Dusseldorf will process applications within 10 working days, but applicants should allow time for posting.
Applicants will choose how they send their applications to Dusseldorf and the embassy has secured a discounted and insured courier service for the new passports to be sent to their holders.
Until July 2010 applicants can continue to submit passport applications at the British Embassy in Riyadh, the British Consulate General in Jeddah or the British Trade Office in Alkhobar. Further details of the new system are on the embassy’s website.
“These changes are part of a global initiative to streamline and modernize the UK’s overseas passport operation,” Keith Allen, the British consul, said.
“The UK remains one of the few countries printing passports in embassies and consulates abroad. This is expensive to do and is less secure as we have to transport blank passports around the world. Our aim is to reduce the cost of running the operation, while improving security and maintaining a high standard of customer service,” she added.
