have changed as a result- eg. with the biometric passports the UK introduced in 2006, but I see no evidence of that with a quick google.

Comment: @Sarriesfan To the best of my knowledge, the rules were the same. Everyone I know my age, and older, seems to think this is weird.

Comment: I have done some googling myself, and the regulations were changed in 1998 so the passport for a child should have only had 5 years validity.

Comment: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about an actual travel problem faced by the OP.



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