The NDA government has stepped up its plan to make passports available easily to citizens. In this regard, apart from setting up of many more regional passport offices, the overall application procedure for new passports as well as renewals have been simplified by the Ministry of External Affairs.

 Proof of Birth Documentation

While so far a birth certificate was compulsory for all applicants born on/after 26th January 1989, now any of the following are applicable:

•  Birth Certificate issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths or the Municipal Corporation or any other prescribed authority.
•  Transfer/school leaving/matriculation certificate issued by the school last attended/recognized educational board.
• PAN card
•  Aadhaar card/E-aadhaar
• Copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant (only in respect of Government servants) 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.
• Driving licence
• Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India
•  Policy bond issued by the public life insurance corporations/companies

Details of Parent/Legal Guardian:

New passport rules have done away with the mandatory requirement of names of both parents at the time of application. Now the name of either one of the parents or the legal guardian will do. Children with single parents will get passports easily. There are provisions for the spiritually oriented sadhus and sanyasis—who can now mention the name of their spiritual leader instead of their biological parents.

 Annexes

The total number of annexes has been bought down from 15 to 9. Some annexes have been removed, some merged.

 Attestation

Earlier all annexures needed attestation by Notary/Executive Magistrate/First Class Judicial Magistrate. Now they will be self-declarations from the applicant on plain paper.

 Married/Divorced Persons

Marriage certificate is no more essential as an annexure. In case of a divorce, the applicant will not be required to provide the name of the spouse.

 Work Related Urgent Passports

For urgent passports, if a government employee is unable to procure the NOC (no objection certificate) or identity certificate from his/her employers, they can submit a self-declaration stating that they have given a prior intimation letter to their employer informing that they are applying for an ordinary passport to a passport issuing authority.

— India Legal Bureau