Indian ePassport: No biometrics or fee changes

ALL APPLICATIONS FOR NEW PASSPORTS AND RENEWALS WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE PROCESSED THROUGH NEW PORTAL

- BY SAJILA SASEENDRAN

A. Amarnath (right) and Satish Kumar Sivan at the press conference in Dubai yesterday. The clarifications came as the missions rolled out the ePassport system in the UAE on October 28.

(Sajila Saseendran/Gulf News)

Indian expats applying for the new ePassport in the UAE will not be required to provide biometric data at this stage, and passport fees will remain unchanged, the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Indian Consulate in Dubai confirmed yesterday.

The clarifications came as the missions rolled out the ePassport system in the UAE on October 28 and top diplomats addressed key concerns from the Indian expat community about the application process.

Speaking at a press conference at the Indian Consulate in Dubai, A. Amarnath, Chargé d'Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy in Abu Dhabi and Satish Kumar Sivan, Consul General of India in Dubai, highlighted that the transition to the new digital passport system would not result in any additional charges.

The ePassport combines traditional passport features with advanced technology, including an embedded chip with digital copies of the holder's data.