Seems your passport is going to expire soon, You landed at the right place to get the Indian Passport Renewal / Re-Issue information.
There is a huge misconception about the passport related work in India, that it’s a long hectic process to get a new passport or to renew Indian Passport or reissuing of an expiring passport.
In fact, the process is really short and simple, It’s just not properly documented or available on a single page.
If your passport has not expired and is going to expire soon, then below information will help you to renew your Indian Passport quickly.
Just the 4 major steps to Renew Indian Passport
- Online application form from passport portal
- Visiting Passport Seva Kendra (PSK)
- Police Verification (May / may not have to do this step)
- Passport delivered to your doorstep
Above are the major four steps based on my experience for reissuing the passport.
Step 1: Online application form from passport portal
Very first, You have to register on Passport India website, If you have already not registered, If you already have an account then login to your existing account.
http://passportindia.gov.in/
Once you login, the very first step is to go to the document advisor section to check if you have all the required documents before you apply for renewal or a fresh passport. Because even for a minor mistake the passport officer rejects your application and may ask you to reschedule your appointment.
Make sure to select correct category and ‘type of application’ while applying for fresh or reissue of passport as selecting the wrong option will lead to rejection of application which you can reschedule online again on another available date but it will delay your renewal.
Filling of the online passport application form is divided into 10 sections and together they may take more than 30 minutes to fill. Once you fill in all the details, then you have to make the online payment (calculate your passport fee here) for the application and you will get an option to pick a date for your appointment. I have filled in the application form on 9th March’18 and got an available appointment on 19th March’18 and got my passport delivered at home by 23rd March’18. Yes, within 4 days after visiting PSK.
Step 2: Visiting Passport Seva Kendra (PSK)
Before you visit PSK, arrange the photocopies of all your documents properly, No need to carry passport size photograph as your picture will be clicked there itself and don’t worry about the photograph it won’t be like your voter id or aadhar card. PSK uses DSLR for the picture so they will be good.
Once you reach the PSK, you need to show the SMS at the entrance to enter the waiting area. Your friends, relatives, parents, children are not allowed to enter the gate unless the applicant is a minor. So make a note of this, there won’t be any excuses here.
Indian Passport
After this, you have to get your bags checked and your receipt verified to enter the Token area. You will be granted a token here after verifying all your document photocopies.
Once you have the token, then your actual process starts and you have to go through Counter A, Counter B, Counter C and Exit Counter in the same sequence for a successful PSK Visit.
After you get your token, Your token will be scanned and you will be asked to sit in another waiting area where a big screen will be displaying counter number and token numbers. You don’t have to wait long here as there are a lot of Counter A and your turn will come quick
Counter A
If all your documents are correct, information filled in online form is correct then Counter A will not take more than 7-10 minutes. Your photo will be clicked here along with it, your fingerprint will be taken and you will be asked to wait until the time your token number is displayed on another screen for Counter B (Detailed Verification Zone)
Counter B
Waiting time for Counter B takes more time as compare to your waiting time for counter A because there is less number of Counter B then Counter A. You document will be verified in detail here and you have to show your original documents at this counter.
If your old passport was issued from some other city and you are applying reissue of the passport from another city make sure you have a local address proof like a bank passbook or rental agreement (Notarised or Registered) or any other id in the current address else your application will be rejected and you will be asked to get one id with the current address in the next appointment.
After your documents are verified which will take less than a couple of minutes, you will be asked to wait again till your number arrives for Counter C (The Granting Zone). This time, it will be the longest wait as the number of Counter C are even less then Counter B
Counter C
Counter C officer will closely look at your old passport, your document, date of birth on documents as well as your old passport, place of issue of your old passport etc and then finally I got a Green Signal. And yes i am done with my PSK visit successfully.
Note that the token number don’t run in a sequential manner because many a time, a single person has to go To-and-Fro between Counter A B & C as per the officer’s demand to get something updated or scanned or in case of additional information needed. Also, note when you come back from counter B to counter A or from counter C to counter A or B you have to check display again and wait for your token number to get assigned to a counter number in that particular section.
Last, before leaving PSK, you have to go to the exit counter with the form and they will provide you a receipt, which you have to take with you.
Within a few hours after leaving Passport Seva Kendra I have received a couple of sms, one stating that I have been granted on a no police verification, and another that my passport printing has been initiated.
SMS after leaving PSK
Step by step at PSK:
- Enter PSK
- Get your bag and document checked
- Get your Token to access waiting area for Counter A
- Counter A for Photograph and SMS fee payment (Rs 45)
- Counter B for document verification
- Counter C to get a passport grant
- Exit Counter
Step 3: Police Verification
Because I was granted No Police Verification basic, I do not have to go through this process. Mostly this will be applicable in case of applying for a new passport. For renewal of passport, this step will not be required as in most of the cases Police verification was already done at the time of issuing your first passport.
But I have seen a few cases where my friends have to do their police verification again in case of reissue of a passport. So it is up to the PSK what applies to you. For my case, I was granted a no police verification.
Step 4: Passport delivered to your doorstep
It has been just four days I visited PSK and early morning on 22nd March’18 I received an SMS on my mobile that my passport has been dispatched by Indian Speed post and provided with a tracking number. I was surprised and shocked equally but it is true.
SMS received after Passport Dispatch
Next afternoon 23rd March’18 Indian Post individual arrived at my home and delivered my new passport after verifying my id.
Passport Reissue successful 🙂
Can’t imagine in less than 15 days my passport has been renewed and delivered to my doorstep. WOW !!
Why have I written this blog post?
When I started to search for passport renewal information a few weeks back, I realized that there is not much of the updated information available on the web, about the renewal of Indian Passport. So I just planned to share information based on my personal experience of Reissue of my passport which was expiring soon.
Note: the passport office will be airconditioned and equipped with water cooler so waiting in the long queue doesn’t seem very hectic if you know how to pass time on your phone. 😛
