Expat Life - A guide to the practicalities of liveing on Fuerteventura

Many people move here thinking that life will be all beaches and barbies! Well a lot of it is, but you also need to deal with the practicalities of life. This series of articles is designed to make this easier for you.

Renewing your British Passport

If you need to renew your passport while you are living here, there is no need to go back to the UK to do it, everything can be done from here.

The process is very simple - go to www.ukinspain.com where you can download and print the application form. Fill the form in and get it countersigned. This should be done by someone who knows you here, such as a bank manager or lawyer.

The next thing you will need is your photos. The specifications for these are very strict but there is a guide for photographers in both Spanish and English that will prove invaluable.

Payment is made by credit or debit card - another form and don't expect much change from 200e - and then just send it all off to Madrid by registered post. It used to be that it could take weeks to come back using the postal service but the British Consular Services has recently improved the "return delivery service" of the new British biometric passport in line with what customers want - a quicker, more reliable, safer, customer friendly, and cost competitive service.

The new service will ensure that new passports are:
· personally hand delivered to customers;
· delivered within 24 hours of being despatched from the Consulate-General in Madrid, to anywhere in Spain; and,
· secure in transit, with despatch from Consulate-General Madrid monitored until delivery to the customer.

The British Consulate-General in Madrid now return new passports via Bpack - one of Spain's leading courier companies. Your only other option is to collect your passport in person from the Consulate-General in Madrid.
In addition to guaranteed and improved return delivery, the new service will give you immediate access to despatch information, either:
· on-line, by accessing Bpack's tracking system via the British Embassy Madrid's website http://www.bpack.net/britishconsulate.aspx;

· by telephoning the Bpack implant at the Consulate-General Madrid on 91 524 9757 - open between Monday to Friday 0900-1400 hrs when a Bpack despatch adviser can help.

With new return delivery standards, and new on-line/telephone customer support services, the cost of the new Bpack service is more than using the normal post but competitive and cheaper than many courier companies already used by many customers. This has been achieved through the British Consulate-General Madrid researching the courier market for the best deal.

The cost is €11 for returning passports to mainland Spain and the Balearics, and €15 to the Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and Andorra. The British Consulate-General Madrid's current postal handling charge is €4 Euros for single applications and €6 Euros for multiple applications.

The Bpack charge is per package and not passport, so couples/families don’t need to pay more when sending one or more applications. Your credit/debit card will be charged for Bpack's service by the British Consulate-General Madrid when taking the passport fee on receipt of the application form.

The key to success in this process is to get your application right before sending it in - any incomplete or incorrect applications will be returned by Bpack and credit/debit cards charged accordingly.

Read the passport application guidance - particularly on the required standards for photographs, countersignatures and documentary evidence of nationality. This guidance can also be obtained at www.ukinspain.com