FIRST-time travellers abroad seeking passports will have to make a journey to get them.

The Home Office says they will need to take a special screening test at one of a number of centres in various parts of the country.

From next month, Worcester people wanting their first passports will have to travel to the centre of Birmingham or to Warwick, and be interviewed for up to half an hour.

The interviews are designed to tackle identity theft and terrorism. They will include questions such as which school a person went to, their previous homes and who their mortgage is with.

It is thought that initially the scheme will affect 600,000 adults a year who are apply-ing for their first-ever passport. Children under 16 are not affected.

A Home Office spokesman said: "The requirement to attend an interview will be introduced gradually, starting with small-scale interviews in a limited number of offices from April 2007, with the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) progressively adding further offices through to the end of the year.

"We will start with small-scale interviews in a limited number of offices and during this period customers will not have a choice of interview office. However, the location of the interview will be within one hour's travelling time."

The system will be introduced over the next year and not all first-time applicants must take part from April.

The spokesman said: "Customers who have not been contacted by the IPS within eight working days from receipt of a completed application form will not need to have an interview".

Apart from offices in Birmingham and Warwick others closest to Worcester are in Shrewsbury, Bristol, Swansea and Cheltenham.

From 2009, the interview requirement will be extended to cover the four million people a year who want to renew passports or replace lost ones.

People wanting further information should log on to www.passport.gov.uk/passport_first_interviews.asp