Dubai: Indian expatriates have been asked to renew their passports if their documents fail to meet certain criteria.
The Consulate General of India in Dubai has asked Indians to seek “urgent re-issuance of their passports” if they have handwritten passports; or those valid for less than six months; or those left with insufficient visa pages.
In an advisory issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the Indian government said the International Civil Aviation Organisation has set a deadline of November 24, 2015 for global phasing out of all non-machine readable passports (MRPs).
All handwritten passports with pasted photographs are also considered as non-MRPs.
From November 25 next year onwards, countries may deny visa or entry to any person travelling on a non-MRP.
Another issue is the validity time of passports. “Many international travellers may not realise that having an unexpired passport is sometimes not enough to obtain visas or to enter certain foreign countries. Indian citizens travelling on passports which may expire in less than six months should renew their passports before any upcoming international travel,” the advisory said.
It added some countries do not accept passports which may have fewer than two blank pages remaining, and urged holders to apply for new passports.
