FOR ALL BRITONS RESIDING IN THE USA     

----Renewal of passports for expats in USA.
----Lost passports and replacements.
----Issue of totally new ones for children born in the USA to British citizens
----VISAS for travel to the UK for non UK citizens. 
All the above UK passport matters are handled centrally by the British Embassy inWashington.  Nowhere else.   Nowhere in Florida!  This has been the case since 1998.  

WHAT YOU DO:   1] You have to go to the British Government’s American website:   www.ukinusa.fco.gov.uk   Click on the Passport section,  download passport forms and renewal info.  It's easy.   2]  Mail back the forms to Washington with requisite fees and photos [all explained on the forms you download].   Allow 2-4 weeks for your passport to arrive at your Florida address, with 3 weeks being usual.     

►  NOTE TO EXPATS:  Changes since November 2011.  All passport applications from the USA still go to Washington but now staff there review it, then send your original documents back by priority mail to your USA home.  THEN your actual new passport comes from the UK via DHL service.

 ► PHOTOS:    Get  your passport photos taken for $10 at any Walgreens in Florida and then cut them down to UK size specified on forms.   We expats live in the USA not UK, so we don't have British passport photographers on Florida high streets!     The Washington Embassy accepts them.    

► IMPORTANT TIP to be on the safe side :    When mailing back your completed forms and photos,  on the top of page one,  IN RED INK,  write  "Any problems with this application reach me on my USA  cellphone [xxx] xxx-xxxx.   That way,  embassy staff can just reach you by phone rather than mailing things back to you and delaying matters for weeks .    They can phone you even if you can't get through to them!  

►   GOT THE FORMS, HAVE READ THE ABOVE ,   BUT STILL HAVE QUERIES ?  Phone [not email]  the British Consulate in Orlando on [407] 254-3300

►  NEED TO OBTAIN A COPY OF YOUR BRITISH BIRTH CERTIFICATE?   OR MARRIAGE OR DEATH CERTIFICATE?    FOR ANY BRITISH CITIZEN you must apply to The UK Government's General Register Office, where all public records are kept. Records of all births, deaths, marriages in the UK since 1837 are kept at St. Catherine's House in London. You can go there in person to order a duplicate certificate [for a small fee]:    St. Catherine's House, 10 Kingsway, London WC2B 6JP England or write there.   Their website www.gro.gov.uk  will reveal all the info.    There is an Overseas Department shown on the website too.  Click around and see what you need.   AFTER THAT not before,  if you still have questions about such documents, call the British Consulate in Orlando [407] 254-3300.  They do NOT issue any UK replacement documents, but may be able to answer your questions.

►  AMERICAN PASSPORTS----FOR BRITS WHO HAVE BECOME UK-USA dual nationals and need to obtain an American Passport:    Phone the US Goverment's passport info line:   1-877-487-2778 or get passport info and forms from their website www.travel.state.gov