Police verification procedure for passport issuance liberalised

The government on Monday announced the liberalisation of police verification procedure for passports and also launched a mobile app to cut delays in submission of these reports.

"In order to further improve and liberalise police verification procedure for passport issuance, the government has decided that henceforth normal passport applications of all first time applicants furnishing Aadhaar, electoral photo identity card (EPIC), permanent account number (PAN) card and an affidavit in the format of Annexure-I will be processed on post-police verification basis, enabling faster issue of passport, without payment of any additional fees, subject to successful online validation of Aadhaar number," the external affairs ministry said in a statement.

"In addition, EPIC and PAN card may also be validated, if required, from the respective databases," it stated.

The ministry also launched a new mobile app, mPassport Police App, for speedy submission of police verification report(PVR).

"The app would facilitate the field level verification officers to directly capture the PV report into the system digitally," the ministry statement said.

"With the launch of this app, the need to download and print the physical Personal Particulars Form and questionnaire would no longer be required resulting in paperless end-to-end digital flow of the PV process, further reducing the time required for completion of PVR, within the desired time limit of 21 days," it added.