News

The British government has reported a decrease in the cost of a passport of a citizen of Great Britain by 5 pounds. This is made possible by reducing state services responsible for issuing passports. The new cost of a passport will be £ 72.50. However, before the end of the summer the cost of paperwork will be the old 77.50 pounds.

The British government will save 40 million pounds per year, reducing the staff of the service, responsible for issuing passports. The savings made possible by the reduction of 5% of the offices dealing with passports.

British Immigration Minister Damien Green confirmed that the cost of new passports is set for the next two years. Mr Green also said that the reduction of the corresponding state services will not decrease the quality of service the citizens of Great Britain.

Meanwhile, British bookmakers do not believe that the government will be able to maintain an acceptable level of service during the Olympic Games in London. They reduced the odds that members of the Olympic delegations, sports teams or representatives of the International Olympic Committee will pass the customs control at Heathrow airport over an hour. This ratio is 1/20.

This means that putting 100 pounds on the fact that at least one athlete or official who will pass the customs control over an hour, the player will win only 5 pounds. High probability of failures in the implementation of the passport and customs control is associated with reductions in the state of the services.

However, the Minister of Immigration Damien Green said that in the past two months, the government significantly increased the level of services of foreign nationals arriving at Heathrow Airport. According to Mr. Green, the government increases the number of staff responsible for passport control, up to 50% on weekends. With regard to the period of the Olympic Games, Damien Green has promised to increase the number of staff responsible for passport control at Heathrow airport, up to 500 people.