Lok Sabha Question No. 1943 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-07
Subject: New Passports
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: ASHWINI KUMAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1943 TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.03.2018

## NEW PASSPORTS

1943. SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether   the   Government   has   decided   to   issue   new   passports containing fewer information; and
- (b) if so, the information likely to be incorporated in new passports?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]

- (a) No, No new Passports are being issued. However, Passport Rules have been simplified. Therefore unnecessary and irrelevant information is not required now.
- (b) The list of Simplification of Passport Rules is Annexed. *****

## SIMPLIFICATION OF PASSPORT RULES

In order to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issue of passport, the Ministry of External Affairs has taken a number of steps in the realm of passport policy to ease the process of issue of passports. The details of these steps are given below:-

- A. Documents in support of proof of Date of Birth

As per the extant statutory provisions of the Passport Rules, 1980, all the applicants born on or after 26/01/1989, in order to get a passport, had to, hitherto, mandatorily submit the Birth Certificate as the proof of Date of Birth (DOB). It has now been decided that all applicants of passports can submit any one of the following documents as the proof of DOB while submitting the passport application:

- (i) 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;
- (ii) Transfer/School leaving/Matriculation Certificate issued by the school last attended/recognized educational board containing the DOB of the applicant;
- (iii) PAN Card issued by the Income Tax Department with the DOB of applicant;
- (iv) Aadhaar Card/E-Aadhaar having the DOB of applicant;
- (v) Copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant (only in respect of Government   servants)   or   the   Pay   Pension   Order   (in   respect   of   retired Government Servants), duly attested/certified by the officer/in-charge of the Administration   of   the   concerned   Ministry/Department   of   the   applicant, having his DOB;
- (vi) Driving   license   issued   by   the   Transport   Department   of   concerned   State Government, having the DOB of applicant;
- (vii)  Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India having the DOB of applicant;
- (viii)  Policy Bond issued by the Public Life Insurance Corporations/Companies having the DOB of the holder of the insurance policy.
- B. Other Changes:

(i) 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   would   enable   single   parents   to   apply   for   passports   for   their

## ANNEXURE

- children and to also issue passports where the name of either the father or the mother is not required to be printed at the request of the applicant.
- (ii) The total number of Annexes prescribed in the Passport Rule, 1980, has been reduced to 9 from the present 15. Annexes A, C, D, E, J, and K have been removed and certain Annexes have been merged.
- (iii) 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.
- (iv) Married applicants would not be required to provide the erstwhile Annexure K or any marriage certificate.
- (v) 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 would not be required to provide even the Divorce Decree.
- (vi) In case of children not born out of wedlock, the applicant for the passport of such children should submit only extant Annexure C while submitting the passport application.
- (vii) In 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.
- (vii) Government servants, who are not able to obtain the Identity Certificate (extant Annexure-A)/ No-Objection Certificate (extant Annexure-G) from their concerned employer and intend to get the passport on urgent basis can now get the passport by submitting a self-declaration in extant Annexure-'H' 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.
- (viii) 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, Aadhaar Card, etc wherein the name of the Guru has been recorded against the column(s) for parent(s) name(s).
- (ix) 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.
- (x) An applicant for a passport has to submit any one of the documents as mentioned in (A) above as proof of Date of Birth (DOB) while submitting the passport application. The DOB mentioned in the document would be recorded in the passport. In case there is a discrepancy between the DOB previously recorded in the passport and the new proof of DOB submitted by the applicant, the Passport Issuing Authorities (PIA) have been authorized to consider   the   explanation   of   each   applicant   seeking   change   in   the   DOB (irrespective of the period that would have lapsed after the issue of the passport) to find the genuineness of the claim and if the PIA is satisfied with the claim and with the document(s) submitted by the applicant in support of the claim, the PIA shall accept all such requests made by the applicant to issue the passport with revised DOB.
- (xi) Passports can be now obtained under the 'Tatkaal' Scheme without providing the Verification Certificate  from a Gazetted Officer, which was required earlier.  The   documents to be submitted for getting a passport under this Scheme have been notified vide G.S.R. 39(E) dated 11 January, 2018.
- (xii) Passports can now also be obtained under the Normal scheme on out-of-turn post-Police  Verification   basis   without   paying   any   additional   fees   on   the submission of certain documents as notified vide G.S.R. 39(E) dated 11 January, 2018.
- *******