Key takeaways from new rules on Indian Passport

Have you ever been in a Passport Office? It used to be a place of organized chaos. Slowly and steadily things have changed and Government of India have come up with new changes and regulations that have made it smoother to obtain or apply for a passport. The GOI (Government of India) recently introduced new rules in various categories including orphaned children, single mothers, government employees and sadhus, among others. The aim is to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issuing a passport. The Ministry of External Affairs has taken several steps in the realm of passport policy which is expected to benefit the citizens of India applying for a passport. The details of these steps are given below: –

 Here are the key takeaways from new rules on passport application:

1. Proof of date of birth

Before

All applicants born on or after January 26, 1989, were mandated to submit a Birth Certificate as proof of Date of Birth (DOB).

Now

As per new rules, the passport authority has mentioned that eight different documents can now be submitted as proof of Date of Birth. These documents are:

• Birth Certificate (BC) 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.
• Transfer/School leaving/Matriculation Certificate issued by the school last attended/recognized by an educational board and containing the DOB of the applicant.
• PAN Card issued by the Income Tax Department with the DOB of the applicant.
• Aadhar Card/E-Aadhar having the DOB of the applicant.
• The copy of the service record of the applicant of Government servant or the Pay Pension Order of the retired government Servants duly attested or certified by the officer-in-charge of the Administration of the concerned Ministry or Department of the applicant, having his Date of Birth (DOB).
• Driving license issued by the Transport Department of concerned State Government, having the DOB of an applicant.
• Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India having the DOB of an applicant.
• Policy Bond issued by the Public Life Insurance Corporations/Companies having the DOB of the holder of the insurance policy.

2. Name of only one parent or legal guardian is required

A committee, comprising the officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, was earlier formed to examine various issues pertaining to passport applications where mother/child has insisted that the name of the father should not be mentioned on the passport and also issues relating to adopted children and children with a single parent.

The Minister of External Affairs has accepted the report.

Before

The names of both parents were mandatory to be provided at the time of applying for the passport.

Now

• 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. This will let single parents apply for passports for their children without involving the other parent.
• 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 will not be required to provide even the Divorce Decree.

3. Number of annexes reduced

• The total number of Annexes prescribed in the Passport Rule, 1980, has been brought down to 9 from 15. Annexes A, C, D, E, J, and K have been removed and certain Annexes have been merged.
• 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.

4. Married applicants will not be required to provide Annexure K or any marriage certificate.

5. 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 letter-head of the organization confirming the DOB of the applicant.

6. In the case 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.

7. In the case 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.

8. 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.

9. 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)

Read the official press release here

What do you think about the new rules? Share your opinions in the comment section below.

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