Police Verification for Fresh / Renewal Passport

A Police Verification will be made in the application for a new passport, or when you demand a renewal of your passport. When it comes to renewal, a police verification can be done even after getting the passport depending upon the case, but for a new one, police verification will be done before getting the passport.

To perform a Police Verification, you will have to show the originals along with the photocopies enclosed with the application during the appointment. When you’re filling the forms, make sure to insert your full address, without any mistakes. If there are mistakes, the whole process can be delayed or even suspended.

In the application, you will have to provide two reference details from the same locality near your residence. If you changed your residence during last year, you would have to mention all the addresses where you’ve been living in that year.

What Is a Police Verification Report? (PVR)

A PVR is the result of your police verification, and it comes as a recommendation to the passport institution. The recommendation can be either positive or negative, depending on how your police verification went. The verification can be:

– Pre-Verification: The verification has to be made before the authorities give you the passport.
– Post-Verification: The verification can be made after you get the passport.

However, this verification will be done for the last year before you receive the passport and it has to contain your whole addresses from that period.

What If you are a Student Applicant for Police verification?

The process is similar, but it has a small difference. A student can provide its parent’s address in the application or its study address. If the student enters its parent’s address, he/she should mention it in the Current Residential Address section along with the period, spent in that residence.

In this case, the college address has to be mentioned as well and included in the Previous Address section. The student will also need a Bonafide Certificate, which can be taken from the college. After all the documents are filled, the student can submit them to the closest Passport Seva Kendra. The address put in the Current Residential Address section is the one that will be printed on the passport.

How to Perform a Police Verification for a Passport Renewal?

This depends on the passport authorities and they can decide if you need to perform the police verification again or not. If you want to renew an expired passport but you have all the details (address, name, etc.) unchanged, then most likely, you will have to do a post-police verification.Still, if you want to renew your passport, but some of the personal data has changed, you will have to make a pre-police verification.

There are some exceptions, where the authorities choose for Police verification for re-issue are

– If you lose or get your passport stolen.
– If you change your name.

How to know your Police Station?

To verify which your police station is, go to Know Your Police visit here

follow those steps. Depending on your current residence, you will be able to find your local police station.

How to See my Police Verification Status?

A police verification can come with three conclusions.

If the status is “Clear,” it means that you have no criminal records and you are entitled to receive the passport.
If it’s “Adverse,” it means that the police found some irregularities in your application, like a wrong address, name, etc.
When the conclusion comes “Incomplete,” it means that you didn’t present all the documents and the whole process was suspended, because of that.

After the police finish the verification, they will submit a report to the passport authorities. Based on this report, you can get your passport request denied or approved. You can find the status of your PV, by calling to the passport institution.

If your Passport Status was “Adverse.” Why?

When your passport status comes “Adverse,” this probably happened from a series of reasons.

– When you provide a false/wrong address, and the police find that you’re not living in that location.
– When the police come to your house for a verification, and they can’t find you. If that happens, you can make a formal request for a re-verification.
– If you have any criminal cases that haven’t been resolved in court. If that happens, you have to wait until settling or get a court order, for a temporary passport. This way, you can submit the court order to the police file and ask for another verification.

If your Passport Status Was “Incomplete.” Why?

If you get the passport approval delayed because of this status, this may happen because of these reasons:

– When you don’t have clearance from all the residence addresses, that you’ve been occupied for the last year. If the police see that you’ve been living in the current address for less than a year and you don’t provide information about your last address/es, then this might get you the “Incomplete” status.
– If the Police Verification is not done properly, the passport authority might decide to send your file back, for further verification. If that happens, you will have to call to that Police Station and ask about your PV status.
– When you don’t provide enough documents that prove your actual and previous residences, the police might decide to label your PV as “Incomplete.” In this case, you will have to contact the Police Section, ask what documents weren’t in order and clarify any misunderstanding.

Can you get a Passport without Police Verification?

If you make a first-time application for a Passport, and you provide items like Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), Aadhaar and a Permanent Account Number Card (PAN), the Police Verification will be made, after you receive the passport.
This way, you will be entitled to receive the passport faster, without the need of paying any additional fee. Because EPIC and PAN certificate is available online, they can be validated directly from their databases. However, this also depends from case to case.
If you want a post or no Police Verification, you have to submit all the above-mentioned documents, together with an application form. Depending on your particular situation, you can get a Post-Verification or no verification at all.

Documents required for Police Verification for Passport

Birth proof
Residence proof
Identity proof
Occupational proof, in the case of the student than school id card.

Original and photocopies of the documents are to be given during the police inquiry.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR POLICE VERIFICATION OF PASSPORTS IN INDIA

Q1: It is a requirement that an applicant for a new passport should indicate his current address as his resident address. If the applicant relocates to another address before the Police Verification process of the passport is complete, what steps should he/she take?

A: The applicant is supposed to immediately inform the in charge of the police station.

Q2: I have lived in three different locations for the last one year. Is it necessary for the Police Verification procedures to be done at all the three places?

A: Yes, the Police Verification has to be done at all the places you have lived in for that period.

Q3: Will I be subjected to the Police Verification procedures if my father is an officer of the law? What can I do in this case to receive my passport quickly in spite of the verification process?

A: Any family member who is dependent on an officer of the law can easily get their passports quickly without undergoing the police verification process. However, they need to attach the following documents with their application:

An affidavit as stipulated in Annexure I
An ID Certificate as provided for in Annexure B

Q4: The website shows that the police verification process for my passport is incomplete. What is the meaning of this?

A: This is a problem that may be caused by one of the following:

Failure to get clearance from your previous residential area. It is a must that you do this if you have stayed at your current address for less than one year.
The application form was not properly filled, and some information is missing. You can speed things up by following up with the police department to ensure that all details in the application are filled in.

Failure to produce all the required documentation regarding your current address. In this case, the Regional Passport Office will communicate to you regarding this matter.

Q5: Under the Tatkaal scheme, does the Police Verification process take place before the passport is issued?

A: No, it does not. The Police Verification is done after the passport is issued and not before. In some cases, no Police Verification is done under the Tatkaal Scheme.

Q6: the website indicates that my passport Police Verification status is ’failed’’. What does this mean and what can I do?

A: It means that there is some information that you withheld in your application. For this, you will be required to pay a fine of Rs. 5000. You should contact your PSK to re-submit your documents. As you do so, ensure that you provide all the required details regarding your current address. It is very important that you be honest in your application. Hiding information like previous passport applications and rejections, no matter how far back this happened, could easily land you into trouble.

Q7: Under what circumstances can the police issue a negative report during the Police Verification process.

A: The police may issue such a report under the following circumstances:

If they find anomalies with some of your documents and so are not satisfied with them.
If you fail to be at your stated physical address when they come for the physical verification.

iii. If your stated birthplace does not match with your present address.

Q8: My earlier passport application was not approved in a Police Verification process. Can I reapply?

A: The best way around this situation is to contact the RPO for assistance. Explain, what happened in your previous application. The passport office is quite fast, unlike other government offices. You can even make things easier on yourself by providing them with your Aadhaar details. Once you do this, it is likely that the Police Verification for your permanent residence will not be needed.

Q9: Am I allowed to re-apply for a passport if earlier I had missed on Police Verification?

A: It is not necessary for you to re-apply if you had earlier missed on the Police Verification. All you need to do is to contact the RPO.

Consider this: A week after making my application, the police required that I visit the station as part of the verification process. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend this meeting with the police, and they returned my application to the RPO. After about a month, the RPO informed me that the verification process had been initiated by the police. This time I was quick to go to the police and the process proceeded smoothly.

Q10: What happens if I got an emergency and I become unable to be at the station for the police verification?

A: The police will try to contact you for the following two weeks. If you remain unreachable, they will proceed to make a negative report. Later, the RPO will issue a Show Call Notice. You can respond to this with an affidavit and explain the circumstances of your unavailability. If satisfied by your explanation, the Police Verification process will be re-initiated.

Q11: Is it a must that I undergo the Police Verification process for me to be re-issued with a passport?

A: This is not a must in India. The decision regarding the re-issue of a passport squarely lies with the RPO. They will decide whether you will undergo the police verification or not. They may even opt for the post-verification report as opposed to the pre-verification one.

RPO has qualified personnel who have the ability to judge your character as they go through your documents. They can easily get information if you have committed any crimes and there are some cases that have been preferred against you.

Q12: How long do I have to wait once the police make an adverse report against my application?

A: You can handle this in two ways. One, you can decide to re-open the application for which the adverse report was made. Second, you can decide to close it and make a fresh application.

If you are not a resident of your current location, the best option is for you to close the application and apply for your current residence. In doing this, ensure that you give credible reasons for the closure. Also, have at least a one-year statement from a bank. In this situation, you may be required to pay a fine of Rs, 5000.

In case there were some issues with your documents, or you were not present during the police verification, the best option would be for you to re-open the application. Again, just like the above case, you need to give credible reasons.

It is important to note that in both cases you have to pay your local PSK a visit. This should be done between the hours of 9.30am and 1 pm. If it happens that you are not in the country, a family member or friend can effectively represent you at the PSK.

Q13: What does it mean when one gets communication to the effect that their passport is complete, and that the report has been submitted to the RPO.

A: Such a report shows that you need to contact the RPO as soon as possible because the report has been given to them for further processing.

Alternatively, you can confirm the status of the report at the Passport Application Status Tracking (PAST). If PAST indicates that the report is clear, there is no cause for alarm. However, if the indicates not clear, make arrangements to contact the RPO for clarification.

Q14: What is the meaning of a message that indicates that the verification report is under review at the RPO and that it would be released once the report proved clear?

A: This means that should your report have no issues, you would receive the passport in about two weeks’ time.

However, should the police make an adverse report, make arrangements to visit the PSK or RPO offices. Carry with you all testimonials that will help in your case. Politely explain your situation, and the officials will help you resolve the matter. Should it come out that the problem has to do with the address, the officials will help you reinitialize the verification process. All that you might be required to pay is a penalty of Rs. 5000.

It is noteworthy that the views expressed above do not amount to legal advice, but they are given with the sole purpose of helping you understand the issue of police verification process of passport applications.

Q15: What happens if my neighbor does not turn up when required as my witness for the police verification?

A: You do not need to worry about this. Apart from your neighbor, any other sane and sober person will be accepted as a witness in the police verification process. The witness is meant to confirm that you are of good character.

Q16: Is it possible to appear for police verification if I miss the time that had been allocated to me?

A: It is possible to apply to appear for the exercise if you miss it out the first time. All you need to do is to follow the same steps as you did during the initial application. However, be keen to apply before six months from your initial application lapses. If you do not, your application file will be closed.

Q17: How long will it take for me to receive the passport once the police verification is done?

A: The time varies due to the following considerations:

The efficiency of the police.
The distance between where you reside at the PSK office where you did the application.

iii. The number of locations that you have resided in for the period of the past one year.

The documents that you provide

When you hand in the application, it may take about ten days for the police verification process to start. Of course, this will depend on your location. The police will take about three weeks to do the police verification and hand in their report to the RPO. Once the entire process is complete, you will receive an SMS informing you that the report has been released. So, the entire process from start to finish could take about one month. Sometimes the process is faster and will take less time.