Getting your passport renewed in 2 days and that too normal and not tatkal. Yes! this happened with me when I applied for the renewal of my passport in February 2020.
Appointment at passport office : 26th Feb 2020 morning
Police verification : 26th Feb 2020 evening
Passport dispatched : 27th Feb 2020
Passport received : 28th Feb 2020
Passport is considered to be the highest verification of any person in any country. Getting a passport or renewing it, is a task in itself. Applying, appointment, verification, and delivery, every step of getting the passport has its own importance and excitement.
Off late it was a conception that applying for the passport or its renewal takes a lot of time, but no more. Yes! Thanks to the latest technology that everything is now on our fingertips.
Let’s learn to simplify our life for applying\renewal of Indian passport.
https://portal2.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/welcomeLink
It’s the official government website for those who want to apply. This website gives you very precise and detailed information about how and what to be done.
Either you are applying for new or renewal of your passport, you are major/minor or senior citizen, you want to apply for tatkal or normal, this website gives you all the information you require. So you are requested to go strictly by the details mentioned here. Details of the documents required are provided on the criteria you want to apply for.
Many of us who are not tech-savvy either opt for some knows help or agents. It’s ok but at max these people can help you with taking the appointment and checking with the documents, once inside you are on your own.
Procedure followed at the passport center for the new/renewal/amendment of passport.
Phase 1: Entering inside
As per the appointment time given to you, you are advised to reach 15 mins prior. At the gate one person will check you as per your time slot and will send you in.
Phase 2: checking the form along with basic documents.
Once you enter there will be 2 separate counters, one for tatkal and other for normal. As your turn will come the person will check your online submitted form and the corresponding documents along with originals. If everything is found in order then you will be given a token number and you will be directed to the waiting area.
Phase 3: Taking your biometrics
As you will be waiting, lots of token numbers will be displayed on the screens there and as when your token number will be displayed you have to go to your assigned desk, these are A counters, where your photographs, fingerprints, and scanned copies of original documents will be taken. After that you will be told to sit back in the same area for next level verification.
Phase 4: Crosschecking of your original documents
As you wait for B level verification wherein your originals documents are verified and cross-checked. In case of any forgery or inappropriate documents either they tell you to come with alternate proof or give you another date to come prepared with everything.
Phase 5: Final verification
Last is the verification by the highest officials of the passport office. If they find every document in order they will approve for the issuance or else, you have to try again.
Phase 6: Police verification
You will receive a call from your local police station wherein you have to show the verification documents and proof of residence.
Phase 7: Delivery of your passport
Done by the postmaster of your area.
My experience at the passport office
My experience at the passport office was ok. It was very crowded. My appointment time was 11.30 AM. It took me almost 4.5 hrs in the process but generally it takes 2 to 3 hrs as there was some technical glitch that day. I was a bit upset so I even complained, then only I came to know about the technical problem.
Surprises follow to make you happy
By the time everything finished it was 4 PM and by 5 PM I reached home. At around 5.45 I got a call from the police station that since I have applied for the renewal of my passport so I need to visit that police station for verification. Without wasting time, I went there they took my form from their records, asked for an id proof, took sign on that form and said my verification is done.
It was a surprise because I was expecting that an officer will come to my residence and will take the signatures of the neighbor’s as well. So quick and easy was it.
Since I opted for the SMS of my passport status I was shocked when the very next day I received an SMS saying “Your passport no … and has been dispatched” and I receive it the very next day. So much time in the passport center and so quick work thereafter surprised me and everyone I told about.
It’s time to change your viewpoint
Yes, my viewpoint changed about the new and quick systems being followed by our government, staff, and all persons involved in these kinds of processes. And it’s also true that I last visited the passport office 10 yrs back so I must admit that a lot has changed and improved over these years. Keep it up.
Few important points need not be missed
- One of my personal viewpoints is never to mess with officers at the passport office, not because they have power but they have a precise eye to check even the minute of the things. I have personally seen how people try to modify and manipulate papers to get the approval but they are so well trained to catch these kinds of frauds.
- Don’t think the officers are fools. They are not there to trouble us as they are also responsible for our country’s highest verification.
- Always make sure you have original and genuine documents. Cheating doesn’t help.
- Always cross-check the list of valid documents depending on the criteria you are applying.
Apply anywhere in India for Passport Services
It’s a new scheme launched in 2018 in which an applicant can apply for a passport from anywhere in India.
For example, a resident of Delhi, who is temporarily residing in Bangalore, will now be able to apply at a PSK/POPSK under RPO, Bangalore, and does not have to travel all the way back to Delhi to submit an application for a passport at a PSK/POPSK under RPO, Delhi. The police verification, if necessary, would be conducted in Delhi. RPO, Bangalore, would print and dispatch the passport at the address specified in the passport application form. In case of renewal police verification will be done at Bangalore.
In this case your present address will appear in the passport and not your permanent address. Like when I applied for my passport renewal, the renewed passport has the Bangalore address and not Delhi.
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