Renew Your Indian Passport in USA

Published on Aug 23, 2020

A lot of us have been here in the United States for a while. There can come a time when your Indian passport is expiring or you've traveled a lot and your pages are now full. In that case you'll have to Renew / Reissue Your Indian Passport.

But the first question that comes to your mind is:

Can I renew my Indian passport in USA?

Yes. You can renew your Indian Passport in USA. All the Indian Passport services are handled by Cox & King Global Services (ckgs.us.com). Follow the steps mentioned in the below Guide to know how to Renew Your Indian Passport in USA

Now, since you are in a foreign country, you don't quite know all the steps involved in renewing your Passport. Don’t worry. Here’s a guide that will help you out with every step of the passport renewal process here in the U.S.

Like most government documents, to get this one too you need to fill an application from. For an adult, the passport is renews for 10 years where as for a person under the age of 18 it is renewed for 5 years.

Since, you are all on visa here, you may be thinking what about my old passport with the visa stamp?

Your old passport is returned to you and you may need to carry both your passports the next time you travel.

The entire process of renewing your Indian Passport in USA is mentioned on the Cox and Kings website - All the Indian Passport services are handled by Cox & King Global Services (ckgs.us.com).

But the process outlined on the official Cox & Kings website is so confusing that you might just give up. So, here we are trying to make things easy and simple for you.

The first thing you need to do is identify your Consular jurisdiction. This is needed because after you fill out all the forms needed and have collected the documents, you need to mail it (post it) to the correct CKGS center in USA.

Below are the Consular Jurisdictions based on your current address:

Washington DC: Bermuda, Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia
New York: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Islnd and Vermont.
Chicago: Missouri, IIllinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, and Wisconsin
Houston (TX): Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska
SF: Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming
Atlanta: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virgin Islands

What documents do I need to renew my Indian passport in USA?

As with any other such process, there are a few documents that you’ll need to submit with your application. Here’s a list of documents that needs to be submitted:

Expiring Passport (Original, most recent one). All other OLD passports, if any, are not required.
4 recent size photos - size 2 inches by 2 inches (2”x 2”) photo against a white background.
Notarized Photocopy of a US residence proof - Driver’s License, State ID, gas, electric or water or Rental Lease bill.
Photocopy of passport‘s first five and last two pages. Need NOT be notarized.
Notarized COLOR photocopy of US legal status (Visa, Greencard, EAD, I-797 or I-20).
Change of Appearance form.
Indian Address Proof – if if you want to ADD or CHANGE current Indian Address on your current passport.

Of course, apart from these, you also need the submit the application form, your passport and the document checklist. Refer to that list in case we have missed here any.

The Renewal Steps:

There are 2 parts to it. The first part involves you filling a form / application on the CKGS website. This part is to validate your authenticity as a legal immigrant in the U.S.

The 2nd part involves filling a form / application on the Government of India website to validate your authenticity as an Indian National.

Let’s Get Started:

Step 1:

Go to the CKGS (Cox and Kings Global services) website at:

https://passport.in.ckgs.us/get-started

Step 2:

Enter your details by choosing the passport service, residence state and type of application. At the end of this step, you will be shown the complete document checklist, passport fees (including CKGS handling charges), processing times and a temporary reference number. Save the reference number generated.

Step 3:

Now fill the supplementary forms and letters as per your service and type of application. The forms are auto-filled where-ever possible and you should fill the remaining blanks. For example, if you want an Indian address on your passport, you will be required to fill the Nationality verification form. Review, print and sign these forms wherever necessary. Remember that all the signatures on application forms have to be notarized.

Step 4:

Choose the submission mode – Shipping or Walk-in. If you are going to ship them, it is good to use the CKGS’s Fedex Standard overnight service instead of creating your own shipping label. It costs $30 for shipping both ways.

Step 5:

Pay your fees online using Credit/Debit card. This fee includes passport renewal charges, CKGS handling and shipping costs.

Step 6:

In this step, you have to fill another form on Indian government website. This form is called the Indian Passport Renewal USA.

CKGS creates aunique ID to link to this application from. Click this link and fill the form. It is quite easy.

Ensure that applicant’s name, father’s name and signature given on the form match with that on the current passport.

You will get a NEW WEB REFERENCE NUMBER from Government online NRI passport application form which is later required on CKGS website. Save this new web reference number too.

Step 7:

Print the completed application form.

Step 8:

Now, go back to CKGS website and fill in the government passport application reference number. Visit this page:

https://passport.in.ckgs.us/already-filled-NIC-form

or go to their home page and choose “Already filled in the Government Online NRI Passport Form”.

Step 9:

Once you complete the online process, you will now have to submit your physical application via shipping or walk-in option as selected by you to the CKGS Indian Passport Application Center as per the Jurisdiction of your application.

We've already mentioned the Consular Jurisdictions above. Now, below is the amount of time it will take for you to get your New Passport based on your Consular Jurisdiction.