Govt announces new Passport Rules

In order to streamline and ease the process of issue passport, the Ministry of External Affairs has taken a number of steps in the realm of passport policy which is expected to benefit the citizens of India including single mothers, orphaned children applying for a passport.

It has now been decided that all applicants of passports can submit any one of the following documents as the proof of Date of Birth (DOB) while submitting the passport application:

The details of these steps are given below:-

• Aadhar, E-aadhar with DoB will now be accepted as proof for passport
• Birth Certificate issued by the Registrar of Births & Deaths or the Municipal Corporation or any other prescribed authorityTransfer/School leaving/Matriculation Certificate issued by the school last attended/recognized educational board containing the DOB of the applicant
• PAN Card issued by the Income Tax Department with the DOB of applicant
• Driving licence issued by the Transport Department of concerned State Government, having the DOB of applicant, Election Photo Identity Card
• Policy Bond issued by the Public Life Insurance Corporations/Companies having the DOB of the holder of the insurance policy
• 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
• Married applicants would not be required to provide Annexure K or any marriage certificate
• The Passport application form does not require the applicant to provide the name of her/his spouse in case of separated or divorced persons
• 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
• In case of issue of passport to in-country domestically adopted children, submission of the registered adoption deed would no longer be required
• 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
• 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

The Ministry of External Affairs expects that the above changes in the Passport Rules would further ease the process for passport applicants in getting their Passport.

The ministry also announced the launch of Twitter Seva to provide real time service delivery and user interaction.