Indian passport for retired govt officials - Process

Recently, I helped many family members in applying for passport and soon I feel like becoming a passport agent :p

Jokes apart, I want to share each and every information that I know about applying for Indian Passport, as it might be useful to someone who read my blog. When I analyze my old posts with maximum hits from Google, these are a few of them. That says - how often people search for this information  about passport.
My Passport renewal story
Information on Indian paasport for infants

This post is specifically about requirements for retired government officials to apply Indian Passport

Documents required (as per www.passport.gov.in website):
1. Proof of date of birth
2. Proof of residential address and
3. Pension payment order

Proof of date of birth:

a) Birth certificate issued by Municipal authority or any office authorized to issue birth and death certificate by the Registrar of births & deaths
b) School leaving certificate / Secondary school leaving certificate/ SSC certificate

Address proof:

• Water bill/ phone bill (BSNL landline or postpaid mobile bill)/ Electricity bill at least 2 bills required one bill from current year and another from last year)
• Photo passbook of running bank accounts ((Scheduled Public Sector Banks, Scheduled Private Sector Indian Banks and Regional Rural Banks only)
• Income Tax Assessment Order
• Election Commission Photo ID card
• Gas connection bill
• Spouse's passport copy (First and last page including family details), (provided the applicant's present address matches the address mentioned in the spouse's passport)
• Applicant's current and valid ration card. NOTE : If any applicant submits only ration card as proof of address, it should be accompanied by one more proof of address out of the given categories.
• Aadhaar Letter/ Card (If aadhaar card issuance date is less than a year from passport application processing date at PSK, it should be accompanied by one more proof of address out of the given categories)
• Registered Rent Agreement (for a period of more than one year)

Application process:

• Browse Indian passport website www.passport.gov.in, select respective passport office, download the application form which will be a zip file.
• You should have adobe in your laptop to fill the application form. After filling in the application, it can be saved only in xml format which needs to be uploaded in passport website.
• You should have a profile created on the site to upload passport application. So, register in the site before submission. 
• Filling the application is very simple. Retired government officials come under non ECR category. 

Submission of application and appointment booking:

• Register in the site by creating a profile, log in and upload the completely filled in application form in XML format. 
• After successful submission of application, the website gives an option of booking an appointment to visit passport office for document verification. Take a printout of filled in application form also. 
• We can only select the date and passport office/ PSK while booking an appointment, but appointment time will be automatically allocated by the system.
• Print the appointment form after the payment of Rs.1000/- as fee through online. This payment is mandatory for appointment booking. Remaining fee required should be paid at passport office on appointment day. If it's tatkal, extra fee of Rs.1500/- to be paid at PSK. Please verify latest fee requirements from the website.

Appointment:

• Reach passport office at least 15 - 20 mins before appointment time. 
• Carry appointment letter, application form, date of birth proof, address proof, pension payment order and 2 xerox copies of each of these documents.
• Few PSKs allows mobile phones, but they need to be switched off. 
• In the first counter, officers will verify original documents, take xerox copies of each and arrange them in a file. They also assign a token number. 
• After proceeding to 'B' counters after our token is called in, all details mentioned in the application are verified by the officer. They take fingerprints on a sensor and scan all the proofs that we provide for verification. We have to pay remaining fee (if any) at this counter.
• In counter 'C', another verification of original documents takes place and In counter 'A', final verification will be done. 
• For Tatkal scheme, your token comes quicker than others. Usually, it takes around 30 mins to one hour to go through A,B and C counters. 

We have to collect an acknowledgment in the last counter before leaving the office. This is important to track the status of our application later. For Tatkal scheme, it takes around 3 working days for the passport to be delivered. For normal, it might take 07 to 20 days. 

If you want to get alerts on the status of passport application, you can register for updates to your mobile phone while booking appointment itself. PSK will charge around Rs.35/- for the same.

Do let me know in comments if this information is helpful :-)

Until next time,

Image courtesy: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indian_Passport.jpg

Indian passport for infants

Hello all...
After a long gap at last, I could write on my blog today. Hurray :-)
I have been going through an important phase in my life, which is taking care of my new born son. He is keeping me busy away from books and blogs.

Recently, I have applied Indian passport for my 5 month old son through tatkal scheme. Wanted to share my experience as it might help someone else.

Documents  required:
For an infant, proof of age and address are required. Also, an affidavit - annexure H is needed with the signature of both the parents.

We used the following documents:
1. Age proof - date of birth certificate
2. Address proof - original passports of both the parents (if address in parent's passport matches their current address). Else, additional address proof like voter id card of either of the parents or gas connection bill  is needed.
3. Annexure H signed by both the parents
4. 2 passport size photographs of kid

Application process:

• Browse Indian passport website www.passport.gov.in, select respective passport office, download the application form which will be a zip file.
• You should have adobe in your laptop to fill the application form. After filling in the application, it can be saved only in xml format which needs to be uploaded in passport website.
• You should have a profile created on the site to upload passport application. So, register in the site before submission. Infant passport can be applied from parent's profile.
• Filling the application is very simple except for a few tricky ones. All infants come under non ECR category. Select kid's date of birth in 'residing since' field. Everything else is straight forward.

Submission of application and appointment booking :

• As mentioned earlier, register in the site by creating profile, log in and upload the completely filled in application form in xml format. 
• After successful submission of application, site gives an option of booking an appointment to visit passport office for document verification. Take a printout of filled in application form also. Please note that kid's thumb impression is required in the application form. You can paste kid's passport photo in the application,if not, anyway passport office will ask for another photo.
• We can only select the date and passport office while booking appointment, but appointment time will be automatically allocated by the system,
• Print the appointment form after the payment of Rs.1000/- as fee through online. This payment is mandatory for appointment booking. Remaining fee required should be paid at passport office on appointment day.

Appointment:

• Reach passport office at least 15 - 20 mins before appointment time. 
• Carry appointment letter, application form with 2 passport photos and thumb impression of kid, original birth certificate, original passports of both the parents and annexure H signed by both. 
• If current residence address is different, you also need to carry another address proof like voter ID or gas connection bill. For any special case like one parent not present in India, there is another form to be signed and sent by the absent parent. Please contact passport help line for these kind of special cases.
• PSK (Passport seva kendra) will allow 2 people with kid. Don't forget to carry necessary feeding bottles, hot water, formula powder, diapers etc.,
• PSK allows mobile phones, but they need to be switched off.
• In the first counter, officers will verify original documents, take kid's photo from us, take xerox copies of each and arrange them in a file. They also assign a token number.
• After proceeding to 'B' counters after our token is called in, all details mentioned in the application are verified by the officer. They take thumb impression of kid and scan all the proofs that we provide for verification. We have to pay remaining fee (if any) at this counter.
• In counter 'C', another verification of original documents takes place and In counter 'A', final verification will be done. For Tatkal scheme, your token comes quicker than others. For me, it took around 30 mins to go through A,B and C counters.
• We have to collect an acknowledgement in the last counter before leaving the office. This is important to track the status of our application later.
• For Tatkal scheme, it takes around 3 working days for the passport to be delivered. For normal, it might take 15 to 20 days. 
• If you want to get alerts on the status of passport application, you can register for updates to mobile phone while booking appointment itself. PSK will charge around Rs.35/- for the same.

We got appointment on Saturday and passport is delivered on immediate Monday. PSK person told me that if I can go through A,B and C counters before 12 PM on that day, passport will be delivered on Monday. Else, it will come on Tuesday. So, lucky we are :)

So, that's the story. Hope this helps someone who need information on applying Indian passport for infants.

Until next time,

My passport renewal story :)

Do you know how difficult it is to apply and receive an Indian passport? Re-issue/ Renewal of passport is also the same process as applying for a fresh passport and here is my looong story..   

         First of all, I didn't know until last year that an Indian passport validity is 10 years. So, after I found that mine is due to expire in March 2012, started reading the process of applying it online. I have started with creating an online user account on passport website. Online account creation and submission are cool. The website is also working fine most of the times, but some days site doesn't open at all. If you are applying from a specific city, you need to go to the regional passport site. 
For ex: Hyderabad has a separate passport regional site. 

After logging in, we can check for the documents required to apply for the passport by a link on the left side. This is a very useful feature. We can also check fees to be paid.

           I have verified both documents required and fees to be paid for the renewal of my passport. I was thinking whether I should opt for the tatkal or normal option. As per site, the tatkal passport will be delivered in 15 days, whereas normal passport will be delivered in 45 days. There is one extra document required by us to apply for tatkal. We need to submit a verification letter attested by someone who is a manager or above level in any public sector undertaking company like BSNL, BHEL etc., It was difficult to get that, so I opted for a normal scheme.

 I have to make a change in my last name after marriage and want to include my spouse name as well in my new passport. There is an address change too to be considered. 

Following are the documents required for this case:
1. copy of first and last 2 pages of old passport - self-attested
2. Proof of address - I submitted my spouse's passport copy with the marriage certificate
3. For last name change and the inclusion of spouse name - a copy of the marriage certificate

                If we have any valid visa for old passport, a copy of that page also to be submitted. Other options for address proof are electricity bill, telephone bill(bsnl), One year statement (with transactions)/ Passbook of running bank account (Scheduled Commercial bank excluding Regional Rural banks and local area banks) etc.,

               So, after arranging all the above, i logged into my account in passport site and filled the application online with all details. Now, comes interesting and difficult part of creating an appointment in any PSK (passport seva kendra). At that time, the site used to allow to book appointments only 2 days in advance and that too appointments get filled in 5 to 10 mins after 7 PM. So, it was really difficult to get an appointment. Daily I used to try at 7 PM and at last could succeed after 2 days. 

                I went to passport seva kendra (Begumpet) on time with my original documents for verification.  Usually i keep one pen drive always in my hand bag so that it will be useful to trasport data in emergency. Security personnel in the building didn't allow me to take pendrive inside and worst part is they dont have any clock room to place it. I said in frustration to throw it in dust bin as i cannot go back home and keep it there and return. Security lady told she will keep it and i can take it while leaving. She was straight away demanding money for keeping it while I was taking it back. I don't have any other option than to give some money.

                After entering inside passport seva kendra, there are counters to verify the original documents and copies required. After passing through first verification, in second counter also they verified all these again, verified our personal details and address to ensure that passport reaches to correct address when dispatched. They also took a photograph, gave one token and told to wait in the next counter until our number is called. The first 2 counters are run by TCS employees and the third counter is actual verification by passport employees. After it is done, we need to wait for 4th counter call, where they will stamp on old passport that it is extended and confirm that new passport will be dispatched after police verification. Not to forget, there is one last counter where we need to collect receipt which is very important. This receipt has a file reference number which is useful to track passport status. I completed all these formalities on Feb 02nd and waited for almost one month for police verification to start. But there is no update on it. So, we sent someone to go to passport office and track the status. They told it will go to respective police station in 2 days and we need to contact them. Atlast, police officer has come and completed verification by checking all documents again that i submitted for passport application. He took signatures from our neighbours and then left by taking some bribe. After this, it took around 15 days for my passport to be dispatched. It came by speed post and an sms and email sent to me informing that it is dispatched by speed post with tracking number. Even post man expected some bribe which is common and I received my passport on May 8th 2012. 

Can you believe? It took 3 months to receive my passport from the day I appeared in Passport Seva Kendra excluding the days when I filled the application and submitted it online. If I consider the whole process from the day of creating an account in passport site which is on Jan 4th, it took 4 months. I did all these without the help of any agent. I am not sure how fast it can be with the help of an agent.  

Don't lose hopes, if you are going to apply now. Because there are many changes in the site. One major change is the ability to book an appointment for 7 days in advance and also check this link to know how they are improving the process to dispatch a normal passport in 3 days!!!

http://passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/online/whatHasChanged

I hope this will come true soon :) 

How about you? did you ever have such a bad experience while applying for the passport? Please do share in comments.

Until next time,

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