In order to streamline and ease the process of issue of passport the Ministry of External Affairs has taken following steps:
(i) The online passport application form now requires the applicant to provide the name of father or mother or legal guardian, i.e., only one parent and not both. This would enable single parents to apply for passports for their children and to also issue passports where the name of either the father or the mother is not required to be printed at the request of the applicant.
(ii) All the annexes that are required to be given by the applicants would be in the form of a self declaration on a plain paper. No attestation/swearing by/before any Notary/Executive Magistrate/First Class Judicial Magistrate would be henceforth necessary.
(iii) Married applicants would not be required to provide Annexure K i.e.( Affidavit to reissue passport which was obtained prior to marriage, now unable to provide Marriage Certificate or joint affidavit with spouse due to marital discord/separation without formal divorce decree/total desertion by spouse) or any marriage certificate.
(iv) The Passport application form does not require the applicant to provide the name of her/his spouse in case of separated or divorced persons. Such applicants for passports would not be required to provide even the Divorce Decree.
(v) Orphaned children who do not have any proof of DOB such as Birth Certificate or the Matriculation Certificate or the declaratory Court order, may now submit a declaration given by the Head of the Orphanage/Child Care Home on their official letter head of the organization confirming the DOB of the applicant.
(vi) In case of children not born out of wedlock, the applicant for the passport of such children should submit only Annexure G while submitting the passport application.
(vii) In case of issue of passport to in-country domestically adopted children, submission of the registered adoption deed would no longer be required. In the absence of any deed to this effect, the passport applicant may give a declaration on a plain paper confirming the adoption.
Muscat, 27 December, 2016
