If you are also thinking of getting a passport for your child, then this news is very important for you. The Ministry of External Affairs has made a very big and important change in the rules related to children's passport. According to the new rules, now the validity of 36 page ordinary passport issued to children below 15 years of age will be considered valid from the date of its issue till the child turns 18 years of age or for a period of 5 years.
Understand the whole new mathematics of validity like this
This simply means that a period of 5 years or till the child turns 18, whichever is completed first, will be considered as the final validity of your child's passport. For example, if a child turns 18 before the completion of the 5-year period, the validity of his passport will expire at that moment. The most noteworthy thing is that earlier the maximum age limit for validity of children's passport was only 15 years.
New rule published in official gazette
This major change has been fully published by the Ministry of External Affairs in the Official Gazette of India on September 17 under the 'Passport Rules Amendment Rules, 2026'. Through this, this new change has been implemented by amending the old and traditional passport rules of the year 1980.
Understand the whole new rule in easy language with examples
If we talk about the old rules, when a child got his passport made at the age of 15 years or less, then his passport remained valid either for 5 years or till he turned 15 years old. Suppose, if a child applied for a passport at the age of 14, then its validity would be limited only to the age of 15 and he would not be able to get the benefit of full 5 years of validity.
But now under the new rules, if a child gets a passport at the age of 15 years or less, then his passport will be considered valid till the age of 18 years. However, here also the condition will be applicable that if a child gets a passport made at the age of 17 years, then its validity will end only after the age of 18 years i.e. after one year, because the age of 18 years is being completed earlier there.
10 percent discount for children and elderly still continues
Giving great relief to the general public, the government has also made it clear that children below 8 years of age and senior citizens above 60 years of age will continue to get 10 percent discount on the application for a new passport as before. However, let it be made clear that this exemption will not be applicable in case of re-issue of passport.
Despite all these changes related to the validity and fees of children's passport, this 10% relief will continue to be available on applying for a new passport. Apart from the normal passport, all the essential services like Tatkal service, renewal of passport, replacement of lost or damaged passport and Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) have also been fully included in the scope of this new fee system.