New Delhi: The government has announced that the online portal for passport applications will be unavailable for the next five days due to a maintenance exercise. During the period, no new appointments can be made and previously scheduled appointments for August 30 will be rescheduled.
“Passport Seva portal will be down for technical maintenance from 29th August 2024, Thursday 20:00 hrs IST to 2nd September, Monday 06:00 hrs IST. System will not be available during this period for citizens and for all MEA/RPO/BOI/ISP/DoP/Police Authorities. The already booked appointments for 30th August 2024 will be suitably rescheduled and informed to applicants,” a note on the Passport Seva portal said, according to an NDTV report.
The Ministry of External Affairs said that the maintenance is part of routine procedures. “For rescheduling of appointments, we always have contingency plans. The maintenance activity for a public centric service (like Passport Seva Kendras) is always planned in advance so that no inconvenience is meted out to public. So rescheduling an appointment will not be a challenge,” a source from the ministry has said.
Steps for applying a news passport
The Passport Seva portal is used to schedule appointments at various centres throughout for applying for a new passport or renewing an existing one. On the scheduled appointment day, applicants are required to visit the passport centre and submit their documents for verification. After that, a police verification process is conducted and then the passport is delivered to the applicant’s address. There are two options available: the regular mode, which takes about 30-45 working days for the passport to be delivered and the Tatkaal mode, which ensures delivery within a few days.
