Yes. If you are renewing a UK passport, you have to send your old passport to HM Passport Office. It is the document HMPO uses to confirm your identity, and once your new passport is issued the old one is cancelled so it cannot be used by anyone else.1GOV.UK. Renew or Replace Your Adult Passport – Renew You get it back afterwards, marked as cancelled.
Why HMPO Needs the Old Document
Sending your most recent British passport is not optional. HMPO checks the details in it against their records before issuing a new one, and cancelling the old passport in their system is what stops it being used for fraud or identity theft.1GOV.UK. Renew or Replace Your Adult Passport – Renew
One boundary worth flagging if you hold dual nationality: you may need to send a valid passport from another country along with your British one. HMPO’s guidance asks applicants to include any valid passports issued by another country alongside their last British passport, and if the non-British passport is in a different name from the one you want on your British passport, you have to change it to match before applying.2GOV.UK. Documents You Need to Send Us
How to Send It In
You can renew online or by paper application through the post. The online route is cheaper and generally faster.1GOV.UK. Renew or Replace Your Adult Passport – Renew When you finish an online application, HMPO tells you where to post your old passport and any supporting documents. Use a tracked delivery service so you can prove it arrived.
For a paper application, pick up a form from a Post Office branch. The Post Office’s Check and Send service will review your application for common mistakes before it goes out, which can help you avoid delays.
Once HMPO issues your new passport, the old one is cancelled and posted back to you.1GOV.UK. Renew or Replace Your Adult Passport – Renew It is physically marked so it cannot be used for travel. People often keep the cancelled document as a record of past stamps and visas, and it can still work as a secondary form of ID in some situations.
If Your Old Passport Contains a Valid Visa
This is the detail that catches people out. A visa inside your old passport does not automatically transfer to the new one. Instead, you carry both passports when you travel: the cancelled old passport with the valid visa in it, together with your new current passport, satisfy immigration.3GOV.UK. Transfer Your Visa From Your Passport or Replace Your Visa
When you send the old passport in for renewal, flag that it contains an unexpired visa. HMPO’s guidance addresses this directly and asks you to send the passport with the visa still attached.1GOV.UK. Renew or Replace Your Adult Passport – Renew If carrying two documents does not suit your situation, you can apply separately to have the visa transferred to your new passport.
What If You Cannot Send It
If your old passport is lost, stolen, or damaged, you are not doing a standard renewal. You are applying for a replacement, which is a separate process.
For a lost or stolen passport, cancel the missing document online as soon as you can so nobody else can use it. You can also cancel on someone else’s behalf if they cannot do it themselves.4GOV.UK. Cancel a Lost or Stolen Passport Because HMPO will not have your old passport to check against, someone will need to confirm your identity online as part of the application.
A damaged passport still has to be sent in with the replacement application. HMPO treats a passport as damaged if you cannot read any of the details, pages are ripped or missing, there are holes or cuts in the cover, the cover is separating, or there are stains such as ink or water damage on the pages.5GOV.UK. Renew or Replace Your Adult Passport – Replace a Lost, Stolen or Damaged Passport
When You Do Not Post the Passport at All
Two urgent services let you hand the old passport over in person rather than trusting it to the post. Both require an in-person appointment at a passport office, and neither is available for a first adult passport.6GOV.UK. Urgent Services
- 1-week Fast Track: you bring your documents to the appointment, they are checked and returned on the spot, and the new passport is delivered to your home by Royal Mail tracked delivery a week later. This covers adult renewals, replacements, changes, and child passports.
- 1-day Premium: available only for renewing adult passports issued after 31 December 2001. You bring your old passport to the appointment and collect the new one four hours later.
The Premium route is particularly useful if you find an expired passport days before travel: the old document goes with you and comes back at the appointment itself.6GOV.UK. Urgent Services
How Long Before You Get It Back
HMPO says standard applications usually take up to three weeks.7GOV.UK. About Our Services – HM Passport Office Its standing recommendation, though, is to allow up to ten weeks, particularly during peak travel season.8GOV.UK. Passport Processing Times and Unprecedented Levels of Demand Most applications finish well inside that window, but if HMPO needs extra information or an interview it will take longer, and they will tell you within three weeks if that is the case.
After you submit, HMPO sends updates by text or email, and you can track progress online. Practical takeaway: do not book flights and then start the renewal. Apply at least ten weeks before you need to travel, and your old passport, along with the new one, should be back in your hands with time to spare.