In a "significant escalation" of a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union says more than 1,000 members will walk out at all seven offices in England, Wales and Scotland from 3 April to 5 May. Staff at the Passport Office in Belfast may join the strike later.
The union says the walkout will have a "significant impact" on the delivery of passports as the summer approaches.
Was this a surprise?
Not entirely. On Thursday 16 March, there was industrial action at a number of HM Passport Offices, with walkouts hitting routine work and urgent appointments. The PCS union said production of passports stopped at the Newport office, while interviews for urgent passports were cancelled at Glasgow and Durham.
In pursuit of a better pay deal, the union is seeking to make its civil service strikes as effective and high profile as possible - and with more people planning to travel abroad than at any time since Covid, holidaymakers are obvious targets.
What effect will the strike have?
Since the surge in passport applications a year ago, which led to some very long delays and people missing holidays, the issuing process has been working quite smoothly.
HM Passport Office still insists travellers allow 10 weeks for passport applications, even if they are straightforward renewals.
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