Indian expats to receive chip-enabled e-Passports in UAE

Indian expats in the UAE applying for an Indian passport will only get an e-Passport from now onwards. This was revealed by Consul General of India in Dubai, Satish Sivan and A. Amarnath, Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of India to the UAE, on Thursday during the media interaction held at the Consulate General of India in Dubai.   Those who have already taken appointment before the launch of new system need not to worry at all and they can continue their application process in the older format and they will get normal passport, but If they want an e-Passport, then they will have to go through new portal. This is optional for them but not mandatory, shared the officials.

Meanwhile, Indian expats applying for the new e-Passport in the UAE will not be required to provide biometric data at this stage, and passport fees will remain unchanged, assured officials.

Revealing details of the new system, A. Amarnath said, “This is an important reform introduced by the government in the passport system for Indian citizens living in India and abroad.  There are two important changes, which have been rolled out in the UAE on Oct.28. One is the e-Passport, which is a change from the previous passport. The e-Passport is nothing but next generation travel document as per the global best practices that are followed elsewhere, compared to traditional passport documents with advance technology as well.”

A view of the new chip-enabled e-Passports.

“The biggest enhancement in the e-Passport is the embedded chip, which is an added security feature. It is essentially nothing but the digital copy of the information that is otherwise contained physically in the passport. At the same time, if somebody tries to forge or fake the passport, it will be easily detectable at the immigration centre,” informed A. Amarnath,

Under the new system, renewal of the passport will be very smooth. A. Amarnath said, “The new system will take applicants only two minutes to fill in their details, as per our estimates. You enter your old passport number, complete the verification process, submit it and the process will be completed.”

The e-Passport system was rolled out globally by the Indian Government on Oct.28. The e-Passports will be issued to applicants in new Global Passport Seva Programme (GPSP 2.0) system.  Few changes have been made in the new portal to ease application process and to ensure that applicants can complete the process in a hassle-free way.

Applicants will have the option to upload their International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) compliant photograph, signature and supported documents in the GPSP portal. Applicants are encouraged to upload these documents in GPSP 2.0, which will reduce their waiting time at BLS Centres. 

In case of minor correction in passport applications, applicants are not required to retype applications at BLS centres. In the new system, service provider has option to correct the already filled in/submitted applications at their end, without any additional charge.

Sharing details of new system, Consul General of India in Dubai, Satish Sivan, said, “This is very important step taken by the Government of India in terms of making services easily accessible and secure for Indian citizens and aligning it with global best practices. So that is the fundamental of e-Passports.”

“It makes the process simple and easy for the applicants. The applications can be made by the applicants themselves. The process has been simplified because of which in our understanding if applicants are able to fill in their forms at the comfort of their home then the process of completing the application at the outsource service provider centres will be much lesser,” he concluded.

Sharing a piece of advice with the Indian expats, officials said, “The system has just been launched worldwide. It takes few days to stabilise. So applicants might face some technical issue here and there. Meanwhile, we are working very closely with the Ministry of External Affairs to stabilise the system as quickly as possible. We expect little patience from our countrymen.”