(a) whether the Government has recently revised the guidelines for issuing passports;
(b) if so, the details of the revisions made;
(c) the extent to which it has helped in issuing passports faster; and
(d) the average time taken now for issue of passports?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI PRANAB MUKHERJEE)
(a) Yes, Sir.
(b) A statement on the Revised Passport Issuance Guidelines is placed on the Table of
the House (enclosed as annexure).
(c) & (d) These guidelines have made the issuance of passports simpler and speedier for
the passport applicants. The average time taken for issuing a passport is now 30 days
subject to completion of requisite formalities.
REVISED PASSPORT ISSUANCE GUIDELINES REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF LOK SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO. 498 REGARDING “NEW GUIDELINES FOR ISSUING PASSPORTS†FOR ANSWER
ON 09.05.2007
A number of decisions have been taken to simplify further the Passport Issuance Procedures
with effect from 23 December 2006.
Salient features of the new scheme are as under:
1 Revised Rules relating to issue/reissue of passports
Presently fresh passports are issued under Normal and Tatkal categories – (1) Under
first category, passports are issued on receipt of clear police verification reports
and (2) Under the Tatkal scheme, a passport valid for 10 years is issued on the basis
of a Verification Certificate (VC) obtained from the authorities indicated in para 2(B)
and on payment of additional fee of Rs. 1500/- in case the applicants desire to have the
passports in 1-7 days (as opposed to the earlier slab of 1-10 days) and additional fee
of Rs. 1000/- in case the applicant desires to have the passport in 8-14 days (as
opposed to the earlier time slab of 11-20 days).
Under the Tatkal scheme, passports are issued on post-police verification basis
OR
on submission of (i) three documents from the list of following 14 documents given
at 2(A), provided one of the three documents is a photo identity document and at least
one of the three is amongst the documents indicated at (a) to (i) below, and (ii) a
standard affidavit duly attested by a Notary:
2(A) List of 14 documents:
a) Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC)
b) Service Identity Cards issued by State/Central Government, Public Sector Undertakings,
Local bodies or Public Limited Companies
c) SC/ST/OBC Certificates
d) Freedom Fighter Identity Cards
e) Arms Licenses
f) Property Documents such as Pattas, Registered Deeds etc.
g) Ration Cards
h) Pension Documents such as Ex-Servicemen’s Pension book/Pension Payment Order,
Ex-Servicemen’s Widow/Dependent Certificates, Old Age Pension Order, Widow Pension
Order
i) Railway Identification Cards
j) Income Tax Identity (PAN) cards
k) Bank/Kisan/Post Office Passbooks
l) Student Identity Cards issued by recognised educational institutions
m) Driving Licenses
n) Birth Certificates issued under the Registration of Births & Deaths (RBD) Act
2(B) List of authorities competent to issue Verification Certificates (VCs)
a) An Under Secretary /Deputy Secretary/Director/Joint Secretary/Special Secretary/
Secretary/Cabinet Secretary in the Government of India;
b) A Director/Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary/Special Secretary/Chief Secretary
in a State Government;
c) A Sub-Divisional Magistrate/First Class Judicial Magistrate/Additional DM/District
Magistrate of the District of residence of the applicant;
d) A District Superintendent of Police, DIG/IG/DGP of District of residence of the
applicant;
e) A Major and above in the army, Lieutenant Commander and above in the Navy and
Squadron Leader and above in the Air Force;
f) General Manger of a Public Sector Undertaking;
g) A member of an All India Service or Central Service, who is equivalent to or above
the rank of an Under Secretary to the Government i.e. in the pay scale of Rs. 10,000-15,200
or above;
h) Resident Commissioners/Additional Residential Commissioners of all State Governments
based in Delhi;
i) Concerned Tehsildars or concerned SHO for an applicant staying in the area under
his/her jurisdiction; and
j) Chairman/Chairperson of Apex Business Organisations such as Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)
and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) in respect of owners,
partners or directors of the companies that are members of the concerned Chamber.
2(C) As is the practice the passports under the Tatkal categories would be issued
subject to post-police verification. The Police authorities would be requested to send
the Police verification reports within a period of three months. If no report is received
within this period or a clear report is received, the passport will be allowed to run its
normal course. However, if an adverse report is received at any stage after issuance of a
passport, the PIA (Passport Issuing Authority) shall impound the passport and take
necessary action under the Passports Act. Tatkal fees as mentioned at Para 1 above would
be payable in all Tatkal categories. No proof of urgency is required to be produced by
any applicant desiring to apply under Tatkal scheme. Those applicants, who are unable to
produce either of the three documents or VC for obtaining passports under Tatkal scheme
would be issued passports after police verification.
2(D) There may be instances where an applicant has a verification certificate and/or
the three documents as prescribed in para 2(A), but he or she does not want to pay the
additional fee as required under Tatkal. In such cases, Passport Officers will issue the
passport within a period of 30 days on post-police verification basis. The applicant will
also have to furnish a Standard Affidavit.
3. Employees in the Government Service and PSUs and their immediate family members
(wife and minor dependent children only) whose identity is certified in prescribed pro
forma by the Head of Department or the Head of the PSU or a person duly authorised by
them for this purpose, may be issued a passport valid for ten years without any pre or
post-police verification.
4. The necessary certificate in respect of categories at Para 2(B) and 3 above will
be given in duplicate by the certifying authority indicating clearly the full name,
designation and address of the certifying authority. One copy of the certificate so
given will be returned by the Passport Office by post to the certifying authority after
issuance of passport. In case, any indication of a forged certificate is received from
the authority so intimated, the passport in question will be impounded and suitable action
taken against the holder under the relevant provisions of the Passport Act, 1967. Passport
Issuing Authorities will compulsorily check Passport Information Services on Net (PISON)
and Prior Approval Category (PAC) in each and every case before issuing passports on
Post-Police Verification basis.
5. In addition, the following provisions will apply for issuance of fresh passports
in the case of the relevant categories of applicants mentioned below:
(A) Minors: No pre or post-issuance police verification will be required in the case of
applicants upto 18 years of age. However, in all cases of minor applicants, concurrence
of the parents need to be submitted in each and every case. For identification purposes,
such minor applicants may submit the following:
a) Valid passports held by the parents/legal guardians along with suitable proof of
parentage and prescribed affidavit from a parent
OR
b) Three documents in respect of the parents as per Para 2(A) above to establish the
identity of one of the parents together with suitable proof of parentage and standard
affidavit from a parent.
In case of minor applicants up to the age of 18 years, passports would be issued for five
years at a time due to frequent change in appearance.
(B) Re-issue cases: Passports would be renewed/reissued for a period of 10 years within
three working days under Tatkal scheme on payment of additional fee of Rs. 1500/-.
Alternatively, passports would be renewed/reissued for 10 years on payment of normal
fee of Rs. 1000/- within a maximum period of 15 days from the date of application.
Further, in the absence of anything adverse against the applicant in the notice of PIA,
no police verification will be required for renewal/reissue of a passport. In the case
of change of address of an applicant, only a document establishing the latest address
would be insisted upon.
Mere change of address will not warrant police verification. In the case of major change
of physical appearance of an applicant, any one of the procedures listed at paras 1-3 above,
as the case may be, for issuance of fresh passports, may be followed to establish the
identity of the applicant. An applicant may be allowed to apply for a new passport in
lieu of an expired/about to expire passports upto 3 years after and one year before the
expiry of the passport. In case a new passport is applied after more than three years
after expiry of the old passport, the procedure listed at paras 1-3 above as the case may
be, will be followed.
(C) Duplicate passports: In this case, if there is no adverse report in the notice of the
passport issuing authority, a duplicate passport in lieu of a lost passport would be issued
to an applicant for a period of 10 years subject to production of a police report regarding
loss of passport and subject further to the details of the applicant tallying with those
in the file of the lost passport in the PISON/PAC system. No pre/post issuance police
verification will be needed in these cases. Lost passport circulars are to be issued
immediately and Damaged/ Revoked/Impounded/Lost (DRIL) passport entries made in PISON
system.
(D) Chairman/Chairperson of Apex Business Organisations i.e. Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Associated
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) would issue Verification Certificates (VCs)
in respect of owners, partners or directors of Companies that are members of the concerned
Chamber. Based on these verification Certificates (VCs) and the standard affidavit,
passports would be issued to such applicants for ten years and would be subject to
post-police verification.