Indian passport

 

An Indian Passport is given by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to Indian residents with the end goal of worldwide travel. It empowers the conveyor to travel universally and fills in as evidence of Indian citizenship according to the Passports Act (1967). The Passport Seva (Passport Service) unit of the Consular, Passport and Visa (CPV) Division of the Ministry of External Affairs functions as the focal passport organisation, and is answerable for giving Indian passports on request to all qualified Indian residents. Indian passports are given at 93 Passport offices situated across India and at 197 Indian diplomatic missions abroad. 

In 2015, India gave around 12 million passports, a number surpassed simply by China and the United States. Approximately 65 million Indians held substantial passports as of the finish of 2015. 

 

Types of Passport

  • Ordinary Passport (Dark Blue cover) is given to Ordinary residents for conventional travel, for example, for get-away, study and excursions for work (36 or 60 pages). It is a "Type P" passport, where P represents Personal. 
  • Official Passport (White cover) is given to people addressing the Indian government on true business. It is a "Type S" passport, S represents Service. 
  • Diplomatic Passport (Maroon cover) is given to Indian negotiators, Members of Parliament, individuals from the Union Council of Ministers, certain high-positioning government authorities and political couriers. Upon demand, it might likewise be given to high-positioning state-level authorities going on true business. It is a "Type D" passport, with D representing Diplomatic. 

Moreover, chose passport offices in India just as abroad missions were approved to give ordinary India-Bangladesh Passport to Indian nationals occupant in West Bengal and the North-Eastern States, India-Sri Lanka Passport to Indian nationals inhabitant in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and the India-Pakistan Passport to Indian nationals whose familial homes lay on the opposite side of the Radcliffe Line. These two passports individually allowed travel to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka just and were not substantial for movement to other foreign nations. India quit giving the Indo-Bangladesh Passport in 2013. 

 

Tatkaal and SVP 

Tatkaal Passports (for dire needs), and Short Validity Passport (SVP) are additionally accessible and these are by and large thought to be Ordinary Passports once gave. 



Physical appearance 

Contemporary conventional Indian passports have profound somewhat blue cover with brilliant hued printing. The Emblem of India is embellished in the focal point of the title page. The words "भारत गणराज्य" in Devanagari and "Republic of India" are recorded beneath the Emblem though "पासपोर्ट" in Devanagari and "Passport" in English are engraved over the image. The standard passport contains 36 pages, yet successive voyagers can settle on a passport containing 60 pages. Some early passports were transcribed, including some gave somewhere in the range of 1997 and 2000 with 20-year legitimacy dates. These passports have been controlled invalid by the Indian government and holders should supplant them with machine-clear forms useful for a very long time because of ICAO guidelines. 

 

Identity Information Page 

The Bio information page contains the accompanying data: 

  • Type: "P"- Stands for "Personal", "D"- Stands for "Diplomatic", "S"- Stands for "Service"
  • Country code: IND
  • Passport number
  • Surname
  • Given name(s)
  • Sex
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Place of issue
  • Date of issue
  • Date of expiry
  • Photo of passport holder
  • Ghost picture of the passport holder (only passports issued since 2013)
  • Signature of the passport holder
  • The information page ends with the Machine Readable Passport Zone (MRZ).

The Demographics page at the end of the passport book contains the accompanying data:

  • Name of father or legal guardian
  • Name of mother
  • Name of spouse
  • Address
  • Old passport number
  • File number



Passport note 

All passports contain a note in Hindi and English, ostensibly from the President of India, tending to the authorities of all countries and regions: 

इसके द्वारा, भारत गणराज्य के राष्ट्रपति के नाम पर, उन सब से जिनका इस बात से सरोकार हो, यह प्रार्थना एवं अपेक्षा की जाती है कि वे वाहक को बिना रोक-टोक, स्वतंत्रतापूर्वक आने-जाने दें, और उसे हर प्रकार की ऐसी सहायता और सुरक्षा प्रदान करें जिसकी उसे आवश्यकता हो । 

भारत गणराज्य के राष्ट्रपति के आदेश से 

These are to request and require in the Name of the President of the Republic of India all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford him or her, every assistance and protection of which he or she may stand in need.

By order of the President of the Republic of India

The note bearing page is regularly stamped and signed by the issuing authority in the name of the President of the Republic of India.

 

Dialects 

The content of Indian Passport is imprinted in both Hindi and English, two of the authority dialects of India. 

 

Emigration check 

Holders of Emigration Check Required (ECR) type passports need a clearance called an Emigration Check from the Government of India's Protector of Emigrants when going to chosen nations on a work passport. This is to forestall the abuse of Indian laborers (particularly the untalented and less-taught) while traveling to another country, especially to Middle Eastern nations. ECR type passport holders going on a vacationer passport needn't bother with a freedom; this is known as an Emigration Check Suspension. 

Emigration Check Not Required (ECNR) status passports are granted to:

  • Indian nationals born abroad;
  • Indian nationals holding at least a matriculation certificate;
  • All holders of diplomatic or official passports.
  • All gazetted government servants;
  • All income-tax payers (including agricultural income-tax payers) in their individual capacity;
  • All graduate and professional degree holders (such as doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, scientists, lawyers, etc.);
  • Spouses and dependent children of category of certain holders of ECNR passports;
  • Seamen in possession of a CDC;
  • Sea Cadets and Deck Cadets who have:
    • Passed their final examination on a three-year BSc Nautical Sciences Course at T.S. Chanakya, Mumbai; and
    • Gone through three months' pre-sea training at any of the government-approved training institutes such as T.S. Chanakya, T.S. Rehman, T.S. Jawahar, MTI (SCI), or NIPM, Chennai, after production of identity cards issued by the Shipping Master at Mumbai, Kolkata, or Chennai;

 

  • Persons holding a Permanent Immigration Passport, such as passports issued by the UK, USA, or Australia;
  • Persons possessing a two years' diploma from any institute recognized by the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) or the State Council of Vocational Training (SCVT), or persons holding a three years' diploma or equivalent degree from an institution such as a polytechnic recognized by the central or a state government;
  • Nurses possessing qualifications recognised under the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947;
  • All persons above the age of 50 years;
  • All persons who have been staying abroad for more than three years (whether in one continuous period or in aggregate), as well as their spouses;
  • All children up to the age of 18 years.

 

As per a decision by the Ministry of External Affairs, passport issued from 2007 onwards don't have the ECNR stamp attached; all things considered, a clear page 2 of the passport is considered to have been ECNR supported. Accordingly, just ECR stamps are currently fastened to Indian passports. For passports gave before January 2007, no notation in the passport implies ECR. For passport gave in or after January 2007, no notation in the passport implies ECNR. On the off chance that Emigration Check is Required, there will be an underwriting in the passport with respect to ECR. 

 

Features

Since 25 November 2015, Indian passports that are written by hand or with a unique date of expiry stretching out to 20 years have not been valid under ICAO travel regulations. With later Indian passports the individual specifics of the passport holder, that were until now imprinted on the inward cover page, are imprinted on the second page of the report. Another additional security highlight in the more current non-manually written passports is an apparition image of the holder found on the right half of the subsequent page. Aside from frustrating hoodlums from printing counterfeit passports, late changes additionally help forestall smearing of the archive due to inkjet printers. 




Fees

The cost for a standard passport in India: 

  • ₹1500 – Fresh issuance or reissue of passport (36 pages, standard size) with 10-year validity.
  • ₹2000 – Fresh issuance or reissue of passport (60 pages, 'jumbo' size) with 10-year validity.
  • ₹3500 – First time applicant or renewal with expedited ('tatkaal') service (36 pages) with 10-year validity.
  • ₹4000 – First time applicant or renewal with expedited ('tatkaal') service (60 pages) with 10-year validity.
  • ₹1000 – Fresh passport issuance for minors (below 18 years of Age) with 5-year validity or till the minor attains the age of 18, whichever is earlier.
  • ₹3000 – Duplicate passport (36 pages) in lieu of lost, damaged or stolen passport.
  • ₹3500 – Duplicate passport (60 pages) in lieu of lost, damaged or stolen passport.

Indian passport can likewise be given external India, for which expenses changes by country. 

 

Issuance 

Passport Seva Kendra

In September 2007, the Indian Union Council of Ministers endorsed another passport issuance system under the Passport Seva Project. According to the task, front-end exercises of passport issuance, dispatch of passports, web based connecting with police, and Central Printing Unit for unified printing of passports will be set up. The new system is attempting to be 'opportune, straightforward, more open and dependable way' for passport issuance. The candidate needs to apply for new/reissue of passport through the Passport Seva system at one of the 77 Passport offices known as "Passport Seva Kendra’s working all through the country.

 

Biometric passport 

India started the principal period of biometric e-passport for Diplomatic passport holders in India and abroad. The new passports have been planned locally by the Central Passport Organization, the India Security Press and IIT Kanpur. It contains a security chip with every close to home datum and advanced pictures. In the primary stage new passport will have a 64KB chip conveying a photo of the passport holder and in ensuing stages it will have a unique mark. The new passport has effectively been tried with passport readers in the United States and has 4-second reaction time, while the US Passport has 10-second reaction time. It need not be conveyed in a metal coat for security reasons. It will initially should be skimmed through a reader, after which it would produce an entrance code which then, at that point opens the chip for reader access.

In India, the e-passport is under its first period of arrangement and is confined to Diplomatic passport holders. On 25 June 2008 the Indian Passport Authority gave the e-passport to the then President of India Pratibha Patil. As of 2016, the Government has plans to give e-passports to the entirety of its residents. Additionally, the Government has approved Indian Security Press to coast a worldwide three-stage tender for acquirement of ICAO-agreeable electronic contactless decorates alongside its working system, which is needed for the assembling of Biometric Passports. The important acquisition has been started by India Security Press, Nasik by calling for Global tender for the inventory of electronic contactless inlays. The real change to the new age passport is required to initiate on the effective culmination of the offering and obtainment measure.  The Biometric E-Passport work is right now in progress/pipeline and is yet to be accessible for Ordinary Passport holders. 

 

Passport power and visa requirements

Visa prerequisites for Indian residents are administrative entry restrictions by the specialists of different states put on residents of India. 

 

Passport Power Ranking and without Visa travel 

As of June 2020, Henley Passport Index positions Indian passport at 82nd spot with visa-free or visa on appearance admittance to 58 countries and domains to Indian residents.  As of September 2019, The Passport Index positions Indian passport 82th spot on worldwide positioning with 76 mobility positioning (in light of visa-free or visa on appearance admittance to countries or territories). Furthermore, Indian residents may live and work uninhibitedly in Nepal under the particulars of the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship.