An Indian passport is valid for 10yrs. My husband's passport is about to expire in Dec 2013, and hence he decided to apply for a renewal. This is our experience of passport renewal.
The BLS International takes care of passport renewal service. The process was smooth and clear. We stay in Kentucky and hence we had to go to Washington D.C for this process. Check the below link for the BLS location you will have to visit as it varies according to place of residence.
There are 2 ways of renewing your Indian passport. 1) By mail 2) In person.
We did it in person as we did not want to risk sending passports by postal mail and in case there was something we missed, we can rectify it on spot thereby avoiding back and forth mailing which prolongs the process.
You have to book an appointment online by filling in all the details and take a print out of the same. Be there at the office at least 20-30 mins early. This will help you arrange all the documents.
Documents Required
The BLS International takes care of passport renewal service. The process was smooth and clear. We stay in Kentucky and hence we had to go to Washington D.C for this process. Check the below link for the BLS location you will have to visit as it varies according to place of residence.
There are 2 ways of renewing your Indian passport. 1) By mail 2) In person.
We did it in person as we did not want to risk sending passports by postal mail and in case there was something we missed, we can rectify it on spot thereby avoiding back and forth mailing which prolongs the process.
You have to book an appointment online by filling in all the details and take a print out of the same. Be there at the office at least 20-30 mins early. This will help you arrange all the documents.
Documents Required
- Application Form
- Order Form
- Nationality Verification Form
- Current Passport
- Photocopy of first 5 pages and last 2 pages of your current passport
- Proof of legal status (We used our current visa page and I-797 approval notice. You have to get it notarized. The USPS has notarizing service. We did it at our local USPS office. Not all of them do it. Call and check)
- Proof of Residence - Driver's license or Utilities bill (gas, landline phone, water, electricity. Any one of it which has the applicant's address) or Home/Apartment lease agreement. Take a photocopy of the document you decide to carry and notarize it.
- Marriage Certificate* - If your old passport does not have the Spouse's name and you are adding it now, you have to show your marriage certificate. Take a photocopy and notarize it.
- Change of appearance affidavit - Fill this form and attach a current passport size photo with it. Notarize it. (Even if it is a trivial change, for example you had a light beard or mustache back then now completely shaved, you still have to take this affidavit. My husband had a very light mush 10yrs ago and now he has a shaved look. So we din't take this document. Yet BLS asked us to fill it.)
- Print out of I-94
- Passport fees - Carry USD bills.
- Photos - Take 8 to be on the safer side. We took 8 and have just one left.
- Return Envelope - Stamped, self - addressed USPS express mail if you want your new passport to be sent via Mail.
Note :- For addition of Spouse's name in your passport, if your spouse is here with you in US then you have to take the notarized photocopies of his/her first 3 and last 2 pages of the passport, Visa page along with marriage certificate. All notarized.
Take all the original documents too along with the notarized photocopies. Be there 20 minutes earlier to your appointment time. They will call you according to appointment time. Submit all docs, pay the Passport fees in dollar bills and you are done. If all documents are right, you will be done in less than 30 mins. My husband received his new Passport in 7 working days.! We applied in July 2013.
