Procedure for issuance/renewal of passports to Indian nationals.

The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India has introduced issuance of Machine Readable Passports in all Passports Offices in India in 2002 and abroad w.e.f. 27.08.2007. Under this system, all applicants desiring to renew /obtain new passports in Indian Missions abroad would have to apply in the prescribed format. The details would be fed into the computer and uplinked to the Ministry’s system in New Delhi wherein it would be downloaded and processed for printing. After printing of the passports, these would be sent to the respective Missions by courier. The procedure takes upto two weeks for issuance of Passports from the date of submission of applications.

It may be noted that machine readable passports are secure, tamper-proof and in accordance with the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Guidelines for Indian passport holders

Your passport is a valuable document. It should always in your custody or in the custody of a person duly authorised by you. Passports should not be sent out of the country of residence by post.

If lost or destroyed, the fact and circumstances should be immediately reported to the nearest Indian Mission and the local Police. In order to expedite issue of a new passport in such cases, you are advised to keep a photocopy or preferably a scanned copy of the data pages and valid visas in your passport.

Under the Passports Act 1967, it is an offence to give false information in the application. Passport facilities can be denied on grounds of suppression of factual information, submission of false particulars, willful damage of passport and for making unauthorized changes in the passports.

Your passport can be impounded or revoked by the Government of India under the provision of the Passports Act 1967 in which even you will have to surrender the passport to the nearest Indian Passport Authority.

Application forms should be filled in fully, legible CAPITAL LETTERS, accurately with blue or black ink only.