E-passports for Indian Citizens from 2021

Say Goodbye to old passports as e-passports will make a grand entry for Indian citizens from 2021! Irrespective of whether you have applied for a passport or not, all renewals and new issues will be based on the electronic method. The new e-passport with you will receive will have a microprocessor chip attached to it which will majorly enable a safer and secure immigration process. The Government of India has also assured that the process for manufacturing such e-passports for all Indians has already been kick-started which will do away with malpractices such as forgery and theft.

What is it all about?

For a long time now, a printed passport booklet is what was issued to all citizens alike. The Indian government had initiated a trial run for official and diplomatic e-passports before making this announcement. A huge success was found with over 20,000 official and diplomatic e-passports. Hence, it was decided that this would be made the Standard Operating Procedure. So, if you are planning to renew or apply for your passport in 2021, you will receive an embedded chip-based passport.

The new e-passport which will be issued to all Indian citizens will be stronger with increased durability. As the production of these passports will follow the instructions of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), it will also be damage-resistant to a large extent. The chip which is embedded in the passport will be similar to a SIM card which you would use in a mobile phone. This microchip will be a crucial aspect of the e-passport as it will hold all the information of the travelers. The chip will also contain a logo which will be the recognized insignia for all new e-passports.

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Advantages of the e-passport

Apart from being the vital source of holding the travellers’ data, any unauthorized transfer of information through radio-frequency identification(RFID) will also be avoided. This will result in a higher standard of automation process especially at the immigration checkpoint in airports. A computerized authorization process will be a more hassle-free method to ensure that there is no kind of malpractice. After all, the safety and security of the passengers traveling to different countries is the topmost priority.

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Is there a new procedure to be followed?

There is no new kind of procedure that you will have to follow in order to obtain the e-passport. The issuance process will remain the same as earlier and the citizens will face no kind of hurdles due to the change in the system. The Ministry of External Affairs is collaborating with the Indian Security Press and the National Informatics Centre to ensure that advanced security measures in preparing passports are followed. The Minister for External Affairs, S Jaishankar emphasized that there is a need for higher security protocols for all passports and the necessity of e-passports will be at the forefront of achieving that goal.

All the 36 passport offices which are located across India will start issuing the e-passports under the supervision of the Ministry of External Affairs. The Centre has stated that IT infrastructure is being set up to ensure that 20,000 e-passports per hour are generated. IT systems in the metro cities of Chennai and Delhi will be leading this process as reported by Economic Times. The target which has been taken up is 10,000 e-passports per hour but it can go up to 20,000 or even 1,00,000 in case of increased demand.

During these unprecedented times, this has come across as a welcome move from the side of the Indian government. It throws light on the fact that you can look forward to safe and secure travel in the near future. As we embrace the new way of life, e-passports will become the order of the day.

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