Indian Passport Renewal | Splitting name in the passport | F U to FNU

Renewing Indian Passport in San Francisco and splitting the name in the passport.

Here's the breakdown of the process I went through to get my Indian Passport renewed and have my name split in the passport. I wanted to get my name split because my expiring passport had an empty Last-Name field and my full name appeared in the Given-Name field. This led to my US Visa having my first-name as FNU [First Name Unknown] and my last-name as my complete name.

First of all, the processing of Indian passport renewal applications has been outsourced to a separate company called BLS International and does not happen at the Indian consulate like earlier.

When did I apply for renewal of my passport ?

As per the instructions on the website and as of writing of this post, one can renew their passports when there is less than 1 year left for the expiry of the passport. That is, if your passport expires in April 2016, you can apply for renewal on or after April 2015.

Where did I apply for the renewal ?

The application centers appear to have been divided into different jurisdiction based on the presence of an Indian consulate or embassy. If you live in a city that doesn't have a BLS center,  you are required to mail in the application. Since I live in San Francisco, I made an appointment after filling up a BLS order form [online form and info here] and went to the passport center directly which is in the Richmond district. The building is quite easy to miss [no Indian flag unlike the consulate :)]

What documents did I need to carry ?

  The exact same documents mentioned on the website 

  In addition to the documents required for standard renewal, I wanted to split my name in my new passport in order to get rid of a FNU [First Name Unknown] problem that I had gotten into. The forms and sample-filled-form is available on the website. I also called in to the call center to get some help on this before filling up the form and getting it notarized. More information about FNU coming soon.

  While I carried these documents to the office in person, you may have to mail them depending on where you live.

Did I have to wait till the Passport Renewal time to get the name split ?

Nope. I could've done it earlier but didn't get around doing it. But when the time to renew my passport came, I thought it made sense to get everything right this time around.

How was the process ?

I wasn't sure of the parking situation around the BLS office in San Francisco and decided to take the bus for my appointment which was at 9:20 am [However I noticed there were a bunch of street parking spots around]. I arrived 15 minutes earlier. On entering, they asked me if I had an appointment. On answering yes, they called me at the window immediately. I gave my application forms including the current passport. Since, I had plans to do a lot of traveling during the second phase of my passport life, I requested for the Jumbo passport. I paid in cash [I don't think they accepted cards]. I was given a receipt and told that I would be notified via email when the passport is ready for pickup. Smooth and easy - I was in and out of the office in less than 30 minutes.

How much did I pay ?

I was first asked to pay $130 but on checking why so, they said that they were charging me for couriering the passport. I explained to them that I live not too far from the office and there were lot of instance of missing post at my apartment and so I would prefer to pick it up. They understood and I paid $116.

When did I receive the passport ?

As per the website, the processing time is 2-3 weeks. I applied on May 13th. I received a notification saying my passport was ready for pick up on May 21st. 8 days - not bad at all. 

Went to the office, gave them my receipt and they returned both the old passport and the new passport. The old passport had a cancelled stamp on it. I verified the details on my new passport was correct [especially that my name was split as per my application] and I was on my way.

Anything interesting about the new passport ?
The new passport had my US address in the address field in the Bio data section of the passport. And also mentioned in it was that the passport was issued in the city of San Francisco.

NOTE: My experience posted here is only to serve anyone else that might be looking to do the same and is in no way the most perfect source of information to rely on and please refer to the BLS Website for the most current information. If you think there is something that appears questionable in this post, please let me know and I'll be more than glad to clarify. Good Luck and Jai Ho !