E Passport In India

What is An E-Passport?

The E-Passport is a chip-based passport that contains all the biometric information of the holder, such as name, nationality, date of birth, etc. Checking the e-passport allows digital validation of crucial information, such as name, residence, date of birth, etc. As a result, it strengthens the security and transparency of travel documentation. Over the past two years in India, Electronic passports have improved.

Features of the E-Passport

An E-passport contains a total of 41 features. This makes it more secure and safe to use compared to regular passports. Some of the features of the E-Passport are as follows:

• E-passports are issued by collecting the biometric data of the holder.
• The chip has embossed holographic images in a film that appear to change colour and move under light.
• It contains the demographic information of the holder including fingerprints of all 10 fingers, Iris scans, colour photograph, and digital signature of the bearer.

Benefits of The E-Passport

With the travel and tourism sector picking up again after the temporary setback during Covid, documents like the E-Passport offer great benefits.

• They give you a hassle-free travel experience as they expedite the verification of data at security checkpoints. This will reduce the extremely long queues at the airports.
• E-Passports eliminate the need to verify the credentials physically.
• As it is biometric-based, fraudsters and scammers cannot create duplicate passports or steal your data, etc.
• It is impossible to wipe out data from an E-Passport
• If the chip data is tampered with, the authentication will fail, and this will help in filtering out fake passports.
• E-Passports align with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and will have an electronic chip embedded inside them.
• These chips along with other digital inlays provide advanced security and make the immigration checks swifter.
• E-passport holders can use automated border control systems, such as e-gates, for speedy entry and exit at airports.

How To Apply For An E-Passport?

Step 1: Visit the Passport Seva portal.

Step 2: If you haven't registered yet, select "New User Registration" to begin the registration process. If you are a current user, log in using your username and password.

Step 3: You will be redirected to the page where you can complete the registration process.

Step 4: Now, choose either “Apply for Fresh Passport” or “Re-issuance of Passport”.

Step 5: Fill in the required details, upload your documents, and click “Submit”.

Step 6: Pay the required amount and schedule your appointment at the Passport Seva Kendra.

Step 7: Take a printout of the acknowledgement or use the SMS sent to your mobile phone for authenticating at the Passport Office or Passport Seva Kendra.

What Are The Documents Required For E-Passport in India?

The following documents are required to apply for an E-Passport in India.

• Address Proof:
• Rent agreement
• Water bill
• Telephone bill
• LPG connection document
• Electricity bill
• An active bank account’s passbook
• Aadhaar card
• Provide a duplicate of both the initial and concluding pages of the spouse's passport. The applicant’s present address must match that of the spouse.

Note: Applicants should provide details of all locations where they have lived in the previous year.

• Proof of Age: These are documents which can be used as proof of age or date of birth.
• Aadhaar card
• PAN card
• Voter ID
• Valid Driving Licence
• The life insurance plan of the applicant
• Birth Certificate issued by a suitable authority

Documents Required For Re-issuance of the Passport

If you have applied for a re-issuance of your passport while having a regular passport, you should submit the following documents.

• Copy of the current passport’s first page and last page.
• Copy of the Observation page
• Copy of the Non-ECR or ECR page
• Original passport

How Does Microchip Based E-Passport Work in India?

The E-Passport has a rectangular antenna-type electronic microchip embedded in it. This chip inside the passport can store up to 60 kilobytes of data, and this helps to store all the details pertaining to the passport holder. The antenna is used to transfer the requested data at check gates.

How Does an E-Passport Vary From An Original Passport?

An e-passport in India contains an electronic data chip holding biometric information about the holder. It provides an additional layer of security and prevents fraudsters from pilfering data. A regular passport is a machine-readable passport that has data pages with printed information about the owner. It can be scanned with an optical reader. This is less safe since the data can be copied easily.

What Information is Stored on an E-Passport?

The details about the passport holder are stored in the E-Passport as biometric data. It contains the following information:

• Name of the passport holder
• Date of birth of the passport holder
• Other biometric details of the passport holder
• Demographic details of the passport holder
• Scan of the passport holder’s iris
• Fingerprints of all ten fingers of the passport holder
• Digital signature of the passport holder
• Coloured passport-sized photograph

How To Handle Loss of E-Passport While Going Abroad?

To help you in these situations, you will have to buy travel insurance in advance. This will help you to cover the loss of your passport in time.

What Does The Future of E-Passports Look Like?

E-passports coming with an embedded chip will make the processing simpler, but it will not become entirely paperless. Things like stamping the Visa will still be there.

The E-Passport will also help in promoting international travel and thus increase revenue to the tourism sector in India. It will make overseas travel easy, thus increasing the movement of travellers both into India and out of the country. The idea of a highly secure passport preventing identity and data theft is the most important factor that will make this document reliable and increasingly popular.

FAQs On E-Passport in India: