It’s time to check your passport, if it is written by hand, then it is about to become invalid. The foreign deadline for making the passports written by hand invalid and replacing those with the machine readable ones is 24th November. After 24th, the immigration officers might reject visas or entry to the individuals who will be travelling on the travel documents which are hand written.
According to the statement from the government, there are around 2,50,000 Indian handwritten passports which are still circulating.
The Organization for International Civil Aviation (ICAO), a UN body that presides over and observes the non-binding standards of safety for the international carriers and regulator, had set Tuesday as the deadline for its member states for phasing out the passports which are non-machine readable.
According to the agency’s statement, passports which are machine readable allows a quicker and more suitable border control experience for the passengers while delivering improved and cost effective security solutions for the states.
In India, which is also a member state of ICAO, the government had been granting passports which are machine readable since the year 2011. But many passports from India which are granted before that year and with the validity of 20 years are falling in category of passports which are non-machine readable.
According to the Government of India’s public advisory on 29th October, the citizens from India who are staying in India and abroad and who holds such passport with the validity ahead of 24th November 2015 are recommended to apply for their passport reissuance much before the goal in order to avoid any problem in getting the visa or foreign travel.
