Holders of handwritten passports asked to apply for machine readable ones

KOLKATA: Indian citizens in India and abroad holding handwritten and 20-year passports with validity beyond November 24, 2015 will have to apply for Machine Readable Passports (MRP).

"From November 25, 2015 onwards, foreign governments may deny visa or entry to any person traveling with a non-MRP passport," Regional Passport Officer Geetika Srivastava said here today, quoting a Ministry of External Affairs release.

The Centre has announced phasing out of all non-MRP from November 24, 2015, complying with the deadline by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) as part of its global drive.

All handwritten passports with pasted photos earlier issued by the Government of India are considered non-MRP passports.

All 20-year validity passports would also fall in this category.

The government has started issuing MRP passports since 2001 which were ICAO-compliant.