Question about Passport Renewal

[immig2015]

Hello,

 

My current Indian passport was issued in Nov 2006 and has an expiry date of Nov 2016. I learnt early this week that all handwritten Indian passports have expired on Nov 24.

 

1) My passport does not have any machine-readable code in the personal data pages and the information on the personal data pages is handwritten. Is my passport a handwritten passport? 

 

2) The Indian Embassy asks for a , " a self-explanation letter explaining why the passport was not renewed in time” if passport has expired less than six months ago. I will write a letter  stating that I was unaware of the new rules as my passport was valid until Nov 2016. Will this qualify as sufficient reason? 

 

Thank you!

[jairichi]

1. Yes.

2. It is for embassy to decide.

[immig2015]

Hello Jairichi,

 

Thank you for the reply!

 

If the embassy denies my application because I applied after Nov 24, is there any other option available for me to renew my passport?

 

Thank you!

[jairichi]

Hello Jairichi,

Thank you for the reply!

If the embassy denies my application because I applied after Nov 24, is there any other option available for me to renew my passport?

Thank you!

Sorry, I have no clue about that.

[immig2015]

Thank you!

[ashuneel]

Thank you!

1) Your passport is hand written  based on your information. If your photograph and signature is pasted and information is hand written then you can be sure it is not machine readable.

2)You can renew the passport at this time by simply mailing all documents to BLS. It is important to note the difference between valid  and expired passport/ document.

In this case the hand written passports are not valid anymore but it will not expire until Nov 2016. So you  do not have to write any self explanation letter to get renewal.

We should not feel like criminals and be scared of every new rule and regulation as you have committed no crime. In fact Indian govt should apologize to all affected persons for issuing such documents in 2006 and beyond when this agreement was signed in 2005 by all countries and 24 Nov 2015 was set as the phase out date. Unfortunately these babus will never improve and always put our country to shame.

[immig2015]

Thank you, Ashuneel for such a helpful reply!!

[immig2015]

Sorry to bother you again:

 

My passport renewal application reached the Washington DC Embassy at 8:45 am on 12/21/2015. I had included a return FedEx envelope with an attached label with my application. Today, I see a charge for the return label in my credit card from Federal Express. I do not see any updates on the FedEx website when I checked the tracking number of the return label. 

Does this mean that there was an error in my application and it is being returned? 

Thank you!!

[ashuneel]

We renewed passport few weeks ago from New York. Below is item from BLS checklist. Once you fill the application /BLS order form you can

make payment for return shipping.

 

9.Copy of shipping label.This is only for postal application

 

The shipping charge appears as BLS INTERNATIONAL SERVIC 7733581742 NY  $15.53 and passport arrived by UPS.

All they need is the confirmation number that payment has been made. Address details are in the payment form.

You can call them and provide that.

[immig2015]

Thank you, ashuneel!!