Dead handy for anyone living across the pond looking to renew their Irish passport.
Irish citizens living in the United Kingdom can now avail of a quick and efficient passport renewal service that has been rolled out in major cities in England, Wales and Scotland.
The service, launched by secure digital photo provider Photo-Me, allows users to get photographs taken in Photo-Me’s photobooth network, photographs which can then be accessed online and easily attached to an online application form on the Department of Foreign Affairs website.
Customers using the Photo-Me secure digital photo service receive a unique passport photo code along with their printed photos and instructions on how to complete their passport application online, within minutes.
The unique code allows the applicant to access their digital online ID photo, transferred securely from the photobooth, and attach it to the online passport application. The entire passport renewal application process now takes less than ten minutes.
Access to the Photo-Me service by Irish citizens living in the UK follows the launch in March of this technology across Ireland in partnership with the Irish Government, which will see rollout of 300 photobooths with the secure online passport renewal system throughout Ireland by the end of 2017.
By the end of 2017, 98% of the population of the Republic of Ireland will live within 5km of a Photo-Me secure upload ID photobooth.
The first UK-located photobooth with this service was installed on Friday at the Birmingham Irish Association in Birmingham and is initially being rolled out in major UK cities including Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and London via Photo-Me’s existing site partners, which include major supermarkets.
Commenting on the rollout of the service, Serge Crasnianski, Chief Executive of Photo-Me, said: “Identification security is an ever increasing area of concern for governments across Europe and our system offers secure digital photo ID capture, collection and delivery for official documents. We are delighted to extend our fast, easy use and cost effective service to major UK cities, simplifying the passport renewal process for Irish citizens located in the UK.”
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