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Based on what I saw last week, a few parents were there with very young children (infants/toddlers).

I don't know about infants, but my wife will be taking our 5 year old son to the PSK on Thursday. We have to renew his passport.

It is true that for kids below 4 years - a photograph is required to be carried.

Yes, one parent with one child.

Waseem.

This system is really quirky. Got this email on Monday from passport admin.

Not sure if they will dispatch the passport or hold it for verification.

Fantastic. You should receive another email shortly,that your passport has been dispatched thru speed post.

Congratulations !!

Now they send the passport first. Police verification happens later. You'll get SMS for those status alerts too. The system has become much better now. Fingers crossed.

This morning, my wife took our 5 year old son to the PSK.
They reached at 8:15 AM, well before time for the 9:30 AM appointment.

At around 10:55, I got an SMS saying that they were waiting for their turn on the last counter.
They were out of the PSK before 12 PM.
The old passport which is due to expire in November was given back. The acknowledgement slip does not mention about police verification (since address and everything else is the same).

Last year, I got my passport after 3 days. So, I was hoping this time it would be the same.
However the lady there mentioned a time frame of 10-15 days for the passport.

I am hoping that online status will give more information by tomorrow.

BTW: They did not ask for any address proof documents. They just saw the original passports for all three of us. The spouse field is already updated for both of us. So, I was not expecting any issues.

Got the passport yesterday. Now, need to handle police verification. Went to police since I got an SMS from Police HQ to show up with documents. Turned out I need to wait for police to show up first.

This is the process followed here.

1. Police comes to home to get signatures of applicant + neighbors
2. Need to go to police station, get a token and do a mini interview (process seems to be well organized)

It is surprising how much workload this generates for police. They has four stacks of forms (each stack about 1.5 feet). Each form needs to be cleared or (adverse report given) in two weeks.

Four policemen seemed to be doing this job full time. All of them seemed to be officers.

It was the same scene in my case too. I agree with you on the meticulousness. Keep all your proof documents ready, and it will go smoothly. Also, this time there was no "chai paani" request as used to be the case earlier. Maybe, just maybe, our country still has hope...

Today's TOI Bangalore carried this news. RPO said the police are being compensated for the effort. Not aware about other states though.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/42380176.cms

"We have reduced the time taken for delivery once the application is sent for processing. We are insisting that the police department send in police verification reports in 21 days. For each report sent before 21 days, cops are incentivized Rs 150 per report. If sent later, they get Rs 25 only. This will reduce the time taken to get the passport delivered. In some cases, the passport is delivered less than a week if verification report is sent fast," Karthigeyan said.

I was told that they have to process the file in 10 days in cases where police verification is required prior to issuance of passport. Police system seemed to be pretty good. Each police station has to update the status each day on a centralized system.

On this system, HQ monitors this 10 days deadline and it can be checked by applicant as well.

https://mumbaipolice.maharashtra.gov...portstatus.asp

I will know in next 8 - 10 weeks how well it actually works. Since I have already received that passport, they have a much longer duration to process the file.

Couple of questions:

1. My wife's passport is up for renewal. Submitted the application today and got an appointment after a month which will be a week after the passport expires. Is there anything additional needed for renewing an expired passport? The form indicates 'Due to expire/expired within 3 years'
2. For address proof, we have the physical aadhar card as well as her name added in my passport as spouse. Are these 2 documents sufficient?

No additional documents.Aadhar Card and your PP is more than enough for address proof.

Waseem.

I had to renew my passport under Tatkal scheme last month as I was supposed to go abroad for a short trip. I applied for the re-issue with no changes to any of the particulars at the Lalbagh PSK in Bangalore and received the passport within 4 days of the date of appointment. I also received an SMS from the passport authority that the Police Verification would be done on a post issuance basis.

Fast forward, I was all set to leave for my trip abroad and 2 days before I'm supposed to leave, I get a call from the police station to go there for verification along with 2 witnesses and sign an undertaking that I'm residing at this address etc etc. The police station was in my hometown Hassan and I was in Bangalore to celebrate Ganesha festival with relatives. I told this person that I am leaving on a trip abroad and will be back within a week and that I will be present for verification the next day after arrival. Then this guy starts telling me that I cannot leave the country without their verification and the funny thing was that he was even surprised that I had received the passport before his verification:D.

I explained to him that I had obtained the re-issue under Tatkal scheme and since I was supposed to leave the country urgently. Still he was not sure and was adamant that I be present in the station the next day (day of the festival) inspite of me telling him that I was leaving the country the next day. Then he told me that he had to clear my file within 2 days and since it was already late, he could not wait a week for me to come back from my trip. Since I had a day gap before I left for my trip, I went to Hassan on the day of festival (ruined my day:Frustrati) and did the verification.

For the verification, I was made to bring 2 witnesses and all 3 of us were made to sign undertakings. Then I was asked to go home and wait for a Cheetah patrol bike to come there and then take a picture of me along with the witnesses and a constable in front of the house (on my mobile phone). I was asked to take a print and submit it to the station by the next day. Another funny thing was that I had to submit address proof to the station again. I submitted my old and new passport photocopies along with my Driver's License copy. Even then the police man was adamant that I had to submit my voters ID card as address proof. I said that my old passport was proof of address and was verified by a policeman when it was issued. Then I simply told him that I did not have my voters ID card with me at that time and that I would submit it after I came back from my trip.

Was anyone else made to do similar type of verification? I am not sure if the same process is uniform even across Karnataka.

From my experience above, I have a few doubts.
1. What is the exact procedure for police verification?
2. Is the verification procedure same irrespective of re-issue or New issue of passport?
3. Does the procedure differ for different states?
4. What happens if someone is unable to go to the police station for verification because he is unavailable? Like in my case, I had one day gap before my trip, so I could make it to the station (Bangalore to Hassan is 3 hrs drive). What if the applicant is out of the country on a long term?
5. Does the verification have a time limit? If so, how do we know that my file has reached the respective police station? In my case, I only got to know that when I got the call.

It would help if someone could throw light on this

Call me a pessimist, but i would rather keep additional address proof as well, just to be safe. Does she have any accounts with a nationalized bank? If yes, i would hold on to those as well for additional proof.

A post paid mobile connection/landline bill would also further aid your case.

P.S. : The above recommendations are based purely on my experiences with these departments.