Tatkaal Passport Re-issue at Bengaluru

My current passport was going to expire on June 2019, and so I decided to renew my passport in tatkaal.  Here I am going to share my experience.

My current passport was made at Thane (Maharashtra) but I moved to Bengaluru post my marriage in 2016 and now stay in a rented apartment, so I edited my marital status and address also in this renewal request.

Online Form Submission (20 Jan)

I created my login at and selected "Apply for Fresh Passport/Re-issue of Passport" option.

        Service Type:Re-issue of Passport

        Reasons

              ✓ Change In Existing Personal Particulars 

              ✓ Validity Expired Within 3 Years/Due To Expire

        Changes in:

              ✓Address

              ✓Spouse Name

        Type of Application: Tatkaal

        Type of Passport Booklet: 36 Pages

I had to fill various details about me, my family, residence (current and permanent), emergency contact and current passport details. At the end a preview of the new passport was shown and I was asked to choose the documents that I could bring as proof of DOB and residence. I selected Aadhar card as proof of my DOB and rent agreement as proof of residence. 

I submitted the form on the 20th of January which was a Sunday. Tatkaal bookings for Bengaluru opens at 4:30 pm every weekday. Though tatkaal appointments were available for 8th February on 21st Jan; I could not book it due to work commitments. Since the system only allows booking for the selected day, I waited till 28 Jan when bookings for 18 Feb opened before booking. I paid ₹1500 online and the additional ₹2000 tatkaal fee would have to be paid in cash at PSK.

Appointment at PSK (18 Feb)

My appointment was at 10:00 am and I arrived at the PSK around 9:45 am. There were 10 people queued up near the entrance. A security personnel at the gate requested me to join the queue on confirming my appointment time. I soon realised that the sequence in the queue does not matter and we would be sent in based on our appointment time and they were currently allowing only people with appointment 9:30 am and before.  

The PSK has an HDFC ATM within its campus and also a xerox machine inside, near the entrance door. 

After 20 minutes wait, the security started walking along the queue asking for appointment of 10, I showed her my sms and she noted the batch and sequence number onto an aadhaar xerox I was carrying and asked me to goto counter 5 (meant for tatkaal). There were about 15 people before me in the queue and soon the incharge announced that tatkaal appointments are facing 2 hours delay. 

Whilst waiting for my turn I learnt a few things:

• People who were late by more than 20 minutes for the appointment were requested to leave. The incharge made an exception for a mother with an infant.
• If there is problem with the previous police verification then we cannot apply for tatkaal but we can proceed using the normal way. (One person was turned away citing the same ) 

Token Counter

My turn at the token counter came at around 11 am. He took the following documents, put them in a folder and said it would take another 2 hours to get the token.

• Current passport original and copy
• Address proof : rent agreement copy
• DOB proof: aadhaar card copy
• Addition of spouse name: Marriage certificate copy
• Annexure E

The room did not have enough seats and there were many people waiting for their token and more people were joining the queue to submit their document. Though, I was not sweating, it was uncomfortable to keep standing for so long in such a crowded room. Luckily, I got chatty with two other women making the wait less agonising. 

  

At 12:30 pm, my name was called and they handed me the folder along with a sheet with my token number and other details. At the entrance of the appointment section, a security scanned my token sheet and asked me to watch the screen for further instructions.

The waiting area had about 30 or so seats which were mostly vacant and also a snacks counter. I was just considering getting something to eat when I saw that I was allocated token A counter.

They had 23 A counters, 6 B counters and 4 C counters. They had put up signs stating do not enquire at the counter, please check the screens. They did make announcement for people who did not go to their the designated counters. 

Counter A: Information upload (10 minutes)

In this counter my documents from the file were scanned and uploaded into the system. I was asked to verify all the details displayed on the screen. My photo was taken and finger prints were also scanned. I paid the tatkaal fee (₹2000) and sms service charge (₹50). I did not opt for the passport cover because I wanted to get a personalised passport cover. 
All my documents along with a print of all the details were handed out to me.

Counter B: Verification (2 minutes)

There were only couple of seats for waiting in counter B area and I was assigned a counter as soon as I reached the waiting area. Here my details of the new passport was verified with every original document. 

Counter C (2 minutes)

They had a small waiting area adjacent to the counters and I had to wait for 10 minutes before I was called but once at the desk, she checked and stamped cancelled on my passport and directed me to the exit.

Exit

A security personnel at the exit was asking each person if our passport request was accepted and was collecting the feedback form which was given to us along with the token. Since I had not filled mine, I had to spend couple of minutes here to fill it and submit before being allowed to finally leave. I did mention that waiting at the token counter was an unpleasant experience other in the feedback. 

Before I left the premises, I got an sms stating that my passport has been given for printing.

Police Verification (20 Feb)

I got an sms from police on 19th Feb asking me to come to the station the next day for verification between 11am - 2pm and 3pm - 7pm with a proof of age and address along with my current passport and two reference letters from neighbours.

Since my current address states Bellandur, I had chosen the Bellandur police station when submitting the online form but they redirected me to the Marathahalli police station as my current location does not come under their jurisdiction. 

The police person was friendly and fast, he asked for the documents one by one and later took a photo on his tablet and told that he will submit report in two days. My rent agreement was not accepted as a valid address proof because it did not have any stamps but my gas bills worked. FYI, a letter from your HR , bank passbook or any other bill with the current address would also have worked as rental residence proof. 

The actual verification took only about 5 minutes but my travel to Bellandur station and then to the Marathahalli police station took about an hour. Had I gone to the right police station in the first attempt, I could have saved about 30 minutes of travel time. If you have doubts about which police station you should select, you can go to the nearby station and confirm with them before you apply.

Document xerox submitted:

 - Rent agreement

 - Gas bills

 - Marriage Certificate

 - Old passport

 - Aadhaar card

Passport Delivery

My passport arrived at 3:30 pm on 20 Feb when I was on my way to the police station for verification. The post-woman handed it over to my mother only after I confirmed it over phone. 

Summary

The online form submission and appointment allocation is simple and easy. At the psk, only the whole waiting experience at the token counter was bad, after that everything moved fast and without a glitch. 

20 January - Form Submitted

08 February - Available Tatkaal Appointment

18 February - Selected Appointment (4 hrs)

20 February - Passport Delivered

                    - Police Verification (5 minutes)
28 February - Received message: Police submitted clear report for current address

~ Beena Emerson (reviewed by Mahendra)