Your passport is a valuable document. It should always be either in your own custody or in the custody of a person duly authorized by you. It must not be altered, mutilated or tampered with in any manner. If lost or damaged, the fact and circumstances should be immediately reported to the nearest Indian Mission and to the local police.

It is an offence under the Passports Act, 1967 to give false information in the application for any service related to Indian passports. Passport facilities can be denied on grounds of suppression of factual information, submission of false particulars, willful damage of passport and for making unauthorized changes in the passport.

Please keep a photocopy of your passport in a safe place. Without this the issue of a duplicate passport in case of loss/damage/theft may be delayed.

Please check all the particulars including the expiry date of your passport on receiving it for the first time. Any error should be immediately brought to the notice of the Mission where it was issued. Please remember to get your passport renewed well before the expiry date.

Note: Indian Citizenship Laws do not provide for Dual Citizenship and, accordingly, it is illegal for a person to possess an Indian passport once he/she has acquired the citizenship of another country. The holder of an Indian passport should, therefore, immediately submit his/her Indian passport to the nearest Indian Mission/Post for cancellation on acquiring citizenship of another country.

All passports are issued with a validity of ten years. You should apply for a new passport in the tenth year of its validity BEFORE the date of expiry or within six months from the date of expiry. If you wait more than six months after your passport has expired to apply for a new passport, the procedure will be much longer and an additional charge will be levied.

Please also note that new passports have to be applied for even if your old passport is still valid but no longer has any blank pages or when any detail on the laminated pages of the passport (such as your name and address) has to be changed. It may take two months or more for a new passport to be issued. Please make sure you apply well in time.

Do not make firm travel bookings till you have your new passport in hand.