Expats decry Indian passport fees hike

Published Tuesday, October 02, 2012

By VM Sathish

The sudden almost 90% rise in passport fees has come as a shocker for Indian expatriates in the Gulf, who have already been reeling with rising prices back home and skyrocketing airfare.

The Indian expatriate community in the UAE is concerned about mounting cost of living for their families back home, after the prices of several essential items like cooking gas, petrol, diesel, milk and vegetables have skyrocketed, along with steep increase in the fees charged for issuing and renewing passports.

* With effect from Monday (October 1, 2012), the cost of taking a new passport has gone up by Dh135 from Dh150 per passport to Dh285.

* The fees for urgent passport (Tatkaal) is jacked up from Dh700 to Dh855, an increase of Dh155.

* The additional charge for issuing a jumbo passport has gone up from Dh40 to Dh60.

* The cost for obtaining a new passport in lieu of lost or stole passport, has gone up by Dh65 from Dh505 to Dh570.

The increase in the passport fee by the Indian missions in the Gulf is more than the corresponding increase back home. The rate for issuing a new passport in India has been increased by Rs500 from Rs1,000 to Rs1,500, a 50 per cent increase. However the corresponding increase in the Gulf is Dh 135 (Rs2,025) – which is almost four times the increase in India.

For Tatkaal passport, the rates in India have gone up by Rs1,000 from Rs2,500 to Rs3,500.

According to Indian community association officials in the UAE, the steep increase in the passport is not justifiable. They say that the revised fees of Dh285 amounts to almost half the monthly salary of many low-paid Indian workers in the Gulf.

“I am highly disappointed with the steep increase in the passport fees and other service charges by the Indian Embassies and by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. At a time when many middle class expatriates are trying to cope up with the steep increase in the price of diesel, petrol, cooking gas, milk and the extremely high airfare, such fees increase would upset the Indian expatriate community here,"said Punnakkan Mohammed Ali, an Indian Social Worker and Senior Official from the Indian Overseas Congress.

"Whichever Government Department is responsible for the steep increase in such fees should rethink the decision, as it is going to hit expatriates, especially those in the lower income bracket.”

He said many expatriates have their budget stretched, because of the recent price increases back home, especially for essential items like milk and bus fare. India recently witnessed nationwide protest against steep increase in petrol prices and planned reduction in subsidy for cooking gas. In Kerala, the electricity tariff has been hiked 30 per cent, hitting all consumers.

“Price of all commodities from common salt to vegetables to rice and milk is going up. Similarly the electricity and water charges are being increased along with minimum bus fare, auto fare and taxi fares.

Life is becoming difficult for the common folks and many expatriates find it difficult to cope up with the increased family maintenance cost. If an average Indian family could survive with Rs4,000, now they need Rs10,000. Cooking gas price has gone up from Rs450 to Rs650, a steep increase of Rs200 per cylinder and the number of cylinders given to each family is reduced,” says Narayanan Veliyancode, an Indian Social Worker.

“We expect the house taxes to go up further and the increase in passport service fee is not justifiable. The airlines have jacked up air ticket rates and the steep increase in passport renewal and for taking new passport is hitting the ordinary expatriates,” he added.

“Many Indian community associations including those supportive of the Ruling party are unhappy and raised their objections against the passport service increase.”

“The cost of everything back home is going up. The latest move is to steeply increase the passport service fees. Last month milk price went up. Milma has increased the price of milk by Rs5 per liter. It affects many expatriate families who depend on the money remitted by their bread earners in the UAE or other Gulf countries,” said Kabir an Indian expatriate in the UAE.

"The only silver lining for us expatriates is the drop in the value of the rupee against the dollar and the dirham," said S Kumar. "If it was not for the fall in the rupee value, we all would be in a worse situation. Even though the rupee fall has helped limit the rise in our monthly remittances, the rise in passport fees is unjustified and is

mainly done to pay the outsource companies more than to fill the governmnet coffers," he alleged.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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