Identity and Passport Service
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| Division of the Home Office overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 April 2006 |
| Preceding agencies |
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| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF |
| Employees | 3,180 (2013) |
| Minister responsible | |
| Division of the Home Office executive |
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| Child Division of the Home Office | |
| Website | www |
Her Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO) is a division of the Home Office in the United Kingdom. It provides passports for British nationals worldwide and was formed on 1 April 2006 as the Identity and Passport Service, although the Passport Office had also been its previous name.
The General Register Office for England and Wales became a subsidiary of HMPO on 1 April 2008, and produces life event certificates such as birth, death, marriage and civil partnerships.
HMPO's headquarters is collocated with the Home Office at 2 Marsham Street and it has seven regional offices around the UK, in London, Glasgow, Belfast, Peterborough, Liverpool, Newport and Durham as well as an extensive nationwide interview office network as all first time adult passport applicants are required to attend an interview to verify their identity as a fraud prevention measure.
The Identity and Passport Service was established on 1 April 2006, following the passing of the Identity Cards Act 2006 which merged the UK Passport Service with the Home Office's Identity Cards programme to form the new executive agency.
In 2007, the ninety British diplomatic missions that issued passports were consolidated into seven regional passport processing centres (RPPCs) based in Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, Madrid, Paris, Pretoria, Washington, D.C. and Wellington with an additional centre in Dublin.
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Wikipedia