More than 1,200 people have picked up British Citizen (BC) passport application forms just one week after Bermudians became full British citizens.

That is three times the number of applications normally processed in a year.

Last week the Immigration Department ran out of the application forms and had to download and print an emergency supply from the website of the British Embassy in Washington DC.

Chief Immigration Officer Martin Brewer told The Royal Gazette that a fresh batch of forms arrived at midday yesterday.

However potential applicants for the BC passport have to line up to pick up the forms at the Immigration windows.

Immigration is also attaching a lengthy list of guidelines to the application forms.

Dr. Brewer said forms are not being left on the racks in the lobby for people to pick up because they will likely run out even faster.

"People tend to take batches of them," he said. "We can put them out there and thousands will go in a day and two come back... It's a little bit more tedious for them but we would otherwise go through too many if we put them out on the racks."

Prior to May 21 the Department processed about 400 applications for a full British passports annually.

Asked why applicants could not simply download the forms from the website, Dr. Brewer said that they would have to have a good printer to avoid any distortions.

Immigration does all the processing for the passports which are then issued by the British embassy in Washington DC.

Dr. Brewer said some 40 applications had completed the processing stage and were about to be sent off to Washington.

The deluge of applications was creating an unprecedented amount of extra work for the Department but so far no overtime costs has been incurred, he said.

Some of the extra work, he explained, is being done by summer students.

Dr. Brewer could not say for sure what the demographics of the applicants were. But a random check yesterday showed a diverse group of people of all ages waiting patiently in line for their forms.

Not everyone is so patient. "It appears the Immigration Department is doing everything it can to prevent people getting their hands on these things," said one man who called The Royal Gazette to express his displeasure.

"Maybe they don't want it to be known that a lot of people don't want to be carrying around a passport with a Longtail on it."

He declined to be named for this story, saying he was still hoping to get his application.

A Bermuda passport almost guarantees problems travelling around Europe, he said when asked why he wanted a BC passport.

The frequent traveller said even travelling through the United States can be a nightmare because the authorities do not believe a visa is not needed.

In Europe the BC passport opens doors, he said.

Bermuda passports can be used as proof of full British citizenship for another year. But Immigration has warned that until the BC passports come through, entering European Union countries other than Britain might prove difficult.

Turnaround time for the passports is expected to be about 12 weeks, if the application and all documents are in order.

All British Overseas Territories Citizens automatically became full British citizens on May 21 - the commencement day of the British Overseas Territories Act.

With citizenship came the right to live and work in the UK and the European Union.