New process to apply for Indian Passport

The new passport application process at Passport Seva Kendra of Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. With this new project, MEA has tried to make process simpler for citizens to get new/reissue passport. Here is the process + tips in very brief.

Before going to Passport Seva Kendra (PSK), you can do following from home to save time, else these can be done on reaching there:

1. Visit http://www.passportindia.gov.in/ and register. On the main page, there is a link to find list of documents required. Collect all necessary documents before applying. Note for those applying for minors: It is mandatory to have spouse name endorsed on at least one parent's passport.

2. Go to the link which says "Apply for Fresh Passport". A step-by-step wizard like interface will help you fill the details. Remember to save it after filling in each page. You can take break in between, retrieve your form later and continue.

3. After filling the form, check the details and submit it by pressing "submit" button.

4. You can upload documents also using the same interface, but that link was not working when I check 2 days back.

5. At this stage, it is advisable to book appointment. With appointment management, you need not go to PSK and stand in queue. Remember to go at least 30-45 min before the appointment time.

6. After booking the appointment, you can print the application receipt which you have to carry to PSK.

Steps at PSK:

7. Go to the counter which says "Tokens". There you show your application receipt and get a token.

8. In the waiting area, keep an eye on the display. They do not announce the token numbers, you have to watch your token number on the  display. Display shows a list formatted like table_number - token_number. Table numbers are like Axx, Token numbers are like Qy-zz.
note: if you have forgot to take any photocopies, thre is a photocopier available here. Also there are restrooms and tea counter.

9. When your token number is displayed, go to the assigned table (Axx) and submit the documents. There they will take photo and fingerprints. No need to take your own photos to PSK. You also need to submit the documents there. They will collect the application fees here only.

10. Processing at these counters (CSE counters) numbers Axx take about 20 min. Then you need to go to Verification Officer counters which are numbered (Bx). For this, again your token number will be displayed at the display telling which Bx counter you need to go.

11. At VO counter your originals are examined. So remember to carry them. If you are appying under Tatkal scheme, tell about it here.

12. If yours is a Tatkal application, your VO will sind you to VO counter again for paying the additional Tatkal fees. Sadly this takes time because the system puts you at the end of queue.

13. After paying tatkal fees, you again have to go to a VO counter. Sadly this is required by the system, though not necessary.

14. If yours was not a tatkal application or if you completed steps 12 & 13, you need to go to a Granting Officer (GO) counter. These are numbered Cx. Again you have to wait for your token to be displayed on the display.

15. Based on your documents, if everything is fine, GO will approve your passport. The GO and VO counters take 5 minutes each.

16. After this, last thing is to collect your application acknowledgement near the exit gate. It contains the FILE NUMBER (very important).

I hope I have captured all items. Since the process is new, and still evolving, there may be some change by the time you apply.

Guidlines for online registration for passport.

1. Eligible Applicants can do online registration for applying for Passport.
2. Use Crome Browser for doing Online Registration as it is the fastest.
3. Don’t use Special characters while entering details in the Online Registration form.
4. The Dates can be entered as per the format given in the website (DD/MM/YYYY).
5. As all the details are filled in press “SAVE” to get the ARN number, Date and time of Appointment and also the provision to take the print outs of the Application Form.
6. Note: Pl note that the data once registered cannot be modified, so ensure that you are entering the correct data while doing Online Registration.
7. In case if you have registered wrong data, you have to register again with the correct details and get the print outs with fresh ARN numbers.
8. There are still some columns in the application form which you will have to fill by hand. You will have to visit the concerned mission to submit the completed application form along with fee, supporting documents such as date of birth certificate etc. on the appointed day and time. The date and time of passport appointment at the Mission will be informed by the on-line system and will also be printed on the application form.

A day at Passport office Tirupathi Hyderabad

One of my blog reader wrote this & requested to publish If you feel anything inappropriate please tell us.

I have scheduled the visit to PSK Ameerpet under RPO hyderabad around 20th April 2012.

I had in the project to get my children passport Feb-2012. I was unable to get online passport appointment for Tirupathi Hyderabad  I have tried to schedule passport appointment in tatkaal. After that tried for Normal appointment. Appointment slots were never opened for Ameerpet, Begumpet, Toli chowki tirupathi psk in hyderabad. Passport seva customer care 1800-258-1800 told me to try exactly at 7:30PM between Sunday to Thursday to get one. I read in some blog that other users were also facing hardship on this. Fortunately  in May 2012. www.passportindia.gov.in got fixed and started showing open slots. They were after 15 days but that is acceptable.

Preparation before visit to The PSK Tirupathi Hyderabad

I have applied for the fresh passport for my both children 3+ and 4+ years old. For documents related info I tried the document advisory on the site. After checking a set of check boxes, I come to know the documents I need to carry. I have clicked up some doubts and made 3-4 calls to the passport seva customer care ( 1800-258-1800 ) who were able to clarify some doubts, they needs to be more trained.

My application of feburary was 90 days old. So I submitted to fresh passport application online as ARN more than 90 days were deleted automatically.
For 3+ year child, customer care advised to carry passport size photo with white background. For 4+, it will be taken at the PSK. and not required.
But I carried his photos also to be on safe side.
I had my passport endorsed with my wife name. Also birth certificates for the children. That is all needed. One xerox copies of each document, self attested.
My children birth certificate had the changed name of my wife after marriage where as we had not yet applied for her passport name change. Hence, I decided to carry marriage affidavit (annexure D) which came handy during the visit. I do not have the marriage certificate.
I also carried other supporting documents for the changed name for my wife – her bank account statement for a year, voter id. but verification concluded with marriage affidavit and did not need other documents.
Children need to visit along with you to PSK, My wife went to PSK along with me, it helped much since both children were called on different counters at the same time.
Carried originals of all document – passports of parents, birth certificates. these were checked and verified multiple times for at PSK.
DD is not mandatory as PSK accept the fees in cash. I paid Rs 600/- per child.
Original Marriage affidavit (annexure D) copy is taken up. I had carried two original marriage affidavits. This work can be done in front of kukatpally eseva office Tirupathi Hyderabad for 150-200/- per marriage affidavit. There are many small shops in front of the office that do the notary documents work. They also have the annexure D format. You only need to carry a photo of both of you together which the guy will cut to smaller size and paste on the affidavit. If I had marriage certificate, probably this was not required.
Visit to PSK

With all the documentation preparation done, I cross checked all the documents once more in the morning, and again checked 1 hour before the reporting time. Aditya trade center is little inside on the road turning right beside Mytrivanam building. This road is one way. I need to take U turn and taken turn before MyTrivanam and come to the place. Auto wala helped me to give the direction. It’s a tall new building but no parking inside. Need to find a place to park outside.I went to morning so found parking place.

PSK experience was awesome. Centralized AC, neat and clean interior. Full process is streamlined into 3 steps including token number. Your token number flashes on big multiple LED TV along with officer table number to visit in waiting lounges. Given that we were with children, we were accommodated on a separate queue and officer came to us to speed up collecting right documents. Directed us to a counter to create a file and generate token number for us. With in 10 minutes, we had the token and entered the waiting lounge. We met 3 officers after this before getting done.

First, customer service executive queue A. She took all the right documents in first level verification,  all the documents were scanned and uploaded to server and took finger prints, but in case of minor below 5 years, finger prints were not taken. While executive is processing items on computer, you can see all details on a LCD display facing you. awesome! All of them – well dressed in the same dress, equipped with latest fast scanner. Process took order of 15 minutes.
Next we waited in waiting lounge for your token to flash for a Verification officer counter queue B. There are government passport officers. This steps took a wait time upto 1 hour. But place is well kept, we were just fine waiting for our turn. Now its time to visit to VO. VO looked at originals and scanned documents, verified and pushed the token to next queue C. This meet was order of 10 minutes.
Next we need to wait for the PO (passport officer) in queue C. Wait time was less here order of 10 minutes. There are around 4 to 5 PO counters. PO did sanity check of the documents against original and I think approved the application. File was kept with her and we were directed to exit counter to collect acknowledgement receipt. This interaction was of 5 minutes max.
Exit counter we got the acknowledgement receipt without any wait time. We are expected to get out from the next door. We got out at around 1 PM.
How was the experience

This experience was Simply awesome! Home work also paid, I indeed need to attach marriage affidavit for one child application because of my wife changed name in birth certificate.

I have to visit 2 more times yet once to re-issue the passport of my parents, and once for my wife.

Last time I had such experience dealing with governmental formality was Aadhar card registration process at Karvy office. It was highly stream lined with no confusion but Aadhar card never got delivered we are waiting yet for 8 months for them to come home! I will inform later when the passport arrive home. For children, policy verification is not required.

Passport for one child is delivered on 5/24 by speed post within one week, awesome as my application was normal.

This is the role model experience for application processing at PSK. We need all government offices to get HERE (especially RTOs where I have struggled). Thanks to the PSK Team for making my day today!

Another visit to Hyderabad Passport office


This time it's was for my mother's passport.

The experience was overall good like last time.  Few facts:

I was carrying HDFC bank statement as proof of address but the requirement is to have also a cover letter from the bank. Note: Bank statement accepted to be presented in original with bank seal on each page of the statement.
For my mother, I could accompany inside the PSK as she was senior citizen. but for my wife,  not allowed. The plight of accompanying husbands, grandfather is sad since they have to wait outside with no chairs standing for couple of hours. Nevertheless, some arrangement for the “family member” (that probably can be certified by some documentary proof), even to sit outside, will help – to improve the experience overall.
Update:

I had missed the passport appointment Tirupathi Hyderabad for my father since he was unwell on day of  appointment schedule day. I have to cancelled the managed appointment because it will delete the whole passport application form.
Scheduling normal appointment this time was not available during the day. I have to try after 7:30 PM IST(actually I tried around 7:50 ). Only few slots were available 14 days later. I took one. I guess there is high demands for the appointment for passport for Tirupathi Hyderabad.

Passport Appointment Booking

Inside Trip of Passport Seva Kendra

Inside trip of a PSK
Finally the D-day arrived, after securing my "online passport appointment", I am here today in front of the Passport Seva Kendra. I am so excited that I have arrived almost two hours before my reporting time.
(Honestly it is just not excitement, back of my mind I am thinking of those never ending long queue's in front of  Govt. office)

Whatever be the reason, I am here at Lalbagh PSK, Bangalore and surprise surprise....NO QUEUE!! Is the PSK closed today? Are they not entertaining appointments? What's wrong....

Okay, the good news...PSK's is NOT closed. I was impressed by looking at the architecture of the building, it does not have that historian Govt. office look(no betel spit marks on walls, not a rickety old building and no queue...outside the gate at least).

So, now starts the inside story of the PSK:
(P.S. I applied for a fresh, normal passport. Procedures are different for all passport types).


1. Once inside, you get to sit/stand in a waiting area, awaiting your batch number to be called(this number will be mentioned on the appointment printout), make sure you know your batch number.
The sequence number is not important, actually it is just a pseudo number.

2.  As I was early to the PSK, I had to wait for almost 1hour 30minutes for my batch number to be called out. But boy oh boy....even Cinderella would not had been so punctual, the clock ticked 02:00PM and they called my batch number.
Walked with the crowd from the waiting area to a next hall where tokens are to be issued. Time for the first queue....but it is a fast moving queue.

3. Okay, this as per me is the most important halt. If you fail here, oops...all your struggle is gone in vain. You fail to produce correct documents here...you will not be allowed inside. In short this token issue is your passport to getting a passport.
So, make sure you have all possible documents with you, both original and photocopy. They can ask for anything, there is no set rule. So when they ask, you should have it....otherwise you are asked to leave and guess asked to come next day.
Luckily I had all required documents...hurray I got my token(it is a paper slip, token number written on left side, it should be something like N XXX, where I think 'N' is for new).

 4. After getting the token, second waiting area....but it is swift here. You will see token numbers appearing on LCD's with associated counter number. Pleasantly, there are few floor wardens around as well to guide you.
To my amazement, with in 2minutes  my token number was displayed and I walked in to the counter.

5. Here verification of the original documents will happen, then the passport form details will be cross checked with you, on spot photograph will be clicked, finger/thumb print scanning, self attestation of documents and fee submission.
You will be handed over a file containing the documents you had produced and required for verification in the next segments. Also, a fee receipt - preserve it safely.

 6. Now go to third waiting area, the wait time is comparatively high here. Once the LCD displays your token, walk to the assigned counter. Third time verification of you, your originals and the information forwarded internally from the previous two teams.
All's good...go back to waiting area and wait for GTO(Granting Officer) verification.

7. Yes, you guessed it correct, the wait time goes up little higher but not that significant....so stare, stare and stare at the LCD again...for your token number to appear.
Finally, my turn. GTO verifies anything that might have slipped out in the earlier sections(you are nervous now) if everything is perfect, ticks on your file and piles it on the ever growing bundle. BUT and a big but....if he/she is not satisfied, you will be sent to the APO(Assistant Passport Officer...I think), for which you need to wait again.
Not sure of what happens at the APO chamber, I was lucky to be through the GTO.

8. Just before you see the EXIT and jump out...do not forget to collect your Acknowledgement Receipt. So, bring out your fee receipt(ah ahhh...i asked you to preserve it safely) and push it through the counter window. You will be handed over an acknowledgement. Scrutinize for any error.

Well that was my trip to the PSK...kind of refreshing experience in a Govt. Office. Well organized and considering the work volume they handle...exceptionally quick.

Hope you too have a good one. Passport appointment booking Online

Schedule Passport appointment lucky charm.

Booking passport appointment is a dream for the individuals now a days. The server of passport seva portal is not as quick as previously. Even the Visakhapatnam (vizag) psk which is famous for it's fast response server, is also getting slow now a days. This is due to captcha image is generating late. The problem with Visakhapatnam (vizag) psk is that all appointment get booked within 7-10 sec. This means it is already the most complicated server and when captcha image displays late it is impossible to book the slot by individual. However on 14th April many individual got surprised from the passport authority due to schedule maintenance the scheduled appointment slots of 12th April got released on 14th April. Many individuals including agents were unaware of the above mention fact hence they did not open their account for booking passport appointment which resulted in opening of slot for more time and many individual's were able to manae the appointment luckily.
                             Other than that many Psk also got advantage such as Surat, Pune, Thane, Nasik, Bhopal, Dehradun, Panaji, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Patna, Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziyabad, Jaipur, Nagpur, Tirupathi etc. They got double or triple appointment simultaneously which was quite a surprise. As for reference kanpur psk took no appointment on 12th & 13th April for its schedule maintenance for online portal. However on 14th April it gave appointment to individuals of thrice its capacity ie it's normal capacity of giving appointment is 500 however it gave appointment to 1500 people as it was closed on 12th & 13th April.

Passport Office Lucknow Experience in Short

Passport Office has now started Passport Seva Kendra which gives you a changed experience in applying for a fresh or reissue passport. It is opening in different cities of India. I live in Lucknow. I went to Passport Seva Kendra Lucknow to update my passport.

First of all I need to manage an appointment from passport website http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/welcomeLink. Create a login there and then download passport application form. After filling the application you can upload it or you can online fill application. Once application is filled offline or online, you can get a Application Reference Number (ARN). Then you need to take an appointment which is a very difficult task in itself. When scheduling of appointment is open (it remains closed sometimes), you can try to Manage Appointment for Passport after 4pm everyday. The trick is that only first 700 users able to manage an appointment and time frame is only 0-2 minutes. You have to Scheduling an passport appointment between 4.00 pm and 4.02 pm. First you need to match your computer clock to be accurate. Then start trying after 3.50 pm and hopefully you are one who has able to secure the appointment.

If you have successfully managed the appointment you have a appointment number. Then you will take a print out of receipt and go to passport seva kendra with all relevant documents. They were asking for one year address proof in most cases so don't forget it.

In Passport Seva Kendra, firstly you have to enter into office on your schedule appointment time. Then all your documents were checked and a token number is allotted after waiting in the queue. If you have less documents then you will be sent back from here and you have to book appointment again. You have to pass three types of counters A, B and C before getting the acknowledgement of your application. Fee is submitted and documents were scanned at counter A. Documents checking at all counters. It will take around 2 to 3 hours for the whole process to complete. Passports were delivered after 10-15 days after this process. So, only booking passport appointment is a pain area. Also you can walk in without managing the appointment but it is applied only in some cases and the walk in time is 9 to 11 am.

Online Passport application problem

The online passport application system is introduced to reduce the crowd from the PSK.

Now a days crowd from the PSK is cleared but  the public having more harassed from this because most of the Indian public are not so much computer friendly. Even the computer friendly user’s also not able to get passport appointment online. Indian government also made call center for information about passport application but it is completely useless because when you ask about documents they will give you information about passport application but it is completely useless. Now you will ask Why ?????
I told this useless because when you ask about documents they will give you clear information but when you ask them about some issues regarding documents they always says " Final decision passport authority karegi ". Then why they hell created this just to waste our money. It would be much better if they record the documents info and feed them in server at-least they will able to save the cost of call center setup. The Passport appointment booking for Bhopal, Dehradun, Goa, Hyderabad, Ameerpet, Tirupati, Begumpet, Nizamabad, Toli Chowki, Vijaywada, Jammu, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Srinagar server are the most Toughest server because at 4 PM server gets too slow even the appointment experts also unable to see the time slots so how can an individual will book the appointment online. Many online sites are offering hacking software & hacking tricks which guarantee the appointment booking. The cost of the software is 15000 for single user. May be this type of slow server is the cause of those software & hacking tricks. So it is not possible for any user to break the speed of software , so it is not possible for any user to break the speed of software so its obvious that they have to reach the agents for booking appointment online. The passport appointment Bhopal, Dehradun, Goa, Hyderabad, Ameerpet, Tirupati, Begumpet, Nizamabad, Toli Chowki, Vijaywada, Jammu, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Srinagar is hacked with slow hack & Visakhapatnam, surat, coimbatore, amritsar is fast . The Appointment for Visakhapatnam, surat, coimbatore, amritsar is fast in the sense that all the online appointments got booked within 8-10 secs. So here also getting online slot is not possible for passport applicants.