The new rules for online application require the applicant to provide the name of father or mother or legal guardian. “This would enable single parents to apply for passports for their children and facilitate issue of passports where the name of either the father or the mother is not required to be printed at the request of the applicant,” said the press statement.
The annexures have been brought down to nine from the 15 required under the Passport Rules, 1980. The new annexures would be in the form of “self declaration” on a plain paper. The new rules allow faster processing for married applicants as they can apply without attaching marriage certificate. “We are moving to be on a par with countries with a highly liberalised process,” said Gen. Singh.
“The passport application form does not require the application to provide the name of her/his spouse in case of separated or divorced persons. Such applicants would not be required to provide even the Divorce Decree,” the press release said.
Holy men can now apply for a passport with the name of their spiritual guru, instead of biological parents. However, they would have to provide a document such as voter ID, which records the name of the guru against the column for parent’s name.
