Passport Application process at PSK (Hyderabad)

Information regarding passport application through PSKs: Recently I had applied for a fresh passport for my toddler (normal, not tatkaal) and address change and spouse name inclusion for myself (normal, not tatkaal) through the PSK in Ameerpet. I have had occasion to share this information with a lot of people who contacted me, so I thought of putting all the details I have (which are mostly based on my personal experience in both the above instances) at one place in this forum for easy access by all. Here are the main things: 1. I had gone in both the instances to PSK-Ameerpet because I was well aware of the location. It is located near Maitrivanam (opposite to Blue Fox/Minerva Coffee Shop/Oriental Bank of Commerce building) at Aditya Trade Centre. 2. The following is the list of PSKs in Hyderabad (Source: http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/locatePSK/locatePFCInp) PSK Name City PSK Address PSK Ameerpet Hyderabad Aditya Trade Centre, Ameerpet, Hyderabad-500038 PSK Begumpet Hyderabad Door No: 1-8-368 to 372, Gowra Trinity, Chiran Fort Lane, Begumpet, Hyderabad-500016 PSK Toli Chowki Hyderabad 8-1-305/306, Anand Silicon Chip, Shaikpet Nala, ToliChowki, Hyderabad-500009 3. You need to register first with the site http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/online/welcomeLink 4. After registering yourself you need to login to fill up the application online. No documents need to be uploaded. You need not fill up the entire form at one- you can fill it up in parts as per your convenience, however, please remember to save all the information you fill up. Only once you have completed the form and verified all the details should you submit the form. Once you submit the form, you cannot alter/edit any details. 5. Fees: You can get the fees for your application from the following link http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/fee/feeInput 6. FILLING UP THE FORM: i. It is better to put the details of your neighbours as references as they will be easily available during police-verification. It also gives us a good chance to know our neighbours  ii. You can use last one year’s bank statement as address proof if you do not have any other address proof like voter id, landline bill etc as is the case with most of us. In case of Government banks the bank statement itself is enough but for Private banks (ICICI, HDFC etc) you also need a Covering Letter from the bank. In case, the spouse does not have any address proof for the current residence, you can use a Joint Account Statement for 1 year, duly stamped and signed by competent authority Bank, as an address proof. They do not accept Aadhar as of now. Alternatively, you can apply at the nearest post office and after verification they can issue you an address proof which can be used for all purposes. 7. You can also download the e-form from the links given at https://portal2.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/online/downloadEFormStatic and submit the same after filling in all details. In this case, you do not need the internet connection while filling up the form. You need to have an active internet connection only when uploading the form after filling in all the details. 8. No need to upload the documents at our end. Even if you upload also they will scan and upload again from their end. 9. You can also fill up more than one passport application simultaneously using the same Login Id. 10. Take all photo copies on A4 size paper. 11. It is enough to carry Annexure-H on plain paper attested by both parents. 12. No need of taking any gazatted officer signature on any document, if you are applying as "Normal". Self attested by both/ either parents is enough. 13. GETTING APPOINTMENTS: Once all required information is filled in for an application, you need to book an appointment with PSK. New appointment slots are available on weekdays from 7-30PM onwards. Be online at sharp 7-30 as all slots generally get booked in 5 mins. Lot of people hence access the site at that time leading to various errors and very slow response time. You can compare it to the hassles faced with the IRCTC site when booking the tatkaal tickets at 8:00 am. However, I would like to suggest the following in such cases: i. Login to the site 5-10 minutes before 6 pm and start trying to get the appointment. So that even if some pages load slowly you may get into the appointment page on time. ii. Even if the page loads slowly, keep trying patiently. iii. Try for an alternate PSK if the PSK you are looking for has slots full or is not loading. iv. In case you are still not able to get an appointment slot after multiple attempts, you are advised to visit concerned Regional Passport Office (RPO) in their area. Such applicants should fill-up the application online, generate ‘Application Reference Number’ and visit RPO along with printed ‘ARN Sheet’. RPO will consider such cases and will give staggered appointments keeping in view the load/capacity at the respective PSK under their jurisdiction. Tatkaal and other urgency applications will be given preference in allotting appointments. (Source: https://portal2.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/pdf/Advisory.pdf) v. Applicants having confirmed appointments and who are unable to visit PSK due to some reason, are advised to reschedule/cancel their appointments at-least 15 hours prior to the scheduled date/time, so that these appointments may be released to other applicants in queue. In case of ‘no show’ of the applicant on the scheduled day & time, the data captured for that applicant will be deleted from the system including ARN number and such applicants will be required to fill-up the ‘data’ again for obtaining fresh appointments. vi. In my case, for my passport (spouse name inclusion and address change) I was able to get a slot even when I logged in the afternoon around 1 pm for some 5 days in advance. 14. You can be allowed to enter the PSK a bit in advance of your appointment slot too. For example, you can enter an hour earlier than your appointment too. (Personal experience) 15. When you go with a baby (for her/his passport), you are issued a special token which is supposed to have preference over the normal tokens issued and takes less time. 16. The people at the PSK are very helpful and cooperative and the process is pretty comfortable and convenient (If you have been to the RPO before the PSKs came up, you will know what I mean ) 17. THE PROCESS AT THE PSK: i. You have to carry the appointment slip with you else you will not be granted admittance. The guard will check that slip and let you in. ii. Once you enter you have to stand in one of 4-5 queues (There is a special queue for Tatkaal people). Due to the limited number of slots issued at the PSKs the queues are not very long and move on at good speed. Once your turn comes, the personnel at the counter will take your documents and check them carefully, ask you for any missing documents, suggest alternatives in case of any doubt and arrange them in a file for you with a token slip with the token number printed on it. iii. For women or parents with babies, the officials encourage the person carrying the baby to sit comfortably on the chairs provided at the back of the room while the accompanying member can stand in the queue to fulfil the formalities. You also get to be in the Special token queue in such cases which is shorter and faster. iv. In case you missed taking a Xerox of any document that is needed, you can take it from the Xerox counter at the canteen located there only. Hence you save time and effort. (I have been to the Ameerpet PSK only but I guess all PSKs will have this system) v. You have to show your token number in the file to the guard before he lets you enter any further into the waiting area. vi. Once you are in the waiting area you have lot of chairs in an air-conditioned room (The front room was also AC) and 3-4 LCD screens in front of you displaying the status of the token wrt the counter number. There are around 20 A counters which are the preliminary document verification counters, approx. 5 B counters which are the next step of verification and 3 C counters. The call for the tokens is automated and handled through a computer program that prioritizes the special tokens etc. The call for the A counter comes rather quickly while it’s a bit slow to get through the remaining B and C counters. vii. While you wait for your turn you may get some refreshments from the canteen counter. You also have a water cooler, restrooms and a baby care room there. Much more comfortable than sitting across the road near the RPO in the olden days. viii. They will take your photograph with their webcam so do not bother if you do not have a passport photograph. However in case you are applying for your baby’s photograph it is advisable to carry his/her photograph as the child may not cooperate during the photo session  ix. Once the A, B and C counters are done you get a token with the file number etc. Which you have to keep safely. 18. I applied for passport renewal/ and for a fresh passport and in both cases I got the passports in a week. From the experience of other people I think you should get it in a max of 2 weeks time. For tatkaal, they say you will get it in 2 days. You can track the status of your application from http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/statusTracker/trackStatusInpNew 19. You will be intimated by sms (on your registered mobile number) and by mail when the passport is dispatched along with the speed post docket number. 20. VERIFICATION: i. For my daughter’s passport we did not have any verification. ii. For my passport (address change) I had police verification done. I had got a call around 4 days after submitting my passport (on the Saturday following my submission) from the officer regarding the verification. He told me to keep all the documents in original and with a Xerox copy ready. He came promptly on Sunday morning at around 8 am (as he had told on the day before) and verified the documents. He also got the forms duly signed by 2 of my neighbours as references. I did not have my bank statement ready so he told me to get it within one week and give him a call and he will come and collect. I got the statement the next day and called him and he came within half an hour and collected it. iii. Within a day of this I got the dispatch sms from passport office. I got in delivered to me by the next day evening. iv. Some people ask that what if they get the passport and the verification is not completed by then. Sometimes we have post verification done which happens after the passport is issued. In case it is not cleared then a note is attached to our passport file in the records saying that the police verification has not been completed successfully and we will get a notice later on. This information was given by the Passport Verification Officer when he came for my passport verification. I do not know how true this is. v. In case of any problems with Passport Verification you may contact the ACP IV, P.V. Cell on the mobile number 9490616135. He is very approachable and helpful. (Source: http://hyderabadpolice.gov.in/Contact%20Us/SpecialBranch.htm) I had faced an issue with an officer trying to extract money from me and I googled and found this contact and called him and he checked and called back. I found him very cooperative. Some points that I have mentioned may appear to be repetitive or obvious. However, I have put them here because I have seen that people are having doubts regarding the same. In case I have missed out anything or erred anywhere, please feel free to correct me or add on to the above said. I hope this helps all of us here.