One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: At the PSK counter, what matters is that the address printed on your application form matches the address on the proof you carry. If your Aadhaar shows the same hometown address you filled in, the document check will normally clear. The real risk sits elsewhere. Police verification goes to that address, and the police station covering it has to confirm you actually live there.
Nikhil Chauhan booked his slot at the Passport Seva Kendra in Pune for 18 February 2025. He filled the form the night before. Present address, permanent address, both the same: a house in Vaishali Nagar, Jaipur, where his parents live and where his Aadhaar was issued. He worked in Pune. The paperwork said Jaipur. The counter staff did not reject anything outright. They pointed at the screen, asked why someone applying from Pune was giving a Jaipur address, and said the file would go for verification to the police station covering Vaish police station covering Vaishali Nagar. In Jaipur. Where he did not live. He paid the fee, gave his fingerprints and photograph, and by lunchtime he had an SMS with the application reference number. He had taken the day off work. He told his manager he would be back by two and he was. Then nothing — three weeks of nothing, with the online status sitting on the same line about police verification being pending. This is his account of it, and only his. I have not seen the police file. But the shape of the problem is common enough that it is worth setting out properly.What the passport counter actually checks, and what it does not
The Passport Seva Kendra is a document-collection and identity-verification point. Staff there match the papers in front of them against the form you submitted. If your identity proof and your address proof are on the government's accepted list, and the details line up, the counter clears you. That is the whole of the interaction.
What the counter cannot do is confirm that you live where you say you live. That is not its job. The police do that part, later, and the police go to the address printed on the form.
So the counter was right to accept his file. The file was internally consistent. Aadhaar said Jaipur. The form said Jaipur. Nothing about that stack of paper was wrong.
Present address and permanent address are not the same field
This is where most people get caught. The passport application asks for two addresses, and they mean different things.
- Permanent address — the family home, the place you would go back to, often where your other documents were issued.
- Present address — where you are actually living now, where you sleep, where you can be found.
There is a box on the form that says the present address is the same as the permanent address. Ticking it is convenient. It is also a statement that you currently live at the family home. If you have moved to another city for work, that statement is not true, and it is the address on the form — not the address on your Aadhaar — that police verification follows.
People tick that box for two reasons. One, they genuinely think of the family home as "the" address. Two, they can produce a Jaipur Aadhaar and nothing else, and a Pune address needs a Pune document. The first reason is a misunderstanding. The second is a paperwork gap, and a paperwork gap is fixable.
How police verification runs
Once the application is processed, the Regional Passport Office routes a verification request to the police station that has jurisdiction over the address on the form. That station, or the one above it, assigns an officer. The officer is expected to visit or otherwise satisfy himself of two things: that the applicant exists, and that the applicant is found at that address.
An ordinary application usually gets the passport issued first, with the verification running after it, which is why people sometimes hold a passport that is later recalled. A Tatkal application runs the other way — pre-verification happens before issuance, which is why Tatkal is faster and less forgiving. Rules and practice on this have shifted over the years, so treat the general sequence as a guide rather than a fixed schedule.
What the officer writes in that report is the pivot the whole thing turns on.
Can a passport application be refused for an address issue?
A mismatch of addresses, by itself, is not a ground for refusal. Section 6 of the Passports Act, 1967 lists the grounds on which a passport authority may refuse a passport, and "your present address differs from your permanent address" is not one of them.
The danger is narrower and more specific. If the police report says the applicant was not found at the given address, the Regional Passport Office is looking at a statement in your application that the verification did not support. At that point you are no longer dealing with an address problem. You are dealing with a question about whether the information you gave was true, and that is a different conversation with a different set of consequences.
What happens if the police report is adverse
Typically the Regional Passport Office issues a show-cause notice. This is a letter on the file, and it will have a date by which you must reply. Do not let that date pass. In practice the options are:
- Reply with documents. Proof that you do reside where you claimed, or proof of the correct present address, depending on what the notice is actually asking.
- Appear before the RPO. Many offices allow a personal hearing on a fixed day. Bring originals.
- Correct the record. If the address was wrong, file the correction with proper proof of the correct address rather than defending the wrong one.
- Appeal. The Passports Act provides a right of appeal against a refusal order, with the period and forum set out in the Act and Rules. This is time-bound and needs to be handled quickly.
- Grievance channels. The Ministry of External Affairs runs a passport grievance system, and CPGRAMS is available as a second route. These work better as a supplement to a proper reply than as a substitute for one.
Is giving a wrong address a criminal offence?
Section 12 of the Passports Act, 1967 makes it an offence to make a false statement or furnish false information for the purpose of obtaining a passport. It carries a fine and can carry imprisonment.
Whether a particular case reaches that threshold depends on facts I would not guess at: what exactly was stated, what the applicant knew when he stated it, and what the police report records. An honest mistake about which address to treat as "present" and a deliberate false declaration are treated very differently. Where the conduct crosses into a registered case, the procedure followed is the one under the criminal procedure law as it stands after 1 July 2024, and a person in that position should get advice before answering anything in writing.
On the facts as they have been described to me, there is nothing to suggest that stage has been reached.
How to avoid the problem, and how to fix it
If you have not yet applied:
- Fill the present address as the address where you actually live.
- Attach one document showing that address. Aadhaar, a registered rent agreement, an electricity or water or piped gas bill in your name, a bank passbook with the address printed, a landline or postpaid mobile bill, or an employer's certificate are among the papers commonly accepted. Check the current list on the Passport Seva site before your appointment, because it is revised.
- If the document is in a family member's name, carry whatever the current rules require to link you to that address — do not assume a verbal explanation at the counter will do.
- If you genuinely live at the permanent address, tick the box. Just be sure it is true.
If you have already applied and the wrong address is on the form:
- Do not wait for the police to turn up at a house where you are not staying.
- Write to the Regional Passport Office handling your file, quote the application reference number, and state the correction sought.
- Attach proof of the correct address.
- Keep a copy of everything you send, and the date you sent it.
How long this takes
Honestly: it varies by RPO and by police station workload. A clean verification in a city can close in a couple of weeks. A file that has gone to the wrong district, come back marked unfavourable, and then gone into a show-cause process can run into months. Tatkal shortens the front end, not the dispute. If you are working to a travel date, assume the dispute will not resolve in time and plan around that rather than the other way.
What you can control is the paper trail. Every letter you send, every date, every acknowledgement slip.
Frequently Asked Questions
My Aadhaar shows my hometown but I live in another city. Will my passport application be rejected?
Not at the counter. Aadhaar is accepted as proof of identity and address, and if the form matches it, the submission will go through. The issue surfaces later, at police verification, if the address on the form is not where you can actually be found.
Can I give my permanent address as my present address?
Only if it is true — if you actually live there. The form is asking where you currently reside. Ticking "same as permanent address" when you have moved is a statement that can be checked and found inaccurate.
The police came to my family home and I was not there. What now?
It depends what the officer recorded. If the report states you were not found, expect a show-cause notice from the Regional Passport Office. Respond within the time given, with proof of where you actually live.
Can I change the address on a passport that has already been issued?
Yes. A re-issue application can be filed with proof of the new address, and verification will run again at that address. There is a fee, and a fresh police verification is normal.
I have received a show-cause notice from the RPO. Should I ignore it and reapply later?
No. An unanswered notice stays on the record, and reapplying with the same problem usually produces the same result. The notice is the moment to correct the file.
Does any of this change because of the new criminal laws?
The verification itself is an administrative process, not a criminal one. The new procedure codes matter only if a case is actually registered — for example under Section 12 of the Passports Act — and at that point how you are questioned and what you sign becomes important.
This is general information about how Indian passport law and police verification work. It is not legal advice on your own situation, and reading it does not create an advocate-client relationship.
If you are holding a show-cause notice from a Regional Passport Office, or your verification has come back with something you do not understand, send me the notice or the status printout with its date, the application reference number, and two lines on where you actually live and where the form says you live. That is usually enough for me to tell you whether there is anything to argue or whether it is a paperwork fix. You can reach the chamber at /contact-us or book a slot at /book. If you are still at the pre-application stage and simply want to get the form right the first time, the same form works — bring the document list you plan to carry.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Lawyers' Chamber, Chamber No. 86, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi 110001. Phone +91 97295 06771. Email me@sudhirrao.com. Criminal defence, cyber crime and economic offences. For family and matrimonial matters, Adv. Jyoti Rao, Bar Council of Delhi D/891/2023, is available at the same chamber.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India
Facing a similar matter? Speak to a criminal advocate in Delhi — Advocate Sudhir Rao appears in bail, trial and appellate matters before the Delhi District Courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.