How to Apply for Passport Online?

Before the announcement of new rules, applicants born on or after Jan 26, 1989, were required to furnish the birth certificate as a date of birth proof but as per amendments, new rule says that an individual can provide any of the following listed documents as proof of birth:

• Birth certificate issued by MC (Municipal Corporation) or registrar of births/ deaths.
• Transfer certificate/ school leaving/ matriculation certificate issued by the school last attended.
• Permanent Account Number issued by Income Tax department.
• The Aadhar Card/e-Aadhar issued by Unique Identification Authority of India.
• Driving license issued by the state government's (RTO).
• Voter ID card or Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India.
• Service record extract or Pay Pension Order with DOB (for government employees).
• A Policy Bond issued by the Public Life Insurance firms.

Along with the Women and Child Ministry, MEA has offered a host of changes to the passport rules. Some of the rules are:

• An applicant can provide the name of only one parent or legal guardian that allows single parents to apply for passports for their children.
• The total number of annexes has been brought down to 9 from 15 (prescribed in the Passport Rule, 1980)
• Few of the Annexes have been removed while some of them are merged to ease the process.
• The self-declaration can be provided on a plain paper and no attestations are required.
• The passport application form does not ask for the name of an individual's spouse, if he/she is a divorcee.
• Orphaned children can submit a declaration given by the head of the orphanage or child care home that confirms the date of birth of the applicant.
• An in-country domestically adopted individual can give a declaration on a plain paper confirming the adoption instead of submitting the registered adoption deed.

In order to facilitate payment of tatkal passports, government is deploying POS machines.