Sushma Swaraj makes it easier for you to get a passport; see new rules

Planning to get passport? Ministry of External Affairs on Friday announced new rules that will make it signficantly easier for you to get a passport. 

Till now, according to the extant statutory provisions of the Passport Rules, 1980, all the applicants born on or after January 26, 1989,  in order to get a passport, had to, hitherto, mandatorily submit the Birth Certificate as the proof of Date of Birth (DOB).

But, under the new rules, all applicants of passports can submit any one of the following documents as the proof of DOB while submitting the passport application:

1. Authorised Birth Certificate

2. Transfer/School leaving/Matriculation Certificate issued by the school last attended/recognized educational board containing the DOB of the applicant

3. PAN Card issued by the Income Tax Department 

4. Aadhar Card/E-Aadhar

5. Driving licence issued by the Transport Department

6. Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission

7. Policy Bond issued by the Public Life Insurance Corporations

8. Copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant or the Pay Pension Order (in respect of retired Government Servants), duly attested/certified by the officer/in-charge of the Administration of the concerned Ministry/Department of the applicant.

Moreover, the Ministry also accepted the report of the Committee, comprising  officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The report examined various issues pertaining to passport applications where mother/child has insisted that the name of the father should not be mentioned in the passport and also relating to passport issues to children with single parent and to adopted children.

Thus, as per the new rule, the online passport application form will now require the applicant to provide the name of father or mother or legal guardian, i.e., only one parent and not both. This will enable single parents to apply for passports for their children.

For married applicants, now, they will not be required to provide any marriage certificate to issue a new passport. 

"The Passport application form does not require the applicant to provide the name of her/his spouse in case of separated or divorced persons. Such applicants for passports would not be required to provide even the Divorce Decree", the Ministry said.

For orphan children, if the applicant do not have any DOB proof, they can now submit a declaration given by the Head of the Orphanage/Child Care Home on their official letter head of the organization confirming the DOB of the applicant.

Moreover, if the child is adopted, under the new rules, there is no need to submit registered adoption deed. Instead, the passport applicant can give a declaration on a plain paper confirming the adoption.
 
"Government servants, who are not able to obtain the Identity Certificate/ No-Objection Certificate from their concerned employer and intend to get the passport on urgent basis can now get the passport by submitting a self-declaration that he/she has given prior Intimation letter to his/her employer informing that he/she was applying for an ordinary passport to a Passport Issuing Authority", the Ministry said.

For sadhus/sanyasis, as per the new rule, can apply for a passport with the name of their spiritual Guru mentioned in the passport application.