Earlier, If you wanted to make the passport, it was not less challenging than getting the US green card, but now the things are changing in India. With the new government in place, India is witnessing a lot of developments and have made the procedure of passport making more simplified. In fact, previously, making your passport was nearly impossible without wasting a big chunk of your most valuable time and paying hefty fees to the touts and the officers connected to the passport office. Getting a simple appointment with the passport officer was more difficult than meeting the CM. But with the time Indian Passport law was made more user-friendly for the applicants but the passport still remained distant dreams to many who were not having certain documents in the place. But now the External affairs Minister Ms. Sushma Swaraj has done something that will change your entire perspective about the making passport in India.
Passport is considered to be one of an essential document if you ever wish to travel outside the country. But the making of the passport is not that easy task in India. besides submitting all the required documents one has to go through the stringent queries at all the level starting from the office clerk to passport officer and in the bargain, many would either give up the idea of making the passport or else pay the required bribes to get their job done. But now the tables have turned. Ms. Sushma Swaraj, the External Affairs Minister of India has announced the new rules to “streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issue of passport”.
According to the press realize of PIB (Press Information Bureau) the new steps taken by the External Affairs Ministry would benefit the Indian Citizens to get hold passport easily without any additional hassles and additional payments. The press note says that the government would soon publish the necessary notifications in the Official Gazette to give effect to these changes. Instructions are also being issued to the Passport Issuing Authorities in India and abroad on these revised regulations. We have put down all the information here which will make your passport application job much easier.
1) The first and foremost condition of the birth certificate has been removed in the new rules while making of the passport. It will help millions of Indian Citizens who either does not have birth certificates or misplaced the one. Now you can submit any document having your (DOB) date of birth mentioned on it like PAN Card or School leaving certificates.
Till Now it was necessary for all the applicants born on or after January 26, 1989, to submit their birth certificates as the proof of Date of Birth (DOB). This rule has been changed and now you can get a passport by submitting any one of the following documents as the proof of date of birth:-
- Birth certificate issued by the Registrar of Births & Deaths or the Municipal Corporation or any other prescribed authority whosoever has been empowered under the Registration of Birth & Deaths Act, 1969 to register the birth of a child born in India
B. Transfer/School leaving/Matriculation Certificate issued by the school last attended/recognized educational board containing the DOB of the applicant
C. PAN card issued by the Income Tax Department with the DOB of the applicant can be now used as proof of your birth.
D. Aadhar Card/E-Aadhar having the DOB of applicant
E. Copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant (only in respect of Government servants) or the Pay Pension Order (in respect of retired Government Servants), duly attested/certified by the officer/in-charge of the Administration of the concerned Ministry/Department of the applicant, having his DOB
F. Driving license issued by the Transport Department of concerned State government, having the DOB of applicant
G. Election photo identity card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India having the DOB of applicant
H. Insurance Policies and bond issued by the Public Life Insurance Corporations/Companies having the DOB of the holder of the insurance policy.
2) Based on the new rule it will not be necessary anymore to provide the name of both father and mother while applying for the passport. The online passport application form now requires the applicant to provide the name of father or mother or legal guardian, i.e., only one parent and not both.
3) Single parents would now be able to apply for passports for their children. Passports will also be issued where the name of either the father or the mother is not required to be printed at the request of the applicant.
4) The total number of Annexes prescribed in the Passport Rule, 1980, has been brought down to 9 from the present 15. Annexes A, C, D, E, J, and K have been removed and certain Annexes have been merged.
5) All the annexes that are required to be given by the applicants would be in the form of a self-declaration on a plain paper. No attestation/swearing by/before any Notary/Executive Magistrate/First Class Judicial Magistrate would be henceforth necessary.
6) Married applicants would not be required to provide Annexure K or any marriage certificate.
7) The Passport application form does not require the applicant to provide the name of her/his spouse in case of separated or divorced persons. Such applicants for passports would not be required to provide even the Divorce Decree.
8) Orphaned children, who do not have any proof of DOB such as Birth Certificate or the Matriculation Certificate or the declaratory Court order, may now submit a declaration given by the Head of the Orphanage/Child Care Home on their official letterhead of the organization confirming the DOB of the applicant.
9) In cases of children not born out of wedlock, the applicant for the passport of such children should submit only Annexure G while submitting the passport application.
10) In cases of issue of passport to in-country domestically adopted children, submission of the registered adoption deed would no longer be required. In the absence of any deed to this effect, the passport applicant may give a declaration on a plain paper confirming the adoption.
11) Government servants, who are not able to obtain the Identity Certificate (Annexure-B)/ No-Objection Certificate (Annexure-M) from their concerned employer and intend to get the passport on urgent basis can now get the passport by submitting a self-declaration in Annexure-‘N’ that he/she has given prior Intimation letter to his/her employer informing that he/she was applying for an ordinary passport to a Passport Issuing Authority.
12) Sadhus/sanyasis can apply for a passport with the name of their spiritual Guru mentioned in the passport application in lieu of their biological parent(s) name(s) subject to their providing of at least one public document such as Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India, PAN card, Adhar Card, etc wherein the name of the Guru has been recorded against the column(s) for parent(s) name(s).
Overall the above new developments in the passport making process will make the life easier for the citizens of India. Based on the records, around 6.5% Indian citizens holds the valid passport which is hardly 5 crore Indians (out of 125 crore population). This is a very shocking figure which indicates that around 93.5% people have been deprived of the most important document due to outdated formalities. For more information on this, you can click on THIS LINK
Discover more from Incredible Goa
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
