Dubai: Indian expats residing in the UAE are now able to give their local address abroad to be included in their passports.
The Indian government had chosen to permit its overseas citizens to add their local address in their country of residence particularly to help the individuals who don’t have permanent or valid addresses in India, said Siddhartha Kumar Baraily, Consul, Passport and Attestation, at the Indian Consulate in Dubai.
He stated: “We understand that many people who have been staying in the UAE for a long time don’t have a valid address in India. They may add their local UAE address in their passports.”
Change in address can’t be made in already existing passports, the official explained. Indian passport holders need to apply for a brand new passport in which the adjustment in address can be made, Gulf news revealed.
The facility can be benefited by Indian expats living in both self-owned or rented accommodations, Those wanting to give their UAE address should give certain documents as evidence of residence at the hour of applying for a new passport for changing the address from India to overseas.
Baraily stated either the water and electricity bill (from Sewa/Dewa/Fewa) or rent agreement/title deed/occupancy contract will be acknowledged as evidence of residence in the UAE. Changing their address may assist applicants with getting quick police verification from India at the time of passport renewal.
As first revealed by Gulf News on Tuesday morning, police verification is presently required for the passport renewal of all Indian ex-pats according to a change in the policy of India’s Ministry of External Affairs implemented since September.
Nonetheless, the diplomat explained that police verification of Indians abroad doesn’t need verification of the address of the applicant.
He clarified that the police verification is just to verify the identity of the applicants as Indian citizens and that there are no criminal cases registered against them since the time of the last police verification performed on them.
However, the main motive is encouraging Indians without a valid address to change their address, regardless of whether in India or locally.
