Your passports may not serve as a valid address proof anymore

How many times you have presented your passport as a valid address proof to authorities in India? Several, right? But that might soon change. Passports may no longer be valid proof of address as the Government is mulling over removing the last page which includes the address of the passport holder. 

The External affairs ministry is currently considering the proposal and might take an official call on it soon. 

“The last page is never checked anywhere, but the personal identity of a traveller is important. Names of the mother or the father or the spouse is not required. The decision has been taken after the government mulled over it for sometime. We may take all details for our records but will not print on the passport,” Neelam Rani, Regional Passport Officer told DNA. 

A Hindustan Times report quoted Surendera Kumar, under-secretary of policy and legal matters at the consular, passport and visa division of the ministry, saying that the change could happen when the "next series" of passports is being issued. "The decision to keep the last page of the passport blank has been taken" to protect the details contained, he said.

At present, the first page of the passport has the photograph and other important details of the passport holder while the address is printed on the last page. 

Media reports also claimed that the ministry is also considering to change the colours of the passports. Currently, passports are being issued in three colours, white for government officers; red for diplomats; and blue for all others across two categories — those who require emigration check (ECR) and those who do not (ECNR).