New Delhi, January 15: Passports in India may no longer serve as a valid proof of address after the External Affairs Ministry in the last week decided not to print the last page of the travel document with the address of the holder. As per details by the MEA, the new passports will soon be printed without the usual last page of the document. It must be noted that the last page of the passport includes the father or legal guardian's name, the names of the holder's mother, spouse and their address.

The MEA in its statement said, "As the last page of the passport would not be printed now, the passport holders with ECR (Emigration Check Required) status would be issued a passport with orange passport jacket and those with non-ECR status would continue to get a blue passport".  In simple words, passport holders requiring emigration check would be given an orange-coloured passport while others will continue to get a blue one.

The statement further added that the recommendations of a three-member panel, comprising officials from the ministry of external affairs and the ministry of women and child development, were accepted and it was decided that the last page of the passport and other travel documents issued under the Passports Act, 1967 and Passport Rules, 1980 "would no longer be printed".

As per reports, the panel examined various issues "pertaining to passport applications including examination of where mother/child had insisted that the name of the father should not be mentioned in the passport.

Here are the proposed changes:

  • As per notifications by the MEA, the new passports will not carry the last page which has details of residence and parents name. All passports have had a barcode since 2012. By scanning this, details of the individual can be accessed by immigration officials. This is a measure aimed at not revealing more information than required on the document.

  • At present, passports are issued in three colours: white which is for government officers or to those people who visit other countries for the official work of the government; red for diplomats; and blue for all others across two categories — those who require emigration check (ECR) and those who do not (ECNR).

  • With the new rules in place, those in the ECR category will have orange passports. This will make it easier and more efficient during immigration checks. It must be noted that all existing passports will remain valid until their expiry date. The new format passport will be issued on renewal.

The new passport rule that calls for excluding parents’ name from the passport of an individual will no longer worry children of divorcee/separated parents, orphans and even those born out of wedlock. As per reports, the online passport application form too would require the name of only one parent.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 15, 2018 11:15 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).