I had to go to bangalore passport office to get ECNR stamped. There is lot of information on web about how to get ECNR, but not much on what is the rationale behind having this beast. From a bit of putting 2 and 2 together, it seems it is to protect illiterate, non skilled labour from work exploitation in certain countries. For some reason, I was deemed to be in that category on both occassions of issue of original passport and its renewal, even though I had given my degree and probably other cert also along with application.
So you think in day of web and internet things will be simpler! I checked up the usual websites on ECNR, and for bangalore passport office there are two set of web pages mixed up - the old and the new one. Sample this URL:
https://nitpu2.kar.nic.in/passport/instr.htm#ECNR
This page does not tell what docs are required to apply for ECNR.
If you are lucky to see the URL below, this has presumably correct information on docs required:
https://nitpu2.kar.nic.in/passport/ecnr_ecr.htm
Both of above are on the same domain, but one is older information. e.g. this link gives the old address of passport office:
https://kar.nic.in/passport/contact.htm
The new Koramangla address is given at:
https://nitpu2.kar.nic.in/passport/about_us.htm
On any given day, your luck or daily horoscope may take you to the right page, or maybe not. To make matters worse, many different city passport offices have put up their own pages, and there is no guarantee their information will be same.
Now about bangalore passport office:
You stand in queue and get a token between 9:30 and 12:00 am. A token could be just a stamp with token no written on your application. So you should have your enquiries and application filled up mostly to get a token. That is first hurdle crossed. It entitles you to multiple visits(in case there is problem with your documents) to the office without getting token again. You graduate from waiting in queue outside to waiting in air-conditioned offices inside.
Now once inside passport office, if there is a problem /missing documentation, you may have to go back and come again with right documents/copies. The time window is not much, in my case 1:30 pm was too late and counter had closed. So plan your time for 2 trips to passport office at least. Convey beforehand to your boss, family etc about upcoming event in life called visit to passport office.
Other observations:
People wait for tokens in the open air. If it rains, only people with umbrellas etc will survive. So you see - Charles Darwin has an admirer in passport dept. Thou shalt brave rain and sunshine to get a passport.
Otherwise, the first floor office was mostly empty, air conditioned, and had a nice feel to it . there was nothing crowded or noisy. I didn’t check out the ground floor where probably most new/renewal applicants will go.
While waiting in the token queue, a smart alec mentioned that passport office should get efficient like the railways. Not that many years ago, he could have been labelled nuts for making such a statement. I mean compare two government depts on efficiency! Usually the talk is about which govt dept is most inefficient, but these are changing times. Anyway, railways had to pull up because of air deccan, Capt Gopi went for minister Lalu’s dhoti with a vengeance. Who will give passport office the competition? Hai koi mai ka laal.
Giving avg rating but I have to give Product recommendation as Yes. Else where will you go instead?