Renewing Indian passport online

My passport was due for renewal and I just renewed it. Even though the process seems relatively simple on paper, there were quite a few things I learned on the way which would definitely help someone who has to go through the process again. I thought of documenting and sharing them so that it is useful for people who are in the similar situation.

Disclaimers

Couple of disclaimers before we start.

  • As with government offices in India and state of an atom, your experiences may vary 😉
  • I am documenting the steps that worked for me as of Jan 2013. It is possible that rules might have changed.
  • I renewed it in Bangalore. It might be different if you are doing it in another city/state.
  • Most of it apply for new passport also, but there might be some changes.

Additional changes needed in my passport

In addition to renewing the passport, I wanted to do these additional changes as well.

  • Change my address from Chennai to Bangalore
  • Change my marital status from single to married. Yes I got married about a year back 😉
  • Include my wife’s name in the spouse column
  • Remove ECR check. I got my old password while I was in college and it was enabled.

One thing I came to know is that, if you are married then it is mandatory to include your spouse name in the passport by providing the necessary documents. Sorry guys, if you are married you can’t skip it 😉

Tatkal and Ordinary

There are two methods to renew passport. Tatkal and ordinary. According to the official statement, if you choose tatkal, then you can expect to get your passport within 10 days and for ordinary it will take about 3-4 weeks.

My passport was due for renewal in Jan 2013. I submitted the online application on Dec 3, 2012 through ordinary method and received my passport on Feb 7, 2013. There were two major reasons for the delay.

  • Getting the appointment
  • Delay because of police verification

If you take both into consideration, it is fair to say that you will get your passport in 3-4 weeks even if you choose the ordinary method.

Documents needed

For passport renewal, you need the following documents.

  • Old passport
  • Address proof (need two separate proofs)
  • Marriage certificate or affidavit(to add your spouse name)
  • Degree certificate (for removing ECR check)

For address proof I took the tax document (katha extract) of my house, EB bills, Gas bills, letter from my HR dept and my company id card. Even though the website says only two is needed, they asked for all the above from me.

For adding spouse name, you need the marriage certificate or an affidavit. If you have a marriage certificate it is better to carry that instead of an affidavit. For me they objected since my affidavit was issued in Chennai and was registered using Tamil Nadu stamp paper. I told them that I got married in Chennai and they accepted it on the condition that they will keep the original.

To remove ECR check, I had both my BE and MS certificates and they were fine with that.

It is also safe to carry your 10th and 12th mark sheet and also some additional certificates with have your date of birth. This is not specified anywhere in the website, but they asked me for this. The reason they gave me for this was that, if you are renewing your passport in a new city, then they can’t retrieve your old documents and you have to submit them again. I was not able to argue beyond that but luckily I was carrying them that day.

Process

Okay so let me explain the process now. This is more or less the same for new passport also.

  • Submit your application online
  • Get an appointment for the visit to passport office
  • Visit the office and submit the documents
  • Complete police verification
  • Receive your passport

Submit your application online

You have to create a new account at http://www.passportindia.gov.in, download the application form, fill it and submit it back. The site is maintained by TCS, but don’t have any expectations. It is more or less at the same league of Irctc. Links open randomly in tabs, captchas every where, random session lock-in – you get the idea right?

One very important thing to do, if you don’t want any random calls from tele-marketers is to make sure you un-check the “Share my details with tele-marketers” checkbox, while uploading your filled in form. Yes, you read it correctly! Honestly I was shocked when I first saw it. I don’t know why they want to do this in a site where you upload sensitive information about you. I don’t know how much MEA (Minister of External Affairs) or TCS (who is maintaining this site) is going to earn by doing this. Anyways that is the state of things and make sure you uncheck the checkbox and hope they respect it.

Getting an appointment

Update: From May 28, 2013, Bangalore passport office has started to open the slots for 21 days.

If you thing uploading the document was tough, then you have not seen the real thing 🙂

Personally for me this was the most irritating, difficult and time consuming part of the entire process.

They give appointment only for the next two days. The booking starts at 6PM for Bangalore (varies for different cities) and gets over in less than 100 seconds! (not minutes!) You need to fill in 3-4 captchas during that time and most of the times the site just hangs or times out.

It took me one full month to get the appointment after trying it to get one exactly at 6 PM every day.

The following are some of the things I learned the hard way. Hopefully this should help you to get appointment easily.

  • Don’t try from your office or places where a single public IP is shared. They do filtering based on IP (I don’t know why)
  • Be careful while filling out the captchas.
  • Try exactly at 6:00 PM. Not at 5:59 or 6:01.
  • Close everything in your machine and have only this tab open.
  • Try to do it from a place where you have decent broadband speed. Trying from a slow connection usually fails.
  • Try to choose a time-slot between 12-2PM. Most people don’t choose this time period and the probability of getting this time slot is higher.

Visit the passport office

When you visit the passport office, make sure you are carrying all your documents and be on time. I guess you don’t want to loose the appointment that you got the hard way 😉

At the passport office, they will first check your documents and then will give you a file and token number. When the number is displayed on the display screens, you have to go to counter A, where they will check and scan your documents, collect the fees and take your photo. I saw a couple of people wearing blazers with tie and others using a hand mirror and comb. It’s up to you, if you want to do it 😉

After that you have to go to counter B when your token number is called. They also will check your documents and will ask you to go to counter C. In counter C, they will check your documents again, put a cancel seal in your old passport and will ask you to go to the final guy, who will give you an acknowledgment.

If you are lucky the entire process should be done in around 2 hours. I was very un-lucky the day I went and ended by waiting there for 6 hours 🙁 Hopefully you will be lucky enough 😉

Complete police verification

Let me state the theoretical process first of how things should happen and then the practical process of how things actually happen.

The theoretical process is that your application is received by the police station, then come to your home to verify you stay there and then forward the application.

But in practice, this never happens. You should consider yourself to be lucky if they atleast have a courtesy to call you. For me they didn’t even give me a call. I waited for more than 3 weeks and went to the police station after that. That’s one of the reason why my passport got delayed.

The police station receive the application in a day or two after you visit the passport office. Wait for a week and if you don’t get a call, it is better to visit them. Make sure you carry all your documents and two passport size photos. Be prepared to be treated badly and also expect to wait there if needed. It is a police station and I guess you get the idea.

You receive your passport

Once the police forward your application you can expect to receive your passport by post with-in a week. Make sure you are either at home or have someone at home with your photo id.

Congratulations you have renewed your passport 😉

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90 Comments so far

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  • Anonymous says:

    Quite helpful, and somewhat discouraging. But its gotta be done.

  • Thanks for all the details. Yet to apply for a passport, though. 🙂

  • Saurabh says:

    thakal => tatkal

  • Anonymous says:

    If i am applying for tatkal passport renewal before the expiry of my passport do i need to submit the Annexure F and Annexure I?

    • Sudar says:

      I didn’t apply through tatkal, so I don’t know for sure. Having said that, with the passport office, it is always best to submit more documents rather than not submit them.

  • Anonymous says:

    Can we renew the INDIAN passport at post office or DPC say in Bangalore or Udupi?
    Please help me on this
    Thanks

  • Anonymous says:

    Thank you very much for the info. Complete information on Indian passport renewal. Issuance of new booklet when regular Indian passport has expired or is expiring.

  • Sapan says:

    Thanks for the info. It was quite useful.
    I have one more query :
    Say I am from state X, and shifted to state Y. Now my passport is about to expire. Is that possible to renew passport from state Y ? If yes, how ?

    Can you explain more about ECR ? I am not sure currently ECR is added/removed to my passport.

    Any help will be appreciated.

    Thanks!

    • Sudar says:

      Say I am from state X, and shifted to state Y. Now my passport is about to expire. Is that possible to renew passport from state Y ? If yes, how ?

      Yes you can do it. That’s what I did. If you are in the new state (or address) for more than 2 years then you can use the new address as your permanent address.

      Can you explain more about ECR ? I am not sure currently ECR is added/removed to my passport.

      ECR stands for “Emigrant check required”. Some countries (not US), use this when you travel. It will be mentioned in the second or third page of your passport.

      If you have completed a degree when you initially took your password and produced the necessary certificates then it will “ECR check not required” otherwise it will be “ECR check required”.

  • nandlalkain says:

    thanks for the followup procedure explained to guide new applicants.

  • Sujit says:

    Hi Sudar,
    I was really in need of such good information. Just a few doubts…

    Even im applying for reissue of passport in Bangalore in the normal way (no tatkal). The only thing im changing is the address. It was Salem earlier. My appointment at the PSK is on the 6th of January. Will i recieve my passport by feb 15th atleast? I will be travelling soon after, so is it wise to book my tickets now hoping that there wont be further delay.

    Then, will the person, who delivers the passport give me a call incase im not at home? Im single and i work in the mornings till 6pm and nobody will be at home during that time. But if at all i receive a call i will be able to reach home in 5-10mins. If its not possible what else can be done?can i collect it from the post office?

    Will it be necessary for me to book my flight and show them the ticket so that i get some kind of preference?

    • Sudar says:

      Hi Sujit,

      It is hard to say whether you will absolutely receive your password within 40 days, but I guess you have a very high chance of receiving your passport. The main bottleneck for me was police verification. They didn’t contact me even after about a month of receiving the application. So you may have to start following up with them if you don’t get called with in a week.

      Regarding the delivery, I think you can go to your local post office and tell them about it. They will give you a call instead and you can go and collect it from post office directly after showing some proof.

  • thana sundar sa says:

    I don’t no how to apply a passport, now I need passport so kindly request ,,,,,say me how to apply

  • Sujit says:

    Thank you so much Sudar. Other few things I wanted to know is about the certifcate from the employer. It’s said that computerised print out will not be accepted. So should it be hand written? 🙂 And is it necessary that they mention the starting date of stay in my present address. They don’t usually do that, right?

    • Sudar says:

      I had other address proof so didn’t use the certificate from the employer. I am not sure what are the things that are needed for this.

      Try calling the call center. They seem to provide answers regarding the format of proofs.

  • Gurdeep says:

    Hi Sudar, would like to know if i can renew my old passport, without any address change from other state, as i am temporarily staying in some other state.

  • Please share the tips on appointment booking. Not able to get it from last 1 month.

  • Neha says:

    hey, I don’t have any address proof from the list of documents prescribed. HDFC Bank they somehow do not acknowledge. For this purpose, we got my husband’s passport reissued with our new address and hoping to use that as a relevant address proof for myself. Do you think that will work? My concern is that its reissued recently and wondering if the one-year clause will be applicable on this too? Appreciate your help!

    • Sudar says:

      Sorry Neha,

      I am not sure where it is possible to show your husband’s password as address proof.

      Call up the passport office customer care and they should be able to give you the correct details regarding it.

  • anu says:

    sir i dnt have my degree certificate and all my original 10th and inter certificates are in my collage i have a prb to get them can i show my xerox copies of them to the passport officers ……pls help me sir i need passport at any cost …………….or else any other way to get the solution for this……….

    • Sudar says:

      I don’t think you can use Xeror copies, you would need the original ones.

      You can call the passport office customer care and they can give you all the details about the alternate documents that you can use.

      • anu says:

        thank u sir …… but i have my birth certificate with me can i use this ……..behalf of my 10th marks sheet ……

        • Sudar says:

          I am not sure if you can use birth certificate instead of your 10th mark sheets.

          As I suggested earlier, you may want to contact the customer care to get the correct information regarding this.

  • Anita says:

    Hi,

    I recently moved to Hyderabad from Pune and my Passport is due for renewal. I do not have any of the address proof’s as mentioned in the website.

    Can i apply for renewal of Passport from Pune?

    -Thanks
    Anita

    • Sudar says:

      Hello Anita,

      I am not sure what is the exact policy on this. You may want to call the passport office call center to get the correct details on this.

  • sai m says:

    how much should i pay for change of present address in my passport

    • Sudar says:

      I don’t know the exact details now since I renewed it around 2 years ago. Call up the customer care and they should be able to give you the correct details.

  • Sandeep says:

    Hi Sundar,
    Thanks for an excellent post. Very helpful. My question is what does the passport officer check in the passport. Do they look at Visa stamps also and Departure and Arrival records or just the first 2 and last pages. Also what pages are scanned in counter A? the whole passport or just first 2 and last pages.

    Thanks,
    Sandeep

  • Sudheep says:

    Thank you. Really helpful.

  • fazlin says:

    I am currently working in chennai. I got the passport with my native address at Madurai. I want the new passport also from the same address. Will i have to visit Madurai passport office/police station or can i do all the formalities from chennai itself?

  • Zakir Hussain says:

    Hi,

    Today I got my Sons Passports, but the unfortunately my Surname in of of my Son’s Passport is wrong though we provided all the supporting documents correctly for both the applications.
    Can anyone guide me how to correct my Surname..?
    Do I need to apply freshly as Re-Issue of Passport by stating the reason for Re-Issue. And is the process same as for the fresh n New Passport.
    Also, do I need to provide SWORN IN AFFIDAVIT again (from Saudi Arabia)…?

    • Sudar says:

      Hello Zakir,

      All the information that I have written in this article is based on my personal experience in renewing my passport.

      Since I didn’t had to correct the surname, I am not sure what is the procedure to do it. You can contact the password office customer support and they may be able to help you with these questions.

      • Zakir Hussain says:

        Thanks Sudar for your reply,

        Actually we called the Customer Center today & after a number of trials finally we got them online & explained the problem to them. They asked to bring the original Passport for correction along with all the supporting documents.
        Let’s wait & hope for the best..!

  • vinay says:

    hello sir..my name is vinaytandel i want to renew passport in next 2month bcz resion is expire..but i want correction my modher name in my passort ..i allredy traveing many time .to adhercontry..i have all requre ducomant..but passort office say not possible so pls give me advise thnks

  • Mayank Nigam says:

    Hi Sunder,

    I have a query that is i belongs to Madhya Pradesh and i have made my passport there itself now i am residing in Delhi from past 7 years. I want to renue my passport now. Is it possible can i renew my old passport in Delhi. Kindly revert.

    MAYANK

    • Sudar says:

      If you are staying in a place for more than 2 years then you have to renew the passport in that address. In your case you can renew your passport in your Delhi address.

      PS: My name is Sudar 😉

      • Mayank Nigam says:

        Sudar,

        My passport has the address of my home town i.e. Madhya Pradesh. So, is it possible to get it renewed in my hometown address. Can i apply for renew of my passport from Delhi or i have to go to M.P for this.

        • Sudar says:

          Yes, you can renew your passport in Delhi, with your Delhi address. All you need is Delhi address proof. When you fill your renewal application form you should choose address change as well.

          I did something similar. My old passport was issued in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. I moved to Bangalore, Karnataka 6 years ago. I renewed my passport in Bangalore with my Bangalore address proof.

  • Mayank Nigam says:

    delhi mai baithkar kya mai M.P ka passport renwe karwa sakta huu kya same address par.
    online apply kar sakte hai kya iske liye

  • fahad says:

    hii how I removed second spouse name bec she is from Sri Lanka .after kulaah given wr she lives I dt know .so paas 3 years she not live with me this case wat I do to remove the spouse..quid me thx

    • Sudar says:

      I am not sure how this is handled. You may have to contact the customer care of passport office to get answer to this.

    • praveen says:

      Hi. My name in passport is Parveen and all my proof like aadhar, voter, driving license contains the correct name praveen. Can I chane the name to praveen when I go for renewal. Please let me know if I need any other document?

      • Sudar says:

        I don’t think it is allowed to change the name on the passport. Also I think it is illegal to have two passwords for the same person.

        Anyways contact the customer care and they may be able to give you the official answers.

  • b says:

    very good sudar

  • sanjay says:

    you are lucky.in my son case counter B cancel my sons passport and make a objection regarding 10 th mark sheet.at counter c the person denying to accept the 12th mark sheet for ecnr stamp.and gave the next date for passport.

    The passport employees are so illiterate that they do not want to read the rule they only insist on 10 mark sheet instead of 12 ,means they think 10 pass is more qualified than 12th.

  • Subham says:

    My previous passport had wrong DOB. It has expired two years ago, now I got to have a passport to appear in standardized tests, and I need it within A month. So should I renew it , asking to change the DOB, provided that am having every doc as proof of my DOB. or should I apply newly. FAST RESPONSE NEEDED. If I don’t get it within this month, then my “American Dream” will get screwd. SOS

  • Subham says:

    My previous passport had wrong DOB. It has expired two years ago, now I got to have a passport to appear in standardized tests, and I need it within A month. So should I renew it , asking to change the DOB, provided that am having every doc as proof of my DOB. or should I apply newly. FAST RESPONSE NEEDED. If I don’t get it within this month, then my “American Dream” will get screwd. Save my dream please!

    • Sudar says:

      If you have ever had a password, then you can’t ask for a new one. You should either renew it or ask for a re-issue. Having more than one passport (even if one of them is expired) is illegal.

      I am not sure if DOB can be changed. You may have to call up the Passport Seva customer care to find out about it.

  • Subham says:

    Can I change my DOB while renewing it. Given that it has expired two years ago and I need a damn urgently!

  • sanjay says:

    I applied for my passport though my tenth documents and mentioned as unemployed but i am a student presently studying in karnataka. Due to emegency of passport i mentioned tenth and above category since it will take only one verification rather than verifying in karnataka. Will I get any problem in future at the time of removing ECR stamp.

    • Sudar says:

      Hello Sanjay,

      I have not encountered this scenario before so I am not sure how the law applies for this.

      You may have to contact the customer care to find out how what needs to be done for this.

  • Khyati Seth says:

    Hi, Thanks for the details 🙂
    So, Im from Bombay and my permanent address is also my home address which is from the same city on my old passport, I dont wish to change this. But now I’m working in Bangalore & was wondering if it is possible for me to get my passport renewed over here itself.
    I shall submit all the documents here & if they could go to my house in Bombay for police verification.

    • Sudar says:

      As far as I know, I don’t think this can be done.

      But check with the passport office customer care to see if this is possible.

  • Ravi says:

    Hi Sudar,

    My passport expired on July 2012. Its more than 3 years after expiry.
    So i will have to go for re-issue. My residence is Mumbai & got the passport from there. Now since one month am in Kerala, staying with bachelors on a sharing accomodation with no address proof of Kerala. I still have a house in Mumbai with all my documents from Mumbai.
    Can i apply online & without visiting Mumbai get a re-issue? Can i do it from Kerala Passport Seva Kendra? I have all the documents but its from Mumbai.

    • Sudar says:

      If my understanding is correct then I think you have to visit Mumbai to get your passport there. I don’t think you will be able to apply for your passport without visiting there.

      But anyways do confirm it with the passport helpdesk customer care.

  • ram says:

    Hello,

    Can you please let me know weather i can use my voter id card as a address proof?
    my passport is about to due for renew which i got it from Hyderabad address. but now i moved to different state where i have a prpoer voter id card as address proof…is that enough to show as a address proof or do i still need to show some more proofs??

    Thank You

    • Sudar says:

      You may have to check with the passport seva customer care or check their website to find out if you can use only voter id as address proof.

  • Sujith says:

    Thanks a lot for sharing this in detail. This is immensely helpful.

    I am in the process of renewing my passport at Chennai, which was originally taken at Kochi. Let me see how it goes 🙂

  • zaffar says:

    Hello ,

    My passport was issued in kolkata. now the pages are over. I have filled a challan. I am based in bangalore now and have no time to go to kolkata. Can i get my renewel here in banagalore ?

    Thanks a lot.

  • Arjun says:

    Hi,

    My passpost is about to expire in a month. I moved to Bangalore 6months ago. My passport was issued in pune with address that no one stays now at. I have all the documents: address proof etc for current address. Can I get it renewed in Bangalore.

    I need to visit onsite in Jan. Should I go for tatkal – you know just in case I run out of luck – timewise?

    Thanks

    • Sudar says:

      Hello Arjun,

      I don’t have answer to your first question. I guess you may have to talk to the customer care support of passport seva to get an answer to it.

      Regarding your second question, I definitely feel that you should go for tatkal.

  • SHAN says:

    Sudar – I have applied and got new passport along with my old passport with cancelled seal on front page. Can I travel with both passports as old passport have my valid VISA. The CANCELLED seal in front page of old passport anything to do with the VISA?

    • Sudar says:

      Having a valid visa on a cancelled password is perfectly fine as long as your visa is valid and has not expired. While travelling you have to carry both the passports.

      I have the same scenario and I have been doing the same whenever I travel to US.

  • Thanks for this informative post!

  • MUTHAMIZHAN says:

    Dear Sir,

    Sub : About Passport Renewal Details Requesting – reg.

    My uncle passport was issued from trichy office. It will be expired on date 04/05/2016.

    When & how, he can apply for renewal of the same..?

    He don’t have birth certificate and any degree certificate (Uneducated).

    please send me the procedure to renew the passport.

    Kind Regards,
    R.Muthamizhan

    Mail Id: muthamizhan1992@gmail.com

    • Sudar says:

      The information that I shared above is based on my experience. Since I already had the certificates I don’t know what is the process when people don’t have the certificates.

      You may have to contact the passport office customer care to figure it out.

  • Thank you so much for the informative post.

  • manas mittal says:

    Thank you for writing this.
    Did you have to bribe the police people? and what documents do they (police) need along with the photo?
    thx again

    • Sudar says:

      They asked me for a photo, original certificates, 2 address proofs. Basically all the original documents that you mentioned in your passport application.

  • namita says:

    Really helpful tips..thanks a lot 🙂

  • N.K.Dorai says:

    Excellent, very nicely compiled. Very useful and clearly states what things you can expect.

  • Feegenie says:

    Great…..Keep it up…

  • Mita says:

    Hello,
    I have applied for reissue passport at Ahmedabad.(I belongs to Ahmedabad)
    now I am living in Delhi.
    so how can they do police verification??

  • Gayathri Venkatadri says:

    Mr Sundar..Very useful post. I have applied for passport reissue- normal- 2 weeks back at the Bangalore PSK. At the time of applying I was ensured that I will receive my reissued passport in 2 to 3 weeks. It has been 2 weeks and I have not received any status update to visit the police station for verification. I will pay the police station a visit tomorrow and also planning a visit to the RPO to know the status. Kindly advise if I must visit the police station despite not getting a notification from rpo. Thanks.

    • Sudar says:

      The same thing happened to me as well. Even though the application form came to Police station with in a couple of days, they didn’t call me. I went directly to the police station after about a week.

      Visit the police station and find out if the application form has reached them.

  • saraswathi says:

    how much cost we would incur for renewal of passport

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