New Delhi: Taking one more step ahead towards people centric reform, Ministry of External Affairs has dispensed with address verification in Police Verification Report.

It means, police will no more need to do address verification, the task which was delaying the passport issuance process in many cases.

With this, Police public interface in Police Verification Request(PVR) is done away and there’s no more requirement to visit Police Station.

mPassportSeva app

External Affairs Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj has launched the mPassportSeva Mobile App with additional facilities on the occasion of the Sixth Passport Seva Divas on 26 June, 2018 in the gracious presence of Hon’ble Minister for Communications (I/C) Shri Manoj Sinha and Hon’ble Minister of State for External Affairs General (Retd.) Dr. V.K. Singh.
The mPassport Seva App is available in Android and iOS platforms and will have the facilities to apply, pay and schedule appointments for passport services. With the launch of this mPassport Seva App, citizens would not require access to a computer and printer to apply for passport services.
The mPassport Seva App will now support enhanced set of passport services such as:

i. New User Registration
ii. Sign In to Registered User Account
iii. Application form filing to apply for Passport and Police Clearance Certificate
iv. Pay for Passport Services v. Appointment Scheduling
vi. Application Availability Status vii. Document Advisor
viii. Fee Calculator

Apply Anywhere in India for Passport Services

Minister of External Affairs Smt. Sushma Swaraj has launched a new scheme by which an applicant can apply for passport from anywhere in India on the occasion of the Sixth Passport Seva Divas on 26 June, 2018.

With the launch of this new scheme, applicants can now choose the Regional Passport Office (RPO) and thus the desired Passport Seva Kendra (PSK)/ Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) under the RPO where they wish to submit their application irrespective of whether the present residential address specified in the application form lies within the jurisdiction of the selected RPO or not. The Police Verification, if required for a specific passport, would be conducted at the address specified in the application form. The passport will be printed and despatched by the RPO selected for application submission by the applicant.

For example, a resident of Jaipur, who is temporarily residing in Kolkata, will now be able to apply at a PSK/POPSK under RPO, Kolkata, and does not have to travel all the way back to Jaipur to submit an application for passport at a PSK/POPSK under RPO, Jaipur. The police verification, if necessary, would be conducted at Jaipur. RPO, Kolkata, would print and despatch the passport at the address specified in the passport application form.

This citizen-centric initiative of the Ministry of External Affairs is expected to benefit the applicants who are unable to apply at a PSK/POPSK near their ordinary place of residence.

PSK/POSK initiative

Ministry of External Affairs, in association with Department of Posts, has taken the innovative initiative to open Passport Seva Kendras at the Head Post Offices/ Post Offices in the country to be known as ‘Post Office Passport Seva Kendra’ (POPSK). 289 POPSK have been announced so far – 86 in Phase-I, 165 in Phase-II and 38 in Phase-III. Both External Affairs Minster and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Communications noted with satisfaction that 214 POPSK were functional as on date. External Affairs Minister observed that together with 93 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK), there were 307 PSK functioning in the country including POPSK. She announced that Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Posts would be working together to open a POPSK in every Lok Sabha Constituency where there is no PSK or POPSK to ensure that there is at least one PSK or POPSK available in every Lok Sabha Constituency. This will enable the Ministry of External Affairs to take passport services further closer to the people. External Affairs Minster and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Communications directed officials of both the Ministries to complete the necessary groundwork to make the remaining 75 POPSK functional and for identifying the Post Offices where new POPSK could be opened in future.

DeshGujarat