[praful]

Phew, finally done with this.

I got a 12.30 appointment for today, managed to get in only around 12.40 due to the backlog of the previous groups. The line for getting the token was really long and slow moving, took me almost 30-40 minutes to get through and another 10-15 minutes of waiting to get the receipt.

The progress to counter A and counter B was quite smooth and was wrapped up in under 15 minutes. However, there was one strange hiccup at counter A where my permanent address could not be linked with any of the nearby police stations, I believe it is some sort of a data error where they don't have the right list of police stations for my pincode of my permanent address. The issue was not resolved, and had to select an incorrect police station to proceed. I believe that will not be an issue as there will be no verification at the permanent address.

The progress to counter C took almost 45 minutes as it overlapped with the lunch hour.

Overall took me about 2.5 hours to wrap up everything, should have gone quicker if I would have avoided the overlap with the lunch hour. On the upside, I saw minimal traffic spending only 20 minutes getting to the PSK and back to work.

Waiting for the police verification as that is what the status on the website says.

Things have greatly improved from my previous experience of applying 10 years back, it really helps to see the document advisor prior to arriving so you have the necessary documents already in order.

[centaur]

Got done with my passport renewal appointment today. It was a 9.15 AM appointment with 9.00 AM reporting. Was there by 8.45 and was asked to queue up. Was taken inside at 9.00 AM and was through the A-B-C counters in around 35-40 mins. In fact I spent more time travelling to and fro from the PSK center.

Aadhar card as a sole address proof is sufficient though I had carried around 3-4 more proofs along. Overall was very happy with the way things were done. Yes one thing is that if your appointment is among the first 2-3 batches, you will get out earlier but if not, then there are chances you will take longer. Unfortunately you dont get to chose the time while booking an appointment and are allocated based on what is available (I had an option when I went to get one for my daughter but this time it was not available).

I wish Government streamlined the RTO also in the same way to do away with touts

[unknown]

Originally Posted by hserus

Did your signature change? Did your appearance change? Why do you require a new booklet now at all?

There is plenty of time to apply for a 60 pager say a year or so down the line - or whenever you have say 2.3 pages left.

They won't agree to issue a new booklet if your passport has several pages still available and your signature, name, appearance etc remain unchanged.

Signature is slightly changed, appearance is same.
Just need to renew passport so It will gain validity + to gain pages.
On their site, they not showing any additional documents for change in signature or appearance though.
Any one has experience with change in appearance/signature situation ?
I'm doubt if they will re-issue my passport or not with the option I have selected & in the situation i'm.

[hserus]

Please don't renew now, you can renew when you have a few more trips completed and more pages exhausted. Passport issue takes a very short time these days so there really isn't any significant rush.

[unknown]

Originally Posted by hserus

Please don't renew now, you can renew when you have a few more trips completed and more pages exhausted. Passport issue takes a very short time these days so there really isn't any significant rush.

I already booked & paid online, nothing can be done now.
Please suggest which option will get me through.
There's damaged option, which costs 1500 more fee along with affidavit.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by unknown

I already booked & paid online, nothing can be done now.

i think you can go and say appearance changed and apply. Who can look the same as their passport photo honestly?? Especially yours is 5 years old, so just go with that pretext and tell them a story that last time in some country immigration they were taking a hard look at the photo vs your actual appearance and hence you wanted this updated!!

[scorpian]

Guys would appreciate some inputs for my dilemma.

My mom has been frequently travelling to Singapore as my sister has recently delivered.
She is back in India and her passport is to expire soon,now we need to get her pp renewed as my sister is having a tough time managing work and baby alone.
My mother has just her 12th mark-sheet and aadharcard,voter i.d card, ration card, besides this she has no documents.Would this documents suffice?
Secondly is there any way i can accompany her, the reason is she being old gets confused and panics.Any way i can get a permission or something to assist her?
How do i go along with her just to help her out?
Any suggestions would be most welcome.

[hserus]

Her passport is, by itself, an ID proof. And the paperwork for passport renewal is quite easy and straightforward - just follow the wizard at http://passportindia.gov.in

You can certainly accompany her, singapore visas are easy to get - dont even need income proof etc, just contact a travel agent, buy a plane ticket and give him your passport. That should be good enough for a stay of several weeks.

If you want a longer stay the requirements are going to be different, but that is what travel agent visa desks are for.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by scorpian

........
My mother has just her 12th mark-sheet and aadharcard,voter i.d card, ration card, besides this she has no documents.Would this documents suffice?
Secondly is there any way i can accompany her, the reason is she being old gets confused and panics.Any way i can get a permission or something to assist her?
How do i go along with her just to help her out?
Any suggestions would be most welcome.

For older people who may not have some relevant records in current formats, there are always options to submit notarized affidavits instead. The document adviser on the passport website and the passport helpline are your best friends to figure out what exactly you need, as some stuff is always discretionary for the RPO and varies with location.

As for accompanying your mother, contact the PSK where you take the appointment, and speak to RPO/ARPO (if necessary) and they'll usually accommodate a genuine requirement. The staff is pretty helpful anyway, so your mom shouldn't have much trouble as long as you provide her everything she needs beforehand.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by scorpian

Guys would appreciate some inputs for my dilemma..

After she submits the form, pays the fees and takes an appointment online, your mother can avail the walk-in facility extended to senior citizens, minors and differently-abled persons - she doesn't have to wait till the day & time of the actual appointment.

I think every PSK has a separate time slot for walk-in applicants (in Pune, it's a couple of hours in the morning), so better check with your PSK before you go.

Cheers,
Vikram

[centaur]

Originally Posted by scorpian

My mom has been frequently travelling to Singapore as my sister has recently delivered.
She is back in India and her passport is to expire soon,now we need to get her pp renewed as my sister is having a tough time managing work and baby alone.
My mother has just her 12th mark-sheet and aadharcard,voter i.d card, ration card, besides this she has no documents.Would this documents suffice?
Secondly is there any way i can accompany her, the reason is she being old gets confused and panics.Any way i can get a permission or something to assist her?

Since this is going to be a passport renewal, there are no other documents required apart from the photocopies of the old passport along with the original. Assuming there are no changes to the name, signature, address etc. just carry the Aadhar card along just in case they ask for it, but apart from that there is nothing else required AFAIK.

You can accompany her and they should allow you to do the same. IIRC, in the receipt they issue, there is a mention of any additional person accompanying the main applicant. So make sure that you are with her when the receipt is being issued itself

[praful]

How fast is tatkal now a days?

I applied via the regular application this Tuesday afternoon and the passport is dispatched already

Wow!! what a world of a change since my last application which took 9 months to get processed (took an additional 2-3 months because I refused to pay bribe during police verification)

[lHarpreetl]

Originally Posted by praful

How fast is tatkal now a days?

I applied via the regular application this Tuesday afternoon and the passport is dispatched already

Wow!! what a world of a change since my last application which took 9 months to get processed (took an additional 2-3 months because I refused to pay bribe during police verification)

Yes I agree the service has immensely better than what it was in the past. For tatkal if police verification is not required the passport is dispatched the next day when the application is submitted. If police verification is required on a post passport issuance the passport is dispatched on the 3rd day after the application is submitted. These are ideal conditions. I feel regular service is good enough unless you are in extreme hurry. It seems you are getting Tatkal service at normal rates hehe.

[centaur]

Originally Posted by praful

How fast is tatkal now a days?

I took a tatkal appointment this Tuesday and passport was home on Wednesday noon but collected it from Post Office on Thursday as I was not at home.

Police verification for Tatkal happens later and the passport is disqualified/deactivated if the police verification fails. So right now I have a passport but pending police verification. Got an sms stating that I need to visit the police station if the verification is not done in 3 weeks

Not sure what's the point of a tatkal if the verification will happen only in 3 weeks and not within the same week

[unknown]

I couldn't make it on appointment date due to some injury, like to know if psk can give me another date with same payment or not ? Thanks.