Passport Appointment Booking

The procedure below is for online application of Indian Passport through the website - www.passportindia.gov.in

Well first of all the facts -

I have applied for passport on 8.aug.2012 and received passport on 7.may.2013

And the above result you see are for normal passports, not even tatkal! Fees I spent was only 1000  for both of them. No agent, no hassles. Pure and direct. The PSK at Kolkata was comfortably air conditioned, nicely managed with food outlets, clean wash rooms and nice and big display screens displaying your token number that you are given from the counter at PSK. What more can you ask for?  It is systematic, fast and transparent. This seems revolutionary to me when compared to the way passports were availed previously. The process was manual, painstaking and time consuming. Just booking the appointment slot remains the tricky part now though. Slots get filled up fast... within a few seconds!!! I have noted down below (particularly in step 8) how to book it in a way that will maximize your chance of getting a slot. Read slowly, carefully!

1. Go to www.passportindia.gov.in and then register for a username and password.

2. login with username and password. download e-form and keep it in one empty folder... and then open the pdf form to fill up the details. Fill up important details like birth place, nearest police thane etc correctly and then save the pdf form. it will generate xml files as well.

3. upload e-form. An ARN number will be given which you can see right now when you click on view submitted forms. Note here, as far as my own experience is concerned. There is no need to upload any documents. Documents you have to take with you to PSK - original as well as self - attested copies. From step 4 to step 8 I am explaining how to book for an appointment slot and this should be read carefully.

4. Go to the link - View saved/submitted applications. Select your application and then click manage appointment.

5. After that select a PSK that is near to your house, fill in the characters asked for (i.e. the captcha) and then click submit.

6. Then select 'book slot'

7. A message might be displayed like this 'all slots are booked. slots will open from so and so date at 3 pm (this time may vary for different Psk). try then.

8. Now this is the important step. On the date mentioned on step 7, exactly at the time mentioned, say at 3 pm, the slots will all vanish very quickly. just before 3 minutes to 3'O clock, log in with your username and password and then go to view saved/submitted applications and then select your application and click on manage appointment. On the next page select the PSK nearest to your location (and where you intend to go for appointment) and then give the correct captcha (be careful with caps lock here) and then click submit. Now you should sit on this next page where book slots is shown and keep an eye sharp at the clock. just when it is 3 pm (or whatever time it is mentioned in step 7) hit the link 'book slots'. The slots will come next with blue links...please dont waste time here and immediately book one slot whatever you see... don't waste even a millisecond here!!!! If your luck is really bad then here again you will see an error message like this - your slots have been booked by someone else.
This is the time when there will be a spike of huge traffic and there is no guarantee that you will get a slot. But with little bit of luck you will have your slot. If one day you dont succeed then don't feel helpless.... keep trying. I tried for 8 - 9 days before I successfully got an appointment. I was determined not to go to an agent.  Read step 8 once more and be very prompt in your booking of appointment.Good luck! Note that only after successful booking of appointment slot can you see the Appointment number against your entry. Before this only arn number used to be visible. Also note that if your child is a minor, then booking of appointment is no more necessary - this I heard though please verify if it's true.

9. After successful booking of slot you have to take the necessary documents - xerox copies and in original with you to the PSK. Also printout of the receipt should be taken and carried to the PSK. Necessary documents can be found from the website itself. For my passport I took 1 year bank statement with the required address (in original and xerox-self attested) for address proof and birth certificate (in original and xerox-self attested) for age proof. The bank-statements in original have to be submitted to the PSKs and the xerox copies can be kept for police verification later. Come home and wait for call from the Police.

10. A call will come on your mobile from the Police Station and they will tell you how to proceed for the police verification. Follow what they say.

11. Do nothing. Just wait. An sms will come that will read like this: Dear so and so, your passport <passport number> has been despatched on 2013-01-02 thourgh speed post. Speed post tracking no. is so and so. Within 2 days your passport will come on speed post.

Note:

a. The passport will come to your door from India Post - speed post. On a side not, let me reiterate that our Govt. Postal service (India Post) for delivering speed posts is very good .

b. Every time you can check on the status of your passport from the website - like when it is sent to police, when it is sent from police station and when it gets printed and when it is dispatched and so on. This facility is awesome. You get to know when and where a delay gets caused at any time you want.

c. There is a phone call facility (1800-258-1800) for you to get answer of whatever question you want. Just talk to them.

Disclaimer:

Please note that the above procedure for online booking has been noted down from my own personal experience and from my memory. It might not match word by word - with whatever the website messages say. So personal discretion is necessary to follow the steps. My only purpose for noting down all the steps is to help the readers book passport online in a hassle free way. Do read steps laid down at passportindia.gov.in and reach out to their call center for any doubt you may have.