Bermudians wishing to renew their British passports say new procedures introduced this year have created a “bureaucratic nightmare”.

And British Overseas Territory Citizen passport holders could also be impacted by the changes when they switch to the new processing system next year.

Previously, UK passport holders handed their expired passports to the Department of Immigration, which would then forward them on to offices in Washington for processing. No supporting documentation was required and a new passport was issued in a matter of weeks.

But in August the UK Government announced that the application process was to be “centralised” in order to “improve security and consistency in decision making”. UK passport holders must now send their old passports directly to Durham in northern England — along with documentation to prove their identity and current address.

British Overseas Territory Citizen passport holders will be subject to the same regulations from next year — a move described by Home Affairs Minister Michael Fahy as having “serious implications for Bermuda”.

And one applicant has pointed out that it is almost impossible to comply with the demand for supporting documentation, because few of 12 types of document deemed acceptable by UK officials are issued in Bermuda. Furthermore, the document must not be more than a year old and the original paperwork rather than a copy must be sent.

The applicant’s original request for a new passport was rejected because no supporting documentation was sent.

A letter from the Durham passport office stated: “Unfortunately you did not enclose all necessary supporting documents. Please provide one document/s from the following as evidence of your name and address in current use dated within the last year. We cannot accept photocopies of documents unless otherwise stated.”

The list of documents deemed acceptable as evidence of identity and address include a national identity card, tax record or voter’s card — none of which are available in Bermuda.

And Bermudians with British passports will also not have visa, residency permit or Immigration documents, which are also on the list.

“It feels as if the switch from Washington to the UK hasn’t been very well thought out,” the applicant, who asked not to be named, said

“We’re meant to be a British Territory but it would seem the Durham office is totally unaware of our laws. Otherwise, why would they be asking for a national identity card or a tax record?”

Also on the list is a driver’s license, baptismal or naming certificate, school report or parent’s death certificate.

“The problem is, any document I send needs to have been issued within the past year, so that rules out my driver’s license, any educational records I might have kept from my school days, or a baptism certificate,” the applicant said.

“I don’t have any Immigration documents or residency permit or visa because I’m a Bermudian as well as British citizen, and neither of my parents are dead, thank goodness, so I don’t have death certificates for them.”

The applicant also said he had not received any official correspondence from a Government department in the last 12 months — another piece of paperwork that would be accepted by UK officials.

“I’ve been asked to produce one out of a list of 12 documents and while that might seem to be a wide choice, I really struggled to find one that I could provide,” he said.

“My father applied to renew his British passport earlier this year and all he had to do was send his old one to Washington along with a notarised version of his birth certificate. It seems ironic that getting a UK passport seemed much easier when you didn’t have to go through the UK. Now that they’ve switched to a new system, it’s become a bureaucratic nightmare.”

The applicant also said that he did not have a health card, but was eventually able to produce a recent letter from his employer.

“The only reason I have that is because I recently started a new job,” he said.

“But otherwise, I think I would have been unable to come up with anything that would have satisfied the authorities in England.

Yesterday Deputy Governor David Arkley acknowledged that the new system had teething problems, and that the matter had been discussed with officials in London.

“We are aware of the issue and along with other Overseas Territories have raised this with HM Passport Office who are responsible for the issuing of British Citizen passports,” Mr Arkley said.