Walk-in facility introduced in passport offices for specified categories

The ministry of external affairs has issued an advisory to all regional passport offices in the country to introduce walk-in facility to ease availability of online appointment and facilitate easy submission of forms for passport applications to specified categories of applicants.

The advisory issued in June 2012 facilitates walk-in facility under following categories of applicants:

• `Tatkaal' services (fresh and re-issue cases);
  
• Issue of police clearance certificate (PCC);
  
• Deletion of ECR status in passports without any change in personal particulars;
  
• Inclusion of name of the spouse in passport;
  
• Holders of valid passports seeking new booklets in case of exhaustion of visa pages;
  
• Senior citizens (above 60 years);
  
• Minor below 15 years whose parents hold valid passports;
  
• Physically challenged persons; and
  
• Central / state government servants, their spouses and dependent minor children who have 'No Objection Certificate' / Identity Certificate.

The ministry has recently introduced walk-in facility to ease online appointments and smoothen submission of applications at the six Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) under Regional Passport Office, Hyderabad for passport seekers in the above categories with effect from 1 August 2012, minister of state for external affairs Preneet Kaur said this in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

She said prior to issuing a passport, the passport issuing authority must establish the applicant's citizenship, identity and an absence of criminal record as mandated by the Passports Act.  This requires verification of personal particulars of applicants and background check of their criminal antecedents, which are time consuming.

The delay in issuance of passport could normally be due to increase in demand for passport, delays in receipt of police verification reports within the stipulated time of 21 days, incomplete police reports and shortage of staff in the central passport organization compared to the increased demand for services.

The government has fixed a time limit of 30 days for issue of fresh passports and 15 days for re-issue of passports and 1-7 days for Tatkaal applications. 

The government is considering several citizen-friendly proposals, including revision of time-limit for issue of passports to improve the delivery-process of passport issuance, she added.

In spite of various constraints, in 2011, the Ministry issued 73,65,000 passports and related services which is a record ever achieved in any year.