Luxembourg residents applying for a new passport from Monday will receive a redesigned version of the document, which will now remain valid for 10 years instead of five.
The price of a new passport remains unchanged at €50. The standard issuing procedure takes up to one week. The express procedure, which takes three days, will continue to cost €150.
The new version of the passport can be requested from 11 May at local municipal offices or at the passport office in Luxembourg City.
The document's security measures have also been strengthened. "We tried to include something on every page to make life as difficult as possible for counterfeiters", Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel stressed during the presentation of the new passport.
Watermarks have been incorporated into the cover and the individual pages. The pages are no longer uniform either, but feature different motifs, including the Gëlle Fra, the Chamber of Deputies, and the silhouette of Luxembourg City.
The passport photo will now be in colour, while the back cover will be decorated with Luxembourg's coat of arms.
Each year, between 50,000 and 60,000 new passports are issued. Almost 40% of applications are made through the express procedure.
This high demand is believed to be due to people travelling more, as well as an increase in applications from abroad by so-called new Luxembourgers.
Last year, 2,516 applications for a Luxembourg passport were made in Brazil, 1,608 in the United States, and 489 in the United Kingdom. Luxembourg’s diaspora currently numbers 157,000 citizens, representing more than 30% of Luxembourgers.
Bettel noted that the Luxembourg passport is in high demand. He said it ranks among the top five passports requiring the fewest visas for travel outside the EU, adding that it allows holders to travel to more than 170 countries without major formalities.
China, Vietnam, and Mongolia were recently added to the list, Bettel said.
According to Bettel, extending the passport's validity is intended to make things easier for citizens. At the same time, he said it will also reduce part of the administrative workload.
Most passport applications are submitted through municipal offices, followed by the ministry and then embassies, Bettel concluded.
