Passport won't serve as valid address proof anymore, new format soon

Under the new format, the last page of the passport will be left blank.

New Delhi: Passports will soon stop serving as valid proof of address and the Government of India is expected to introduce a new format soon. 

This is so because the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday decided to discontinue the last page of the passport, containing information about parents, address, Emigration Check Required (ECR) and old passport details.

A spokesperson for the MEA today informed that the last page of the passport will not be printed anymore, according to ANI.

"A three-member Committee comprising of the officials of the MEA and the Ministry of Women and Child Development was constituted to examine various issues pertaining to passport applications where mother/child had insisted that the name of the father should not be mentioned in the passport and also relate to passport issues to children with single parent and adopted children," the MEA spokesperson said.

"The Report of the Committee had been accepted by the Ministry. One of the recommendations of the Committee was that the MEA should explore the possibility of doing away with the printing of information contained in the last page of the passport," the spokesperson added, as per ANI.

The Ministry decided that the last page of the passport and other travel documents issued under the Passports Act, 1967 and Passport Rules, 1980 would no longer be printed.

The decision was taken after the Ministry examined the recommendation of the Committee in consultation with the various stakeholders, and the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regarding Machine Readable Travel Documents.

The last page contains information such the name of the Father, Mother, Spouse, Address, ECR and old passport number with date and place of issue of the holder of the passport.

Passports currently are issued in three colours. 

Government officers have a white passport, diplomats have issued red passports and all others are blue.

The new passports will be designed by the Indian Security Press (ISP), Nasik, he said.

However, till the new passport booklets are designed, manufactured and made available to the Ministry by ISP, the passports, and other travel documents would continue to be printed with the last page.

"The existing passports would continue to remain valid till the date of expiry printed in the passport booklet," the spokesperson said. 

(With ANI inputs)