External Affairs Secy says MEA likely to issue e-passports by 1st week of 2023

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is currently gearing up to provide the Indian citizens with e-passports by the end of this year or by the beginning of the next year.

While informing about the same, Dr Ausaf Sayeed, Secretary of External Affiars (Consular, Passport, Visa and Overseas Indian Affairs), said that electonic passports will be issued during the upcoming six months, indicating towards the end of this year or by the first week of 2023.

Sayeed was in Hyderabad on a two-day MEA outreach programme, where he spoke to the reporters informing about the development.

According to TV reports, Sayeed added that an e-chip and several other features will be added to the passport book which will further provide security upgradation of the Indian passport. It will also enable machine reading. The diplomat further indicated that the Ministry is planning to come up with a cloud-based passport.

In June, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, while speaking on the occasion of Passport Seva Diwas, had said that the Centre is working toward rolling ouot e-passports, that will make international travel easier and also enable protect against data or identity theft.

Additionally, Dr Sayeed said, "Efforts are being made to make the immigration process easy through legal processes and increase training levels of those migrants."

Published on: Thursday, August 25, 2022, 05:13 PM IST