From Today, 01st January 2026 UK Passports Are Revamped With Advanced Features.

London; January 2026: Huge changes to British passports take effect from today, with a new cover, new images inside and a raft of security features to beat criminals and forgers.

For the first time, the new design features the coat of arms of King Charles III, with the first 300 now in circulation. Inside, the latest design includes pictures of 4 UNESCO-protected natural landscapes namely Ben Nevis, the Lake District, Three Cliffs Bay, and the Giant’s Causeway, each of them representing all four UK nations.

It is the first time the UK Passport has been completely redesigned passport redesign since 2020 and the Home Office say it uses advanced anti-forgery technology, making it the most secure passport ever produced.

Mike Tapp, the Minister for Migration and Citizenship said: “I’m proud to see our new British passports in circulation. Featuring His Majesty’s Coat of Arms and landscapes from all four nations, they celebrate our heritage while delivering enhanced security. They are also the most secure British passports ever produced, helping us protect our borders and deliver outstanding public service”.

The HM Passport Office (HMPO) has added dozens of security measures to passports since the first modern version was introduced in 1915.

The first security feature, a watermark, was added in 1972. New passports feature complex patterns that are hard to replicate and features only visible under UV light, in order to stay ahead of criminals.

The Home Office has just completed four years of work to migrate more than a billion UK passport records, including names, dates of birth, and facial images, in the process of securing the cloud-based platform. The new system has already processed more than 350 million successful queries, taking just 200 milliseconds on average, which has so far allowed HMPO to make 4 million passports more smoothly.

The Home Office say this move has reduced carbon emissions by 88%, saving the equivalent of driving 57,000 miles in an average petrol car every year. Some 5.1 million passports were issued on time in the first nine months of 2025, with 99.7% of simple applications processed within three weeks, the government said.

Team Maverick.