The Australian Passports Act 2005, Section 17(2), provides that a second concurrent passport may be issued to a person in circumstances specified in the Australian Passports Determination 2005, Section 4.1. Granting of a concurrent passport is to be very tightly controlled and only approved where all other options have been exhausted.

A concurrent passport may only be approved by an Authorised Officer provided that they are satisfied there is no alternative and the travel cannot be deferred for the following categories:

• to avoid significant delays in travel that would otherwise be caused by waiting for a visa to be issued;


• where a country will not accept travel documents showing evidence of travel to certain other countries (refer to ‘ Issuing concurrent passport when countries do not accept passports showing travel to specific countries ’); or


• other exceptional circumstances approved by the delegate.