Australian Office

Passports

Passports

Passport fees

Notarial service fees will also increase from 1 January 2022.

For further details on these changes, please see Document Fees

 

Important Passport updates

  • No glasses in new passport photos.
  • No retouching/digital alteration of photographs allowed
  • Permanent Residency (PR) visa labels of parents will not be accepted as evidence of an applicant’s citizenship. If the applicant was born in Australia on or after 20 August 1986 and one (or both) parents were Australian permanent residents at that time, the applicant must provide evidence of their own Australian citizenship with a citizenship certificate issued by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au.   You should take into account DHA and passport processing times before booking any travel.
    Further information can be found at the DHA website.
  • Child applicants aged 16 or 17 will be issued with a 10-year passport instead of the previously issued five-year passport. Applications must still include parental consent, and they must be personally lodged by the applicant together with a parent. The application fee will be the same as for adults, reflecting the longer validity of the passport to be issued.

 

Appointment bookings

Any person lodging an application for an Australian adult passport must present themselves at the Australian Office (AO) for an interview. For applicants who are under 18 years of age, a parent or person with parental responsibility for the child must attend the office for an interview.

The AO only accepts passport applications for lodgement and processing that are completed correctly and in full, and accompanied by all required documentation.  Any incomplete applications will be rejected and returned to clients. 

All original documents must be in English (or be translated into English by an approved translator) and must be provided when lodging an application for an Australian passport. Photocopies are not accepted.

Passport processing times, please refer to APO website

Passport interviews are by appointment only.

Appointment bookings can be made here http://aotw.setmore.com/

 

Applying for a new passport

Visit the passports website to see whether you are eligible to use the PC7 renewal form. The form is pre-completed with information from your previous passport application. Blank application forms cannot be printed. This form should be lodged with two new photographs and your most recent passport.

If you are not eligible to use a renewal form, you must complete a PC8 application form (also available on the passports website), attach all the supporting documentation required, including two new photographs endorsed by a guarantor.

Please choose “Shrink oversize pages” when you print out your pre-completed passport application form from the passports website

Adult passports are normally valid for ten (10) years. Children’s passports, with the exception of for 16 and 17 year olds, are valid for five (5) years.

 

All payments by credit card in Australian Dollars only at the time of lodgement of an application.

For more passport information, including fees and payment options, please contact us on (02) 8725 4100, email [email protected] or visit the passport website.

 

Photographs

Please read carefully the strict requirements for the size and style of passport photographs – outlined in the PC7 and PC8 application forms and the Passport Photograph Guidelines. If the photographs submitted with the passport application do not correspond to the prescribed format, the application will not be accepted for lodgement and processing.

Guarantors
Applicants using the PC8 application forms must provide a "guarantor" to complete section 11 of the application form.  This helps us identify the person applying for the Australian passport. There are strict requirements for a guarantor. They cannot be related to the applicant by birth or marriage and cannot live at the same address as the applicant.

Click here for a detailed list of requirements.

Acceptable guarantors in Taiwan are:

  1. Australian citizens
  2. Registered lawyers
  3. Registered medical doctors (not dentists)
  4. Employee of a Licensed Adoption Agency listed on the Intercountry Adoption Australia website (for adoptions only).

 

Lost or stolen passports

If you believe you have lost your Australian Passport, or if it has been stolen, you are required by law to report this as soon as possible. You can report this:

  • online; OR
  • by calling us on (02) 8725 4100 during business hours; OR
  • in person at our office. 

We recommend you obtain a police report as proof of the loss or theft of the passport. A police report may be required by your travel insurance.

If you wish to apply for a replacement passport immediately, you must complete a PC8 application form.

If you cannot meet the requirements for a new full-validity passport, and you need to travel urgently, you may apply for an Emergency Passport. Strict conditions apply.

If you recover a passport after reporting it lost or stolen, you must return it to the nearest Australian diplomatic mission or consulate or, in Australia, to the nearest passport office.  The passport will be physically cancelled and may be returned to you on request. 

Under no circumstances should you try to use a passport that has been reported as lost or stolen for travel or identification.

For more information about lost and stolen passports please click here.

Issuing passports

We can issue either a full validity (replacement) passport or a limited validity emergency passport.

Full validity passports

Please allow plenty of time for a full validity passport application. If your passport application meets all requirements, your passport will be ready for collection within the timeframe set out on the APO website. Your passport can be collected in person or sent by registered mail to your residential address.

 

Emergency (limited validity) passports

The AO may issue Emergency Passports to Australians needing to travel urgently and whose passports have been stolen, damaged or lost.  An Emergency Passport may also be issued in some limited circumstances when clients are unable to wait for the delivery of a full validity passport due to a genuinely urgent need to travel.  This is assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Please note: Forgetting to renew your passport before its expiry or forgetting to check if you have six months validity for travel to some countries are not typically considered grounds for emergency passports.

Please do not book travel before checking the validity of your passport!

Emergency Passports are ordinarily produced within two business days. Emergency passports must be collected in person from the AO.

Please contact us or come to our office if you need to lodge an application for an emergency passport.  

You may apply for a full validity passport at the same time that you apply for an emergency passport.