
Bilingual (Welsh/English) Passport Officer
Job summary
The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.
Immigration and Citizenship Service (ICS) manages the UK’s immigration and identity systems. It oversees visa applications for visitors, workers, students, and those seeking to settle in the UK, as well as citizenship processes and resettlement services. ICS also issues British passports and maintains vital civil records, including births, marriages, and deaths. Through secure and efficient services, it protects the UK’s borders, supports lawful migration, provides safe and legal routes for refugees, and ensures trusted identity and travel documentation for citizens and applicants.
This is a unique opportunity for a bilingual speaker to become an integral member of His Majesty’s Passport Office. Now is an ideal and exciting time to join our team and make a real difference, to maintain the integrity of the UK passport by examining applications, confirming identity and establishing the nationality of the applicant and to approve for issue those that meet legislative and policy requirements.
HMPO is a directorate of the Home Office, the sole issuer of UK passports and responsible for civil registration services through the General Register Office (GRO). HMPO is a customer focused organisation employing over 4000 people in a network of offices across the UK.
Each year, we issue over 6 million UK passports. GRO oversees the system of civil registration, including births, stillbirths, adoptions, civil partnerships, marriages and deaths, in England and Wales. We do this in partnership with a range of government departments and the 174 local authorities who provide the service directly to their local community.
Job description
This role requires you to be bilingual and someone who is flexible, adaptive, and creative in solving problems and dealing with change. Individuals must have an ability to effectively organise and plan, whilst being professional and customer focused. You must be able to demonstrate a strong sense of personal ethics and honesty and enjoy dealing with members of the public and external and internal stakeholders. You will demonstrate sound interpersonal, communication and relationship-building skills and thrive working as part of a team.
Key Responsibilities
- To examine passport applications made through both the Welsh and English digital / partner route or made in person at the Public Office to determine nationality and identity, in line with current policy, procedures, and legislation, resolving queries as they arise.
- To provide effective and timely customer care to internal and external customers in line with current guidance and best practice.
- To respond both in English and Welsh to customer enquiries and complaints in writing, by telephone and face-to-face to the appropriate standard and in accordance with established policy and procedural instruction.
- To develop and maintain knowledge of legislation, policy, procedure and security guidelines to complete all work in accordance with His Majesty’s Passport Office Policy, Procedure and Best Practice guidelines.
- Examine documentation and all other presented evidence to identify potentially fraudulent applications in accordance with fraud awareness training and Her Majesty’s Passport Office counter fraud strategy.
- To work flexibly and provide support to other operational colleagues / areas as required.
- To take responsibility for one’s own attendance, performance and personal development.
An employee may be required to carry out other duties within the scope of the grade and within the limits of their skill, competence and training.
Working Pattern
This role is suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 20 hours and 4 days per week.
Training
You will receive full training and support to enable you to carry out the role.
Candidates applying on a part‑time basis should note that flexibility in working days may be required to support the delivery of training.
Person specification
Essential Criteria
- Strong written communication skills
- Effective verbal communication skills
- Proficient in Information Technology (IT)
- Fluent in Welsh language
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Making Effective Decisions
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
- In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
- 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
- Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
- Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office.
- See more of our benefits on our careers website.
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Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.
We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.
1. Application – by 19th August 2026
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:
- CV
- Personal Statement (maximum 500 words).
Your CV should consist of your career history and skills/experience, including any key achievements in each role. Your CV will be scored against the experience required for the role as noted within the essential criteria.
The Personal Statement should be aligned to and demonstrate how you meet the skills and experience set out in the essential criteria, detailed in the job description.
Please note that your Personal Statement and CV must be submitted in English.
For guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV and Personal Statement), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.
2. Sift - week commencing 24th August 2026
The sift will be held on the Personal Statement and CV as listed in the advert.
Should a high volume of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted on the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will then be progressed to a full sift that will consist of all the remaining elements submitted (CV). Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the initial sift will not have their remaining submitted elements scored and will only receive a sift score for that assessed at the initial sift.
3. Initial Assessment - week commencing 14th September 2026
If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an initial assessment. Candidates will be required to undertake a verbal and written Welsh language assessment, delivered via Microsoft Teams, to demonstrate their level of fluency. The assessment will be conducted in a conversational Welsh format.
4. Interview - week commencing 5th October 2026
Candidates who are successful at the initial assessment, will be invited to an interview that will be Behaviours (as listed in the job advert) and Strength based questions. All Behaviours listed in the selection process will be scored at the interview.
The interview will take place on Microsoft Teams and will be conducted in English.
For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.
Problems during the application process
If you experience problems accessing this advert, or you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application, please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk, including the vacancy reference, at least two working days before the vacancy closes. Further information can be found on our website.
Do not create or attempt to submit another application, online test or use a different Civil Service Jobs account to proceed as this would be in violation of the candidate declaration.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made. There is no guarantee that being held on a reserve list will lead to a job offer. Further information can be found on our website.
Breaking Tied Scores
The behaviours, experience and strengths have been ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores.
Standards
All Civil Servants are expected to comply with the Civil Service Code, and its core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.
Additional Security Checks
As well as successfully obtaining UK Security Vetting clearance, candidates will be subject to a range of additional checks. The range of checks carried out will depend on whether you are a current Home Office employee, existing civil servant or an external new entrant as well as the role requirements. The level of Criminal Record Check required for this role is Basic. Further details are included in the Notes to Candidates.
Further Information
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct.
If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
Reasonable Adjustments
If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
- Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
- Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.
Feedback
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Home Office Resourcing Centre (HORC)
- Email : HORCCampaignTeamHMPOandUKVI@homeoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Further information
If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. and you wish to make a complaint, then contact the Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.Attachments
2025-11-17 Pre-employment Checking - Document Requirements (V17) Opens in new window (pdf, 231kB)candidate_information_v18_July_2026 Opens in new window (pdf, 8MB)Salary range
- £30,920 per year














