News about Tatkal Passport

• It is compulsory for ECR passport holders to get insurance

  Come August 1 and it will compulsory for all Emigration Check Required (ECR) category passport holders looking for jobs in 18 countries to get an insurance. This has been notified to all the countries by India.

  This step, taken by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) with the help of the Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojana 2017 scheme will help as many as 70% of the blue-collared employees heading for overseas employment, particularly to the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) nations. As many as 6 lakh Indian employees with ECR passports go abroad to work as skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled laborers in domestic, agricultural, industrial, and sanitation sectors. As per MEA notification, every Indian applying for emigration clearance from concerned Protector of Emigration (PoE) should get an insurance policy for a minimum period of three years. It should also provide coverage worth Rs.10 lakh in case of accidental death and permanent disability leading to loss of employment while working in a foreign land.

  Insurance will be valid whether or not the employee is with the same employer. Even if the location of the employer changes within the policy period, it will not make any difference to the policy.

  

  27th July 2017

• Jalandhar PSK rated among best in country

  The Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in Jalandhar has been rated one of the best in the country for providing good services. This PSK stands second for its excellent services after Cochin.

  The Jalandhar PSK has received a 9.75 rating out of 10 and services districts such as Jalandhar Rural, Gurdaspur, Batala, Pathankot, Moga, Nawanshahr, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. So far, the PSK has issued over 2 lakh passports in a time span of 6 months. The passport office has received the ‘Passport Seva Puraskar’ award from the Ministry of External Affairs..

  The score was received in the ‘A’ category, which is basically the second highest in the country after Cochin, which received a score of 9.85 out of 10. According to officials from the Jalandhar PSK, more than 5 lakh passports will be issued there by the end of this year.

  

  12th July 2017

• Government announces the launch of 13 more Post Office Passport Seva Kendras in North East

  It has been decided by the Department of Posts (DOP) and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that 13 new Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) will be launched in the Northeast area of India. These new POPSKs will be launched in Meghalaya, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh. The places that have been identified for the launch of these new POPSKs are Kokrajhar, Tinsukia, Tura, Hanglang, Dhubri, Bhamara, Tirap, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong, Mongaldoi, and North Lakhimpur.

  It must be noted that the decision to launch these new POPSKs have come after the DOP and the MEA saw the successful operations of the POPSKs in its first round.

  

  29th June 2017

• Frequent Travellers can use Special Passport Mela

  A special passport mela will be held by the Chennai Regional Passport Office in Pondicherry on Saturday so that public demand can be met and so that the submission of applications can be facilitated for frequent travelers owing to extended delays in booking appointments. Pondicherry’s Passport Seva Laghu Kendra will be open just like any other regular working day and applications will be accepted based on the time slots allotted to the applicants. Around 2500 applicants are forecast to make the most of this mela. The Passport Seva Kendras at Aminjikirai, Tambaram and Saligramam in Chennai will also simultaneously hold special melas, and applicants can participate in these melas by simply logging on to the passport portal and register to generate an application registration number after which they can pay the online fees before booking an appointment.

  

  10th April 2017

• Slight Growth in Revenue Recorded by Regional Passport Office in Vizag

  Visakhapatnam’s Regional Passport Office has recorded an increase of 10% in its revenue last year. The RPO received approximately the same number of applications in 2016 as it did in 2015, according to NLP Choudary, the Passport Officer. The total number of applications received in 2016 was 2,35,225, and the number received in 2015 was 2,26,109. The number of applications granted were 2,21,947 and 2,24,144 respectively, while the number of passports issued was 2,15,383 and 2,20,168 respectively. The increase in revenue was Rs.36,88,04,465 in 2016, and Rs.36,51,11,487 in 2015, marking a marginal increase by 10%.

  

  16th January 2017

   

• Normal Applicants can procure "tatkal" Passport with conditions

  The Ministry of External Affairs has announced that Passport applications under ˜Normal' category can now avail it on ˜Tatkal' basis if said application meets certain mandated norms. The compulsory police verification for the same will be done on a later date post the issue “ the onus of ensuring which would be on the applicant. The passport officer still has the final say in the nature of police verification “ be it both pre-or post-issuance.

  Post-verification still requires complete and uniform documentation. Those with validated Aadhar Card details with the Unique Identification Authority of India are at an advantage now, and can expect and expedited process. These new norms are aimed at saving time, effort and expenditure in the whole process. The Passport Act of 1967 is still applicable on those who fail to comply with or complete all requisite formalities, according to which the applicant's passport can be impounded in such an event.

  

• Significant drop in the number of œTatkaal passport applications.

  With the ever-growing love for efficiency and streamlining of processes in the Passport Offices and Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in the country, there has been a substantial drop in the time taken to issue passports.

  The new processes make use of online booking and applications, and even faster Police Verification processes, with some passports being issued on a Post-Police Verification basis.

  As a result, passports are being issued faster than ever, and more accurately with minimal hassles. As a result of this, applicants need not apply through the old œTatkaal process and pay the higher fees that process demands.

  Many police stations now have the online verification facility which greatly reduces the pressure on the local police stations that had to conduct physical passport verifications.

  Around the same time last year, it was recorded that at least 12% of the total passports being applied for were through Tatkaal. This year, however, that percentage has dropped to 8% and further simplification of the processes by the PSKs will result in that percentage going lower in the years to come.