Passport Information

Indian Community in Qatar:

The Indian expatriate community in Qatar, estimated to be over 500,000 strong work force, forms the largest expatriate community in the country. Approximately 70% of the work force comprises of skilled and unskilled workers, 20% of white collar employees and the balance are professionals. The skilled and unskilled workers are employed in construction work, industrial establishments, commercial undertakings and the domestic sector. White collar workers are employed in clerical services, commercial establishments, police, nursing etc. Professionals include doctors, specialists and consultants working in Government and other Health Centers, Chartered Accountants, Architects, Engineers, Executives in business concerns, Computer specialists etc. Consular Section in this Mission caters to the needs of this sizeable Indian Community by undertaking the Passport and Miscellaneous Services and the foreign nationals by providing Visa Services.

Some important information on Passport and Miscellaneous Services:

The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, is responsible for issuance of Indian Passport to the Indian Citizens. Your passport is a valuable document. It should always be either in your own custody or in the custody of a person duly authorized by you. If lost or destroyed, the fact and circumstances should be immediately reported to the nearest Indian Mission and to the local police. In Qatar applications for passports / consular services such as issue of duplicate passports, renewals and miscellaneous services on passports, legalization / attestation of documents etc. are accepted at the Consular Section of the embassy between 08:00 AM and 10:30 A.M from Sunday through Thursday. No application is received after 10:30 A.M. except in the cases of emergencies, such as death or illness in the family. An emergency fee of QR. 130/- is to be paid in addition to the prescribed fee for the requested service in deserving emergency cases. The passports and other documents, irrespective of date or time of submission, are delivered only between 03:00 PM to 03:45 PM on working days. Fresh and reissued passports are normally delivered on the fifth working day after the day the application is received in the Embassy. This, however, depends on the workload of the Consular Section. This time schedule does not apply to services where prior approval is required from the authorities in India. The date on which the passport can be collected from the Embassy will be indicated when the application is submitted.

Here are some useful information on passport and other consular services available at the Indian Embassy in Doha.

How to obtain a new passport?

Please obtain an application form from the embassy free of cost or submit a photocopy of the form. Fill all columns carefully and legibly; the application may be submitted to the counter at the embassy either in person or through a representative. An application for a new passport can be made within one year of expiry of the old passport. For this "Application Form for an Indian Passport" along with your passport, copy of the passport, copy of Identity card and an affidavit should be submitted. Furnish 2 photographs (colour) size 50 mm x 50 mm front view of full face against a light background. Photos taken with coloured or dark glasses and in uniform are not acceptable. If the application is found to be in order and if no prior reference is required to be made to the original Passport Issuing Authority, the passport will be issued in the normal course. If you need the passport urgently you can avail of the Tatkal Scheme introduced by the Government of India. Under the scheme passports can be obtained out of turn from the embassy on the same day or the next day. An out of turn passport is normally issued only in cases of specified emergencies, on production of documentary evidence and against an additional fee of QR 550/-.

All applicants are advised to submit their applicantions for renewal of passport atleast 3 months before the Expiry Date.

Photographs - Quality

Please click here to view detailed requirement of photograph for Passport

(A)  The Photographs must be:

1.	50mm in width
2.	Close up of head and top of shoulders so that face takes up 70 - 80% of the photograph
3.	In sharp focus and clear.

(B) The Photograph must:

1.	Show looking directly at the camera
2.	Show skin tones naturally.
3.	Have appropriate brightness and contrast at high resolution.

 

Photographs - Style and Lighting

(D)  The Photograph must:

1.	be color neutral.
2.	Show the eyes open and clearly visible - no hair across the eyes.
3.	Show facing on the camera, not looking over one shoulder (potrait style) or tilted & showing both edges of the face clearly
4.	be taken with a plain light coloured background.
5.	be taken with uniform lighting and not show shadows or flash reflections on the face & no red eye.

 

Photographs - Glasses and head covers

(E)  If wearing glasses:

1.	The photograph must show the eyes clearly with no flash reflection off the glasses and no tinted lenses (if possible avoid heavy framed glasses to be worn)
2.	make sure that frames do not cover any part of the eyes.

 

(F)  Head coverings:

1.	are not permitted except for religious reasons, but the facial features from bottom of chin to top of forehead and both edges of the face must be clearly shown.

 

Photographs - Expression and frame

(G)  The Photograph must:

1.	Show alone (no chair backs, toys or other people visible) looking at the camera wiith a neutral expression and the mouth closed.

 

Passport for minors

It is compulsory to have a separate passport for a minor as the procedure of endorsing names of minor children in their parents' passports has now been discontinued with. This measure has been introduced in the wake of the practice, increasingly being followed by major foreign diplomatic missions, by granting visas to minor children only if they are in possession of separate passports. A minor in this case refers to a child who is less than 18 years of age and the passport for the minor child will be valid for five years from the date of issue or till 18 years of age, whichever is less. The five year validity period has been stipulated because the physical appearance of a child changes considerably over five years. Those children whose names have already been endorsed in their parents' passports need to apply for new passports only when the validity of the parents' passport expires. The Birth Certificate of the child is required to be submitted along with the passports of both the parents. The fee for issue of a passport to a minor child in Qatar is QR 95/-.

Emigration Check Not Required Stamp

As per Government of India rules and regulations following categories of persons are entitled to get the ECNR stamp on their passports: Gazetted Government Servants, Income-tax payees; Persons holding professional degrees; Persons staying abroad for more than 3 years; Spouses of the above mentioned categories; Persons holding matriculation certificate or higher degrees; Seamen in possession of Continuous Discharge Certificate and Deck Cadets if they have passed final examination of three year B.Sc. Nautical Sciences Courses at T.S. Chanakya, Mumbai, or if they have undergone three months Pre-Sea training at any of the Government approved Training Institutes after production of Identity Cards issued by the Shipping Master, Mumbai / Calcutta / Chennai; Persons holding two year diplomas from recognised institutions like Polytechnics or certificates of vocational training from Government recognised institutions, Nurses possessing qualifications recognised under the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947; Dependent children of parents eligible for ECNR and All persons above the age of 60 years. All these categories of people can get the ECNR stamp affixed on their passports at the Embassy of India in Doha during office hours. All children who apply for separate passports will be granted endorsement of "Emigration Clearance Not Required (ECNR)" provided their parents have the same endorsement on their own passports.

Lost / Damaged Passport : How to apply for a duplicate?

If you lose your passport, then please inform the nearest police station or the CEID and obtain a copy of the FIR. Also inform the embassy without delay. Passport is a valuable document and in case it gets misused, you can be held responsible, if you have not informed the police and the embassy. You may apply for a duplicate passport with the documents enumerated above. If your passport gets damaged, you are entitled to get it replaced. In case of damaged / lost passports (except in case of habitual losers), provided your original passport was issued at the Indian Embassy in Doha, you should get passport in about 15 days. If you have applied for a duplicate passport in place of a passport which was originally issued at some other passport office, you should normally get your new passport after 45 days. A duplicate passport may not be issued for the second loss/damage of passport. Habitual losers of passports will be denied further passport facilities.

Options in terms of the size of the Passport booklet

You can either apply for a ten year validity 36-paged normal passport booklet (Fees: QR 185/-) or a 64-paged jumbo passport booklet (Fees: QR 225/-).

Miscellaneous Services: Change of Name

If you change your name, please get your passport booklet changed. For change of name or surname, consequent to marriage, you may submit the original marriage certificate duly attested in India, along with a photocopy and husband's original passport. In case of divorce, a divorce deed authenticated by a court in India is required. In case of re-marriage, divorce deed or death certificate of spouse duly authenticated along with the original marriage certificate issued by Registrar of Marriages / duly attested in India and husband's original passport may be submitted.

In all other cases of change of name and or surname in the passport the change has first to be advertised in a daily newspaper, both in Qatar and in India at the area of your residence. Original newspaper clippings are required to be submitted along with the application. An affidavit, duly notarized, is also required. Service is provided after a waiting period of 30 days from the date of publication of advertisement in the newspaper.

Change of Address and Date of Birth

If you already have a passport and want to change the address recorded in it, apply for the same in EAP I form with the proof of new address. A new passport will be issued. Applications for change in date of birth are not entertained unless accompanied by a court order issued by a judicial officer not below the rank of first class magistrate in India.

Incomplete / False Information

It is important to furnish full, accurate and truthful information in the form. Application forms should be filled in fully, legibly (in capital letters) and accurately and submitted with the passport. Misrepresentation of the facts may result in denial of passport/consular service. Applications received with incomplete details will remain unprocessed. It is an offence under the Passports Act 1967 to give false information in the Application. Passport facilities can be denied on grounds of suppression of factual information, submission of false particulars, willful damage of passport and for making unauthorized changes in the passports. Your passport can be impounded or revoked by the Government of India under the provisions of the Passports Act 1967 in which event you will have to surrender the passport to the nearest Indian Passport authority.

Emergency Certificate

An Emergency Certificate (one-way travel document) which authorizes an Indian to enter India, is issued to the citizen of India whose passports have been lost, stolen or damaged and to whom new passports cannot be issued without approval from India. This is primarily with the objective of ensuring their return to India.

No Refunds

Fees, once received, cannot be refunded, even if the application is withdrawn or service cannot be rendered.

Tracing the Roots

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs launched a scheme called “Tracing the Roots” in October 2008 to facilitate PIOs in tracing their roots in India. PIOs who intend to trace their roots in India need to apply in a prescribed Form, through the Embassy of India, Doha. Application Form for this purpose is available on the website of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs at www.moia.gov.in.

Persons of Indian origin desirous of tracing their roots in India would be required to fill up the prescribed application form and deposit it with the Embassy along with a fee of Rs.30,000 ( Rupees Thirty Thousand only) in equivalent Qatari Riyals.

All useful information / documents that could be of help in tracing the roots may be submitted alongwith the application. In case the attempt is not successful, the Embassy of India will be authorized to refund Qatari riyals equivalent to Rs.20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand only) to the applicant at the official rate of exchange. For further details/information regarding the Scheme, the website of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs at www.moia.gov.in or Embassy of India, Doha (Consular Section) may be contacted.

NOTICE: Please note that Indian passport holders who obtain foreign nationalities are required to surrender their Indian passports / renounce their Indian nationality at their nearest Indian Mission / Posts immediately after acquiring that country’s passport.

At the time of applying for a visa to India or PIO card or OCI card by the persons who have ever held Indian passports, submission of proof of having surrendered their Indian citizenship is a mandatory requirement without which services may not be provided.

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