Hand-written passport becomes invalid from today

New Delhi: Hand-written passports of Indian citizens are no longer valid from today as per government's directive.

The government had asked those having hand-written passports to get machine-readable ones having bar codes by November 24.

The government had decided to discontinue hand-written passports in accordance with recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to incorporate biometric data in the machine readable travel documents. Hand-written passports became invalid for travelling abroad from today, said a government official.

The machine readable passports have greater protection against fraudulent practices and tampering. The hand-written passports were issued prior to 2001.