Many Passport Sewa Kendras (or PSK) process thousands of passport applications every year. India’s first Post Office Passport Sewa Kendra (POPSK) in Mysuru was set up in January, 2017. Since then, it has processed around 15,000 out of 17,899 passport applications successfully.  It’s the enormous sets of stats that just a PSK centre took care of.

Now, you can imagine how many passport applications do 77 PSK process!

It’s one of the significant documents that are mandatory to take along during immigration. It depicts the nationality with the date of the foreign visit. None of the foreign government allows any immigrant sans it. This is why the Indian immigration authority mandated these documents before November, 2017.

Documents required annexing the passport application:

1. Date of Birth proof for those who are born after 26^th January 1989.
2. Registrar-issued a birth certificate in the Municipal Corporation (MC) of the respective district. If it’s not available, the passport authority accepts the birth proof issued by the head of the Para-Medical office where his/her birth took place.
3. PAN Card
4. School Certificate with the scripted date of birth issued by the recognized board or equivalent board
5. Aadhar Card/ E-Aadhar
6. Attested proof that states the applicant served in the government service/ Pay Pension Order-attested by the department head/in-charge of the ministry.
7. Driving Licence
8. Election Commission’s Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC)
9. Photocopy of the public life insurance policy bond, if any.

What amendments have been made in the passport policy in 2017? 

It’s related to the documents required for the passport. These are the major changes that are declaimed:

1. Guardian/Parent’s Name

• Old Policy: As per old books of passport rules, it was compulsory to mention the name of both (mother and father) parents.

Sadhus/Sanyasi can state the name of their spiritual gurus in the place of guardian’s/parent’s name. This rule is not altered.

• Update: Now, the government has relaxed the rule of stating both parents’ name. The applicant can mention either of the parent’s names.  

2. Annexures

• Old Policy: Earlier, around 15 annexes were mandatory. The applicants needed to fill, notarize and attest these certificates. Some even used to pay for the certificate attestation to the third party.
• Update: Today, the government has restricted to 9 annexes. The rest of the annexes have been discarded or merged. Therefore, the applicants can enjoy the convenience of submitting limited annexes.

3. Notarization: It’s an anti-fraud detection program. It scrutinizes the validity and authenticity of the documents as well as transactions.

• Old Policy: The requisite documents for the processing of passport applicants needed to be notarized. With the request of doing so, the passport applicants had to queue up outside the notary officer or magistrate or sub-divisional magistrate. Sometimes, this process became lengthy and full of hassles.
• Update: After the changes, the notarization is put to its end. This process is no longer in existence. It means that the applicants would no longer go through the hurly burly situation. The magistrate office will no longer be a crowded hub.

4. Attestation  

• Old Policy: Like notarization, the documents for the passport required to be attested by the District Magistrate (DM)/ Sub-Divisional District Magistrate (SDM). This is not the end point of the certificate attestation services. The applicant had to go for the counter-attestation by the Home Ministry. Once these Apostille services were done, the applicant finally went through police verification. A police officer verified the documents required for the tatkal passport or the simple one.
• Update: The applicants can obtain a plain paper, state and attest. They no longer have to go to the DM or SDM office.

5. Marriage Certificate

• Old Policy: If the candidate is married, he/she had to present a marriage certificate as a proof of matrimony. And if the applicant is unfortunately a divorcee, he/she would have to submit the decree absolute.
• Update: Now, appending such kind of proof is no longer required.