Getting a Passport made easier: From mobile app to new scheme, here’s how changes introduced by MEA will benefit citizens
Sushma Swaraj also launched a mobile app – ‘mPassport Seva App’ through which a person can apply, pay and schedule an appointment for the purpose. The app will be available on Android and iOS operating systems.
Applying for a new passport just became a whole lot easier with the Centre launching a scheme under which anyone can apply for a passport from anywhere in the country. Launching the scheme on Tuesday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that under this scheme, a person can apply for a passport from any of the Regional Passport Offices (RPO) and Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) or Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) from any city, irrespective of the place of stay.
According to the MEA, the passport will be printed and dispatched to the applicant’s address mentioned at the time of submitting the form from the same centre where he/she had applied. The MEA said that once an applicant submits the form and all the required documents and fee, the further process of police verification, if needed, will be conducted at the address specified in the application.
Swaraj also launched a mobile app – ‘mPassport Seva App’ through which a person can apply, pay and schedule appointment for the purpose. The app will be available on Android and iOS operating systems.
This new scheme and the mobile application was launched on the occasion of sixth Passport Seva Divas on Tuesday.
As of now, to apply for a passport, one had to travel to the RPO office under the jurisdiction of his/her place of stay. But now onwards, a person who is staying temporarily in Delhi and has his/her permanent address in say, Patna, can apply for a passport at any RPO or the above-mentioned centres in Delhi.
The app ‘mPassport Seva App’, Swaraj said, will further ease the process for applying for the document which is required when you travel abroad.
The minister said that the MEA has brought revolutionary changes in the process for applying for a passport in the last four years. Swaraj said that she scrapped unnecessary requirements needed for applying for a passport. According to her, there were 77 PSKs made available to public in 48 years, but post-2014, her ministry opened 231 such centres. She said that her ministry is working to ensure at least one PSK or POPSK in all 543 Lok Sabha constituencies.