Indian passport renewal in the UK (2026): VFS, the new fees, documents, tatkal, children and lost passports

An Indian passport is valid for ten years for an adult and five years for a child under 18 (a 15-to-17-year-old may choose a ten-year booklet at the adult fee). The missions accept a renewal — a "re-issue", in the portal's language — once the passport has less than one year left, or earlier if the pages are full, the details have changed, or it is damaged. Nothing is gained by waiting: the new passport's ten years run from its own issue date, not from the old expiry.

In the UK the passport is wired into more than travel, which is why renewing early is the rule:

• Your immigration status is linked to it. The eVisa in your UKVI account names a passport number; when the passport changes you update the account, and until you do an airline may not see your permission to enter the UK on the way back from India. The same number sits on your right-to-work share code and your right-to-rent check.
• A visa extension needs a valid passport. A Skilled Worker extension, a Graduate-visa switch or a settlement application made on a passport with six months to run is a common cause of a last-minute tatkal.
• India needs six months too. Airlines apply the six-months-validity rule to India-bound travel in practice, and a passport inside its last six months can mean a refused boarding at Heathrow.
• The children's five years go fast. A passport issued to a newborn in the UK expires in a reception-class year; put the date in the calendar when you collect it.

The whole thing is done from Britain, without a trip to India and without the Indian address needing to be current — but a change of address, name or appearance can trigger police verification at the Indian address on file, which is the one part of the process no fee can hurry. The sections below take the ordinary renewal first, then the special cases.

India revised every passport fee on 1 July 2026 — the Passports (Amendment) Rules, 2026, notified by the Ministry of External Affairs on 20 June 2026, the first increase in fourteen years. Fees at missions abroad are fixed in US dollars (a fresh or re-issued 36-page adult passport is US$125 normal and US$250 tatkal) and charged in sterling at the rate each mission publishes. Every application also pays the Indian Community Welfare Fund contribution (£2 on passport services) and VFS Global's service charge (£29.78). The sterling figures below are VFS's UK table as published after the revision; the rate is reviewed, so confirm on the VFS site the week you pay.

What the extras buy

• Tatkal buys queue position at the mission, not at the police station: a tatkal file that needs police verification waits for the report like any other. The surcharge is not refunded if verification turns out to be required.
• Courier return of the new passport (and the cancelled old one) is a few pounds at VFS and saves a second trip; SMS tracking and document scanning at the counter are optional too.
• 60 pages are worth the £37 for anyone who flies to India twice a year and collects stamps elsewhere — the booklet has to be replaced when the pages run out, at the full fee.

What nobody may charge you

The fees are paid at VFS by card, against a receipt. Nobody — not an agent in Southall, not a "Passport Seva" website ending in .com, not a caller from a "High Commission helpline" — can take the fee on the mission's behalf or shorten the queue for money. The genuine portal is passportindia.gov.in and its missions-abroad site embassy.passportindia.gov.in; everything else is a form-filler at best.

The renewal is online first, then in person, and the two halves use different systems: the Ministry of External Affairs' portal for the form, VFS Global for the appointment, the documents and the fee.

1. Register on the missions-abroad Passport Seva portal (embassy.passportindia.gov.in), choose United Kingdom and the mission for your address — London, Birmingham or Edinburgh, by the jurisdiction table at the end of this page — and start a "Re-issue of passport" application. The form asks why (validity expiring, pages exhausted, change of particulars, lost, damaged), your personal particulars exactly as the current passport prints them, your Indian and UK addresses, family details, the emergency contact, and the previous passport's number, date and place of issue.
2. Answer the ECR and police-verification questions honestly. A graduate or anyone with a tenth-standard certificate is ECNR (Emigration Check Not Required); upload the certificate if the current passport does not already say ECNR. Declare a change of address, name or appearance where it is true — the mission's own check finds it anyway, and an undeclared change is the one that turns into a query.
3. Submit and print the application with its ARN (application reference number), and sign it inside the box in black ink; a child's form is signed by both parents.
4. Book a VFS appointment at the Indian consular application centre for your mission (London's is at 142–148 Goswell Road, EC1V 7DU; Birmingham and Edinburgh have their own; VFS lists the other UK centres). Slots are free and released in batches; in the summer and before the Christmas rush London's go within hours.
5. Attend with the originals and one set of copies — the list in the next section — and two photographs. VFS checks the file against the checklist, takes the fee by card, scans and forwards the file; there is no biometric capture for a re-issue by an adult beyond the photographs and signature on the form.
6. Track by ARN on the portal. "Granted" at the mission is followed by printing in India — the booklets are printed centrally and shipped — and dispatch to VFS, which couriers it to you or holds it for collection. The old passport comes back cancelled, with your visas intact; keep it.
7. The day it arrives, update your UKVI account with the new passport (free, on GOV.UK), tell your employer, and put the new expiry date in the calendar. The final section lists the rest.

The High Commission's checklist is the authority and VFS enforces it at the counter. For an adult renewing on expiry with no change of particulars it comes to this; bring originals and one self-attested photocopy of each, and bring the copies already made — the counter's scanning charge is for the forgetful.

• The printed application with the ARN, signed in black ink inside the box.
• The current passport, original, and copies of the first two and last two pages and of any observation page.
• Proof of UK immigration status: the eVisa — print the UKVI account's status page and a share code, or the visa vignette or BRP if you still hold one — or the ILR or settlement letter. A British passport is not this document; a British citizen is renouncing, not renewing.
• Proof of UK address dated within the last three months: council tax bill, utility bill, bank statement, tenancy agreement or UK driving licence, in your name, matching the address on the form. A spouse's bill needs the marriage certificate alongside it.
• Two photographs, 51 mm × 51 mm (2 inches square — not the British 45 × 35), recent, colour, full face, both ears visible, plain white background, no glasses, no uniform, no shadow, no smile that shows teeth; the same specification the portal enforces for the uploaded image. Ask the photo shop for "Indian passport size"; the booth size is the single commonest reason a file comes back.
• Annexure E, the self-declaration the missions ask for with a re-issue, printed from the portal and signed.
• The ECNR document — a tenth-standard or higher certificate — if the current passport says ECR and you want it changed.
• Marriage certificate and the spouse's passport copy if you are adding or removing a spouse's name.

Copies the mission may also want

A copy of the UK visa or the entry stamp in the current passport; proof of the Indian address if it has changed (an Aadhaar or voter card at the new address, or a parent's utility bill with a declaration); an affidavit for a change of appearance, where a beard has come or gone since the last photograph (not for children).

What is not accepted

A photocopy without the original, an address proof older than three months or in someone else's name, a passport-sized photograph in the UK size, a form signed outside the box or in blue ink, and a passport that has been laminated, written on or has pages missing — that is a "damaged passport" application with the higher fee.

A change of particulars is a re-issue with the same fee and a longer document list, and it is the renewal most likely to trigger police verification, so it pays to do it in one go.

Adding a spouse's name

The Indian passport prints the spouse's name; a newly married applicant adds it with the marriage certificate (an Indian one from the Registrar of Marriages, or a UK one — a GRO certificate, apostilled by the FCDO Legalisation Office if the mission asks) and a copy of the spouse's passport. If the spouse is not Indian, their foreign passport serves. A Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Sikh religious ceremony in India needs the civil registration certificate, not the temple's.

Taking a spouse's surname

The marriage certificate again, plus the spouse's passport, and a declaration in the mission's format that the two names belong to the same person. Where the change was made in the UK by deed poll, bring the deed; the mission generally does not require the newspaper advertisements that the Passport Seva rules used to demand for a change of name, but the current checklist says whether one is still asked for in your case — read it before the appointment rather than at it.

Divorce

The decree absolute (UK) or the Indian decree, and the re-issue removes the spouse's name. A decree is not needed to drop a spouse's name on separation alone; a sworn affidavit in the mission's format covers it.

Correcting a spelling or a date

A passport that has carried a wrong date of birth or a misspelt name for years is corrected as a change of particulars with the birth certificate, the school-leaving certificate or an Indian court order, depending on what is wrong and by how much; the mission can ask for a court order for a change of the date of birth, and most will refer the file to India. Allow months, not weeks.

Signature

A signature that has changed since the last passport is simply the new one on the form and in the new booklet; nothing to declare. A thumb impression replaces the signature for a child under five and for anyone who cannot sign.

The police verification that follows

Any change of name, and most changes of appearance, send the file for verification at the Indian address on record. The timelines section explains what that means; the practical advice is to make all the changes in one application, keep the Indian address current with a relative who will answer the door, and not to book tatkal for a change-of-name file.

A child's application has three rules of its own: both parents sign and consent, the passport lasts five years, and since the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2026 a minor may not hold an Indian passport and a foreign one at the same time.

A baby born in the UK to Indian parents

If neither parent was British or settled at the birth, the child is Indian by descent and needs an Indian passport before the UK dependant visa can be applied for. The first passport is a fresh application, not a re-issue: the UK birth certificate (the long form from the GRO, with the parents' names, apostilled where the mission asks), both parents' passports and UK status, the parents' marriage certificate, Annexure D (both parents' consent on the mission's form, signed in front of the VFS officer or notarised), proof of the UK address, and two 51 × 51 mm photographs of the baby — eyes open, white background, nobody's hands in the frame, which takes patience and a white sheet. The birth must also be registered with the mission within one year under the Citizenship Act; missions do it alongside the passport, and late registration needs a further declaration.

If one parent had indefinite leave to remain or British citizenship at the birth, the child is British automatically and gets a British passport — and then an OCI card rather than an Indian passport; the OCI guide covers that, and the 2026 rule means not both.

Renewing a child's passport

The child's current passport, birth certificate, both parents' passports (and their UK status), Annexure D again, UK address proof, two photographs and the form signed by both parents. A child of 15 to 17 may take a ten-year passport at the adult fee. Minors do not give an affidavit of changed appearance — the whole point of the five-year validity is that they do change.

One parent, or parents apart

Where one parent cannot sign — abroad, separated, or unwilling — the mission's Annexure C (a declaration by the applying parent) replaces the joint consent, with the court order on custody where there is one; a sole-custody parent attaches the order. A parent who is not Indian signs the same consent with their own passport.

School and the five-year clock

A child's Indian passport expires between school years with no warning; the renewal takes the same four to six weeks as an adult's and goes for police verification less often, since the Indian address is usually unchanged. Renew in the spring, before the summer trip, and before any UK dependant-visa extension that needs a valid passport.

Two things decide the wait: whether the mission can re-issue on its own records, and whether the Indian police have to confirm something first.

The normal timelines

The clock starts when VFS forwards the file, not when you upload the form; a query for a missing document stops it. London is the busiest Indian mission in Europe and runs at the long end of each range in July–August and November–December.

What triggers police verification

A re-issue with no change, on a passport the mission can see on its system, is granted on file. The file goes to the police station for the Indian address on record when there is a change of name, address or appearance, when the passport is lost or stolen, when a child born abroad gets a first passport, when the previous passport was issued before the central database and the details cannot be matched, or when an officer sees a discrepancy between the form and the record. The verification is done in India, at the address, by the local police — a relative who answers the door with a copy of your passport and the ARN shortens it by weeks. A long-closed address, a flat the family has sold, a village with no one home: those are the files that take a quarter.

Tatkal

Tatkal is a re-issue with priority at the mission for roughly double the fee (£185 instead of £93 for 36 pages), open to most applicants in the UK; it is worth it for a visa extension deadline or a wedding, and worthless where police verification is due — the fee is not refunded when the file goes for verification anyway. The missions can refuse tatkal for the cases that must be verified first.

Short-validity and the "pending" months

A passport with a pending correction can be issued for a short validity (one year, say) to allow travel while India processes the change; the mission decides. A UK visa holder waiting on a passport renewal who must travel asks the mission for the timing in writing before booking anything.

Tracking and asking

The portal shows the status by ARN; VFS answers on the status of the physical file; the mission's consular wing answers on the decision, through its contact form or the Public Response Unit, and the MADAD portal is the formal grievance route when a file is stuck past the published time. Shouting at the Goswell Road counter does nothing; the people who can move a file are in Aldwych and in India.

A lost Indian passport in Britain is a week of admin and a higher fee, not a crisis — unless you are flying on Saturday.

Lost or stolen

1. Report it to the UK police online (Action Fraud for a theft with fraud, the local force for a theft or loss) and keep the crime or lost-property reference number; the mission will not accept an application without it.
2. Report it to the mission at once, so the passport is cancelled on the system: a lost Indian passport used by someone else is your problem until it is.
3. Apply for a re-issue "lost passport" on the portal, with the police report, Annexure F (the affidavit of loss, sworn in the mission's format), a copy of the lost passport if you have one — photograph every passport's bio page the day you get it — proof of UK status (your eVisa still exists; the UKVI account proves it) and the standard address proof and photographs.
4. Pay the higher fee for a replacement (VFS's table; the Indian schedule prices a lost booklet well above a re-issue) and expect police verification at the Indian address, which puts the file in the longer timeline.

Damaged

A passport that has been through the washing machine, is torn, has a loose page, has been written on or laminated is a damaged-passport re-issue: the same route, the damaged passport handed in, a declaration of how it happened, and the higher fee where the damage is bad enough that the details cannot be read.

Urgent travel: the Emergency Certificate

If you must travel to India before a replacement can be issued — a death, a critical illness — the mission issues an Emergency Certificate, a one-way travel document valid for the single journey to India, for about £12 plus ICWF and the VFS charge, usually within days against the police report, the affidavit and the proof of the emergency. It does not bring you back: you apply for the new passport at a Passport Seva Kendra in India and return on that. Your UK permission survives, in the UKVI account; the new passport is added to it on return.

Lost abroad

A passport lost in India is replaced in India, at a Passport Seva Kendra, with the police report there and the UK visa evidence from your UKVI account. A passport lost in a third country goes to the Indian mission there for an Emergency Certificate home — to India, not to Britain — and then the same.

After a loss

Tell the bank, the employer and anyone else who holds the number; change the passport on the UKVI account when the new one comes; keep the police reference with the new passport, because the next renewal's form asks for the previous passport's details and the lost one's number is still the answer.

The new booklet is the beginning of a short list.

1. Update your UKVI account — GOV.UK's "update your UK Visas and Immigration account details" — with the new passport number, country and expiry, and upload the bio page. Free, online, and the single most important item: your eVisa is linked to the passport you travel on, and the airline's check against the Home Office system is by passport number. Do it before you book anything. The old passport stays on the account as a previous document.
2. Generate a new share code and give it to your employer for its records (the right-to-work check itself does not need repeating for a document change, but the file should match), and to the landlord if a right-to-rent check is pending.
3. Banks and brokers in the UK that hold your passport as identity (most do) want the new copy for their KYC file; Indian banks, the NRE/NRO account and the demat account want it too, and an NRI's KYC in India is where an expired passport bites hardest — a frozen account on a visit home.
4. Aadhaar, PAN and the Indian driving licence do not change with the passport; Aadhaar's demographic details can be updated online if the name changed.
5. The children's school and the GP do not need it; the DVLA does not either.
6. Keep the cancelled old passport. It carries the visas and entry stamps that prove your immigration history — settlement and citizenship applications ask for every passport you have held — and any valid UK visa vignette in it remains evidence of the permission the eVisa now records. Travel with both until the UKVI account shows the new number, and after that keep the old one at home.
7. The calendar entry: expiry minus twelve months, "renew Indian passport", and for a child, expiry minus six.

If you became British since

A new British passport means the Indian one is surrendered, not renewed: the OCI guide's renunciation section sets out the surrender certificate, the renunciation declaration for anyone naturalised on or after 1 June 2010, and the penalty schedule that starts three months after the citizenship ceremony.

The VFS counter and the portal handle more than the booklet, and several of these come up at the same time as a renewal.

ECR and ECNR

Every Indian passport is either ECR (Emigration Check Required — for work in the eighteen countries where India requires a clearance from the Protector of Emigrants, none of them in Europe) or ECNR. Anyone with a tenth-standard certificate or above, anyone over 50, every income-tax payer and every holder of a residence permit abroad is ECNR; if your passport still says ECR, add the certificate to the renewal and the new booklet comes out ECNR at no extra fee. It matters for nothing in the UK and a great deal if you are ever posted to the Gulf.

Police clearance certificate

A PCC from the Indian mission — needed for some UK employers in regulated work, for a visa to a third country, or for the UK's own settlement or citizenship applications where the Home Office asks for a certificate from a country you lived in — is applied for on the same portal, costs about £30 (US$40) plus ICWF and the VFS charge, and involves exactly the police verification at the Indian address that the passport process does. Six to eight weeks is normal; apply the day the requirement appears.

Attestations

Degree certificates, marriage certificates, powers of attorney and affidavits for use in India are attested at the mission through VFS, for a per-document fee; a UK document used in India generally needs the FCDO apostille first and then, for some purposes, the mission's attestation. A power of attorney to sell property in India is the common one, and the mission's format is strict.

Registration of birth, and the Indian certificate of birth

A child born in Britain to Indian parents is registered with the mission within a year of the birth — ideally with the first passport application — and the mission issues an Indian birth certificate on the strength of the UK one; both parents attend or consent.

Surrender and renunciation

For the newly British, handled at the same counter and covered in the OCI guide.

The three missions and the VFS centres

VFS lists the other UK centres that take Indian consular applications; the mission is fixed by your address, the centre by convenience within that jurisdiction.

Mistakes

• The photograph. UK booth size, glasses, a shadow, a patterned background, a photo older than six months, or a different image uploaded from the one handed in. 51 mm × 51 mm, white, recent, identical.
• The form filled from memory. The place of birth, the parents' names and the previous passport's details must match the current booklet to the letter; "Bombay" stays "Bombay". A spelling that has silently differed across two passports becomes a change-of-particulars file with verification.
• The wrong mission. A Leeds address lodged at London, a Belfast one at Birmingham; the file is returned.
• Applying with travel booked. The passport is away for four to eight weeks; a trip inside that window means tatkal or an Emergency Certificate.
• Undeclared changes. A new Indian address, a beard, a surname taken at marriage — declared, they are a longer process; undeclared, they are a refused file and a second fee.
• Blue ink, a signature outside the box, one parent's signature on a child's form, no copies. The counter sends all of these home.
• Leaving the UKVI account unchanged. A traveller with a new passport number and an eVisa on the old one is the commonest "not allowed to board" story in the groups.

Scams

• "Passport Seva" look-alike sites ending in .com, .org or .in, which take a fee for filling the free form and sometimes for nothing. The portal is passportindia.gov.in and, for missions abroad, embassy.passportindia.gov.in.
• "High Commission" phone calls demanding a payment to avoid cancellation of the passport or the visa: the mission does not telephone for money, ever. Hang up; report to Action Fraud.
• Agents promising tatkal without eligibility or "no police verification": the agent fills the form; the mission decides, and the verification happens or does not on the facts.
• Buying an appointment: VFS slots are free. Someone selling one has booked it with your details and is selling you back your own queue.

Things nobody tells you

• The missions print nothing in Britain: booklets are printed in India and shipped, which is why "granted" is followed by a fortnight of silence.
• A renewal can be done while a UK visa application is pending; tell the Home Office the new number when the passport arrives, through the account.
• The cancelled old passport is returned at the same appointment or with the courier; if it is not, ask, because you need it.
• Children's renewals are the ones families forget, and the dependant-visa extension for a child with an expired Indian passport is the renewal everyone then does in a hurry at tatkal rates.
• The groups in each city carry last week's appointment experience — which VFS counter was fast, whether the Edinburgh consulate wanted the apostille — and the UK country guide's High Commission section has the rest of the consular map.