To be fair to Tim00 - the UK passport form does ask for the applicant to send in all uncancelled passports, but I suspect the wording is perhaps a little too broad - maybe intended for people who already hold citizenship of another country and wishing to apply for their 1st UK passport. This allows the UK to have some sort of way to verify identity instead of just relying on potentially forged paperwork. Not foolproof, but forging passports with an embedded biometric chip is difficult, so the presence of a chip is a good way to filter out some of the fake applications
Mrs Johnson (UK citizen since birth, lived solely in the UK, never been a resident of Spain and has no Spanish Govt ID whatsoever) became a dual UK-Spanish national this year. She went to the Spanish consulate in London earlier today to apply for her 1st Spanish passport. The Spanish Govt in Madrid and the consulate in London have been VERY keen to see her UK passport multiple times to verify her identity as part of the process
Last edited by davidjohnson6; 22nd Sep 2021 at 15:45.