I recently got my passport renewed at Bangalore in the Tatkal mode, a complicated process but they would give your passport in 3-4 days.
First of all, fill up the forms and keep any of the following documents handy that can prove that you are staying at your address for the last one year:
1> Landline bill, Airtel is also ok, doesn't have to be BSNL only
2> Property document like possession certificate etc.
3> Bank statement
4> Gas connection
5> Ration card, voter id; may be difficult
Note that house lease agreement is not considered, driving license as I was told is good only for identification, not as address proof.
Marriage certificate and birth certificate for baby as required to be included. While sitting at the passport office, saw many people getting rejected baby passport because the proper birth certificate was not there or because they didn't bring the baby along for verification, a hassle.
Apart from the above, take any other documents that are listed in the website, e.g. educational certificates (a higher degree entitles one to get the ECNR status), company letter etc.
If a person is from out of state, they would get the previous passport details verified via fax from the respective passport authority who issued the passport earlier, takes 2-3 hours.
After any verification for an out of state passport, one has to either get the police verification done of the present address or can postpone the police verification to a later date in case of emergency and get a certificate from a gazetted officer stating that such and such person is staying at a particular address for such and such time and there is no criminal proceedings pending in his name in the letterhead of the issuing authority (government establishment) with applicant's photo duly stamped. For the gazetted officer to endorse you, a notary has to be made in the format given in the passport office website, visit any of the local notary establishment and get that done.
While accepting the passport for renewal, a reference number is given and the passport application is sent to the Police Commissioner's Office. One can try calling up the said office and request for a speedy processing of the same so that the application is forwarded to the concerned Police Station on priority for genuine emergency cases. Once the application is confirmed to have been forwarded to the police station local to the applicant's address, you might need to go to the PS and make a request for verification of your address for faster processing. I had to search through a bundle of applications at the PS and get mine out as I needed my passport urgently. A police officer would visit your house, better bring him and drop back personally so that you can get the process completed while you are present. The officer will make a report and submit to the head of the PS and after any questioning he might deem necessary of the applicant, the verification document is cleared and sent back to the passport office. You might ask for an acknowledgement of the verification so that you can submit to the passport office in person to enable you to go for a Tatkal scheme after paying the extra 1K processing fee.
Once the Tatkal application is accepted by the passport authority, you will get a date in the range of 3-4 days and the passport will be delivered by speed post.
I had to visit the passport office 2 times and the PS about 4 times and then intercepted the speed post guy with proper identification to get the passport.
Hope this is helpful to your cause.
PS - As stated by one of the posts above, an online appointment taken the previous day (there is some cut-off time) is helpful to prevent unnecessary time spent in the queue.
Last edited by aburagohain : 29th March 2010 at 13:16.
|