Indian Passport Renewal for Minors in the UK: A Parent's Complete Guide

As parents living in the UK, renewing your child's Indian passport can feel like a job you keep pushing to next weekend. Between school runs, work and everything else, the precise requirements are easy to get wrong — and the two mistakes that actually get minor applications rejected are both paperwork mistakes, not travel ones.

So this guide starts with the checklist, then explains the annexures (where most families come unstuck), the real 2026 fees, and how long it takes. Where the honest answer is "you can do this yourself", we say so.

Minor passport renewal checklist (UK)#

Everything below is submitted at a VFS Global centre as originals plus self-attested photocopies. Self-attested means a parent signs each copy — sign in the same style used on the application.

Always needed

• The printed online application form, signed. Every detail must match the child's existing passport exactly.
• The child's current Indian passport — original, plus copies of the first two pages, the last two pages, and any observation or ECR page.
• The child's birth certificate — original and copy. A UK birth certificate is fine; if the birth was registered at the Indian mission, bring that certificate too.
• Both parents' passports — originals and copies (first two, last two, visa and observation pages). If a parent holds a British or other foreign passport, that passport plus their OCI card or Indian-origin proof.
• Proof of UK address in a parent's name, dated within the last three months — utility bill, bank statement or council tax bill. Original and copy.
• The parents' marriage certificate — original and copy.
• Annexure D — the declaration by parent(s) or guardian. Mandatory on every minor application, renewal or first passport. Both parents sign.
• Annexure E — the standard applicant declaration. This one is mandatory for everyone, adults included, and it is the form most parents have never heard of. For a minor, a parent signs it on the child's behalf.
• Two photographs of the child, 3.5 cm x 4.5 cm, colour, plain white background, neutral expression, no shadows, full face visible. Head coverings only for religious reasons. A baby's eyes must be open.
• Both parents and the child in person at the appointment.

Only in certain situations

• A sworn affidavit from a regional passport office or an Indian mission — where one parent is abroad but alive, contactable and consenting. This supports Annexure D; it does not replace it.
• Annexure C — where the other parent's consent cannot be obtained. Its own tick-boxes include "residing abroad and unable to provide consent" and "travelling abroad and unable to provide consent", so an unreachable overseas parent is squarely within it. From the UK it must be notarised by a UK Notary Public — a solicitor is not accepted — with a notarised letter explaining the circumstances, unless you are producing a custody order instead.
• A court order or decree, where custody is disputed or the parents are divorced.
• A deed poll or newspaper name-change advertisement, if the child's name has changed since the last passport.
• The child's OCI card, if they hold one — bring it, and see the OCI section below for what happens after the new passport is issued.

The annexures — and the mix-up that gets applications rejected#

This is the single most common piece of bad advice in circulation, including in earlier versions of this guide, so it is worth being blunt about.

• Annexure D is the ordinary declaration by parents or guardian. It is mandatory on every minor application. There is no minor route that skips it.
• Annexure C is the declaration used when one parent has not given consent. VFS UK additionally scopes it to a single parent holding a court order of full custody.
• Annexure E is the standard declaration signed by every applicant of any age.

A parent who is simply overseas but alive and willing is neither of those cases. You still file Annexure D, supported by a sworn affidavit executed at a regional passport office in India or at an Indian mission abroad. Sending Annexure C because one parent could not fly to the appointment is the classic error — it tells the mission that consent was withheld, which is a very different application.

The annexures genuinely were renumbered, which is why older guides and even some agents still cite the wrong letter. The Passport (Amendment) Rules 2016, notified on 23 December 2016, replaced the whole set and cut the number of affidavits from fifteen to nine, all now plain-paper self-declarations. Old Annexure G became today's C, and old Annexure H became today's D. One trap is worth naming: the old Annexure E was the change-of-name and deed-poll affidavit, while today's Annexure E is an unrelated general declaration. Any page telling you "Annexure E is the deed poll form" is citing something that stopped existing in 2016. In today's lettering, H is the prior-intimation letter, I is the surrogacy declaration, and J is the joint declaration used in lieu of a marriage certificate.

What it costs in 2026#

Indian passport fees rose on 1 July 2026 under the Passports (Amendment) Rules 2026 — the first increase in around fourteen years. Guides still quoting £56 or £63 for a child's passport were written before that date. Every total below is booklet fee + £2 ICWF + £29.78 VFS service fee, per applicant.

Item	Under 15	Aged 15 to 18
Booklet issued	5-year or until 18, whichever is earlier	Adult 10-year booklet
Booklet fee, 36 pages	£67	£93
ICWF	£2	£2
VFS service fee	£29.78	£29.78
All-in total, 36 pages	£98.78	£124.78
All-in total, 60 pages	Not offered	£161.78
Tatkaal all-in, 36 pages	£190.78	£216.78

A few notes that save money or confusion:

• A first passport is cheaper than a renewal. For a child under 15 applying fresh, VFS bills a £61 booklet fee — £61 + £2 + £29.78 = £92.78 all-in. That reflects the MEA's 10% discount on fresh applications only for minors up to age eight. It never applies to a re-issue.
• A lost or damaged minor passport is charged at the penalty rate, not the ordinary one: £185 + £2 + £29.78 = £216.78.
• Optional extras are the same on every VFS line: next-day courier £15, three-to-five-day courier £8, SMS updates £2, photo booth £10, passport form-filling £10.
• The £7.44 "service fee" you may spot on the VFS website is the visa line. Every published passport, OCI and consular fee table bills £29.78.

Fees move. Confirm the live figure on the VFS UK passport-services page on the day you pay.

Which application is your child's, exactly?#

Renewal, first passport, expired more than three years, name change and single-parent cases each take a slightly different document set. If you are not sure which one you are in, this walks you through it in about a minute.

The application process, step by step#

Your four-step renewal journey

1. Complete the online application — on the Passport Seva NRI portal↗. Register, choose "Re-issue of Passport", select the minor category, pick your VFS centre, then print and sign the form.
2. Book the VFS appointment — through the VFS Global UK site. Download and print the confirmation. Slots at the busier centres go quickly in the summer holidays, so book before you finish assembling the folder, not after.
3. Assemble and self-attest the documents — using the checklist above. Originals and copies, in VFS order.
4. Attend with both parents and the child — identities are verified at the counter and biometrics are taken (a photograph for infants, fingerprints for older children).

How long it takes#

• Normal service: 4 to 6 weeks, per the VFS UK checklist. Add time around Indian and UK public holidays.
• Tatkaal: VFS quotes 7 to 10 days on its passport pages and 3 to 5 working days elsewhere. Treat the longer figure as your planning number.

Track the application on the VFS Global tracking portal and on Passport Seva once submitted.

Tatkaal for a child — read this before you count on it#

Tatkaal is available at HCI London and CGI Birmingham only. It is not offered in Edinburgh.

It is also not accepted for single-parent minor applications — which is precisely the situation in which parents most often reach for it. Tatkaal is likewise refused for a change of name, a passport expired more than three years, an applicant without a valid UK visa, short-validity renewals, divorce or separation cases, and a first passport without a birth-registration certificate.

After the new passport: your child's OCI#

If your child holds an OCI card, the new passport has to be reflected against their OCI record.

Since July 2026 this is much simpler than it used to be. The old age-20 and age-50 re-issue triggers were abolished — there is no OCI re-issue at any age just because a new passport was issued. What remains is a free online passport-particulars update, filed within three months of the new passport being issued. Miss the three months and it becomes a paid late update: US$25, about £23, plus the VFS service charge.

The Ministry of Home Affairs' own FAQ page has not caught up and still describes the old re-issue rule, which is why plenty of guides — and plenty of well-meaning relatives — will tell you otherwise.

Common pitfalls#

• The wrong annexure. Covered above; it is the expensive one.
• Forgetting Annexure E. It applies to every applicant and is easy to miss because nobody talks about it.
• Missing signatures. Both parents sign Annexure D and attest every photocopy. Depending on age, the child signs or gives a thumb impression.
• Mismatched details. Name spelling, date of birth and address must match the existing passport and the supporting documents exactly — including middle names and the order they appear in.
• Leaving originals at home. VFS keeps the copies but must sight the originals.
• Assuming a 15-year-old still pays the child fee. From 15, the adult booklet and the adult price apply.

Doing it yourself, or handing it over#

If both parents are in the UK, the details on the old passport are correct and nobody's name has changed, this is a straightforward application. Plenty of families complete it themselves in an evening, and there is no reason to pay anyone for that.

It gets worth delegating when one parent is abroad, when custody or a name change is involved, when the child's documents disagree with each other, or when you simply cannot afford the four-to-six-week loop that a returned application costs you. That is where we come in: a checked document set, the correct annexures for your actual situation, and the form completed to match.

If this is your child's first Indian passport — a newborn, or a UK-born child whose birth still needs registering with the mission — that is a different application with a different fee, and we handle it separately.

Frequently asked questions#

How early should I apply for my child's Indian passport renewal in the UK?#

You can file a re-issue at any point during the final year of the current passport's validity. About six months before expiry is comfortable, and you should apply straight away if travel is already booked — normal processing is 4 to 6 weeks and most airlines want at least six months of validity remaining on the day you fly.

One parent is abroad. Do I use Annexure C instead of Annexure D?#

It depends on whether their consent can be obtained, not on where they are. If the overseas parent is contactable and willing, they sign Annexure D remotely — that is the normal case. Annexure C is for where consent genuinely cannot be obtained, and its own tick-boxes cover a parent residing or travelling abroad and unable to consent. From the UK, Annexure C has to be notarised by a UK Notary Public — a solicitor is not accepted — with a notarised letter explaining the circumstances, unless you are producing a custody order instead.

What does a minor's Indian passport renewal cost in the UK in 2026?#

For a child under 15, a 5-year booklet is £67 plus £2 ICWF plus the £29.78 VFS service fee — £98.78 all-in. From 15 the adult 10-year booklet applies: £124.78 for 36 pages, £161.78 for 60. Indian passport fees rose on 1 July 2026, so older guides quoting £56 or £63 are out of date.

Can my 16-year-old get a 10-year Indian passport?#

Yes. Under 15, a child gets a 5-year booklet or one valid until they turn 18, whichever comes first. From 15 to 18, the full 10-year adult booklet is available — at the adult fee.

Do both parents and the child have to attend the VFS appointment?#

Yes, as a rule both parents and the child attend, including for infants. Identities are verified at the counter and biometrics are captured — a photograph for a baby, fingerprints for an older child. Where one parent cannot attend but can still consent, they sign Annexure D remotely; where consent cannot be obtained at all, that is the Annexure C route.

Can I use Tatkaal for my child's passport?#

Sometimes. Tatkaal is offered at HCI London and CGI Birmingham only, not Edinburgh, and it is not accepted for single-parent minor applications. It is also refused for name changes, passports expired more than three years, applicants without a valid UK visa, and a first passport without a birth-registration certificate.

Does my child's OCI card need updating after the new passport?#

Yes, but only with a free online passport-particulars update, filed within three months of the new passport being issued. The old age-20 and age-50 OCI re-issue rules were abolished in July 2026 — there is no re-issue at any age simply because a new passport was issued. Filing late costs US$25, roughly £23, plus the VFS service charge.

What if my child's passport has already expired?#

You can still apply; it is processed as a re-issue and the documents are much the same. An expired passport is not a barrier, but if it expired more than three years ago the Tatkaal route is closed to you, so allow the full normal processing time.