Indian Passport Renewal in the USA 2026: VFS Appointments, Documents, Fees, Processing Time and Lost Passports

Indian Passport Renewal in the USA - 2026 Quick Answer

As of October 2026, every Indian passport renewal in the US goes through VFS Global, the only authorised service provider for the Embassy of India and all Indian consulates. The Atlanta consulate states that it does not take passport applications by walk-in or by post.

The process has three steps:

• Fill in the online form on the Passport Seva portal for missions and pick the mission that covers your state.
• Build the file from the current VFS checklist.
• Submit documents and fees to VFS at a booked appointment, or pay online and mail the file.

Since 1 July 2026, an adult 36-page renewal costs $146 in total through VFS, and a 36-page Tatkal costs $271. Most missions quote about 2 to 4 weeks once VFS forwards a complete file, plus VFS handling and shipping. Police verification or other clearances can add time.

Visarun does not issue passports, and decisions belong to the Embassy and consulates. Once your new passport is ready, we help prepare visa applications for your next trip.

Who Handles Passports - Consulates, VFS Centres and Jurisdiction

Since 15 July 2025, nine missions share consular work in the US, according to the Embassy's jurisdiction table:

• Washington DC: Bermuda, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
• Atlanta: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and the Virgin Islands.
• Boston: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
• Chicago: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.
• Houston: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
• Los Angeles: ten Southern California counties (Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Kern and San Luis Obispo), plus Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.
• New York: Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
• San Francisco: the other 48 Northern California counties, plus Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Utah and Wyoming.
• Seattle: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington.

Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico are a grey area. The Embassy table puts them under Los Angeles, the VFS passport table groups them with San Francisco, and a news aggregator reported in April 2026 that passport work stayed with San Francisco. We recommend picking the mission the Passport Seva form offers for your address and following the VFS checklist. If only San Francisco appears, that is expected.

VFS asks applicants to choose the mission by place of residence, and a wrong choice means a new online form. If you applied through another mission before or moved states, the Embassy asks for a new Passport Seva account with a new email address, because jurisdiction is set only at account creation.

VFS announced eight new centres in August 2025 (Boston, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edison, Orlando, Raleigh and San Jose), for a US total of 16. We could not confirm the current list, so check the VFS site.

Booking an Appointment When Slots Are Scarce

According to applicant reports on Reddit in October 2026, a New York resident who needs their passport for an H-1B filing found no appointments in New York or New Jersey and asked about applying through another consulate.

The official wording ties appointments to your area jurisdiction, and we found no rule that allows booking a centre elsewhere.

The practical fix is the mail-in route, which VFS itself recommends: pay online and courier the file. Courier submissions are processed Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 15:30, and appointments run Monday to Saturday, except holidays.

For the online form:

• VFS recommends a fresh form if yours was completed more than 150 days ago, because forms expire 180 days before submission to the mission.
• After online submission the form cannot be changed. An error means a new form.
• The photo, a scanned signature and all supporting documents need to be uploaded on the portal before you send the file, or the application is not accepted.

Documents, Photos and Notarised Copies

The VFS adult re-issue checklist dated 14 October 2026 asks every applicant for:

• The original current passport, with copies of its first and last pages.
• The Affidavit for Change in Appearance and Signature, mandatory for all. You sign it yourself, and it needs notarising only in the special cases the checklist names, so check the current checklist.
• Annexure E.
• A notarised colour copy of your US status document.
• A colour copy of your US address proof.

US status proof can be a green card or EAD (front and back), a valid visa (with the I-20 for F-1 and F-2, or the I-94 or I-797 extension for B-1 and B-2), an I-797A, or an expired visa or I-797A with an I-797C extension receipt. The copy carries the notary's stamp and signature, and the expiry date on the stamp cannot be corrected by hand.

Address proof has to match your form. VFS accepts a state ID, driving licence, utility bill under three months old, lease signed by tenant and landlord, mortgage, 1040 tax return, or a university letter for on-campus students. Expired documents and PO boxes are refused. If you live with relatives, add their notarised undertaking and a notarised copy of their address proof.

Notarised or self-attested

Indian documents, such as Indian address proof and name or birth papers, are self-attested, in line with Passport Seva's general rule. Notarisation covers US status proof, relatives' undertakings, Annexure D for minors (signed by both parents) and a name-change affidavit where one applies.

New York's official notary guide says a notary has no authority to issue certified copies and may not certify the authenticity of papers filed with foreign consular officers. According to applicant reports on Reddit in October 2026, one New York applicant's bank notary instead notarised a signed statement the applicant wrote under the photocopy, saying it was a true copy of the original. VFS has not officially confirmed that it accepts this format, so we recommend checking with VFS first.

Photo and signature

• Upload: a colour ICAO photo of 630 x 810 pixels on a white background, as a 10 to 250 KB JPEG according to the New York consulate's guide.
• Print: one 35 x 45 mm photo identical to the upload, affixed to the appearance affidavit, per the VFS checklists of 14 October 2026 (check the current version).
• Taken within six months, face filling 80 to 85% of the frame, eyes open, mouth closed, glasses off, no edits.
• Uploaded signature on page 1, a handwritten one on the last page, and no thumbprint for adults.
• A4 paper, one-sided printing, no staples, and the form filled in capital letters.

Fees and Processing Time

New fees under Gazette notification GSR 516(E) apply to applications received at VFS from 1 July 2026. As of October 2026, each line shows the government fee with the $2 ICWF, then the total with the $19 VFS charge:

• Adult, 36 pages: $127, or $146 with VFS.
• Adult, 60 pages: $177, or $196 with VFS.
• Tatkal, 36 pages: $252, or $271 with VFS.
• Tatkal, 60 pages: $302, or $321 with VFS.
• Lost or damaged, 36 pages: $252, or $271 with VFS.
• Lost or damaged, 60 pages: $302, or $321 with VFS.
• Minor under 15: $92, or $111 with VFS.
• Minor, Tatkal: $217, or $236 with VFS.

Card payments add 3.75%, and VFS takes only Mastercard and Visa. Money orders and banker's cheques are payable to VFS Services (USA) Inc., and personal cheques are not accepted. If an application is rejected or abandoned, only the consular fee and ICWF are refunded.

Processing time

As of October 2026, excluding VFS handling and shipping, the Embassy and Seattle quote 3 to 4 weeks. New York quotes 2 to 3 weeks after receiving the file, subject to clear police verification, and VFS says 3 weeks at the mission. Atlanta quotes two working days without outside clearance and a month or more with it.

So plan on roughly 2 to 4 weeks at most missions once VFS forwards a complete file, plus VFS handling and shipping, and longer if police verification or another clearance is needed. No one can promise a date.

Police verification at your Indian address can take up to two weeks, and a relative can visit the police station to help. Status updates appear 48 to 72 hours after VFS receives the file, on the Passport Seva mission tracker.

If VFS emails about missing documents, we recommend replying within 7 days to be safe. The outer limit across official sources is about three weeks. Without a return label, documents come back by USPS in about 10 to 15 business days.

Tatkal and Urgent Cases

Tatkal adds a $125 surcharge, so as of October 2026 the VFS total is $271 for 36 pages, $321 for 60 pages and $236 for a minor. It is open to US residents with a valid passport and valid status. VFS excludes:

• Lost, stolen or damaged passports.
• Short-validity passports.
• Changes of name, sex, appearance or signature (minors may still change appearance and signature).
• Changes of date or place of birth or of parents' names.

We found no explicit rule on expired passports, so confirm with VFS before choosing Tatkal for one.

Mission figures run from 3 working days at the Embassy to six in Atlanta. Expect roughly 3 to 6 working days when police verification is clear and about 30 days or more if not, excluding VFS time and shipping. The Atlanta consulate advises against booking travel before a decision and accepts no liability for losses.

Emergency Certificate

This one-way document to India is issued only to people without valid US status whose passport has expired or been lost, stolen or damaged, or who face deportation orders. It costs $15 plus $2 ICWF. If nationality is already verified, the Embassy issues it within ten working days and the New York consulate normally within one.

Lost, Stolen or Damaged Passport

According to applicant reports on Reddit in October 2026, one applicant lost their passport, US visa and EAD in a fire.

The New York consulate asks people to report a loss immediately to the police and to the consulate. For the replacement, VFS typically needs:

• A detailed police report, approved and not pending, naming you and the passport, explaining the loss, and no more than 6 months old.
• Annexure F, stating how, when and where the passport was lost or damaged, where the FIR was lodged and any earlier losses.
• Copies of the old passport if you have them. Without them, verification takes longer.
• For a damaged passport, a written statement explaining the damage.

The fee is $271 or $321 with VFS, or $236 for a minor, and Tatkal is not available. A police report up to two years old is accepted only for an Emergency Certificate.

According to guidance from the US Mission in India, written mainly for losses overseas, a lost US visa should be reported quickly and a new one applied for at a US embassy or consulate abroad. The guidance adds that damaged passports and visas should be replaced, as damage may lead to denied boarding.

After the New Passport - US Visa Stamp, I-94, EAD and OCI Updates

VFS returns the new passport together with the old cancelled one. According to the US Embassy, a valid US visa in an expired passport stays valid unless cancelled or revoked, so leave it in place and travel with both passports.

CBP says you can print your electronic I-94 from its I-94 website ("Get Most Recent I-94") or the CBP Link app. We found no official text on whether an I-94 needs updating after an Indian passport renewal. USCIS says a lost paper I-94 is replaced with Form I-102, and a lost or destroyed EAD with a new Form I-765.

Indian passport holders do not hold OCI cards. A US-citizen spouse or child who does has three months from the issue date of their new passport to update it on the OCI portal, according to the Atlanta consulate. Late updates cost $25 plus $3 ICWF.

Recent Changes (2025-2026)

• 15 July 2025: new jurisdiction split across nine missions.
• 1 August 2025: VFS took over all consular services of the Embassy in Washington DC.
• 1 September 2025: only ICAO-compliant photos accepted.
• 28 October 2025: Global Passport Seva Programme 2.0 launched at missions abroad.
• 1 December 2025: photo and document uploads became mandatory.
• 1 July 2026: new fees under GSR 516(E) of 25 June 2026.
• 14 October 2026: new VFS checklists with one 35 x 45 mm photo and an uploaded signature.

According to an immigration law firm, passports without a chip stay valid until expiry, so there is no need to renew just for an e-passport. No US mission page we checked says whether renewals here carry a chip.

FAQ

Can I apply through another consulate if there are no slots near me?

We found no rule allowing it, since appointments follow your area of residence. The mail-in route needs no slot.

I moved to a different state. What changes?

The Embassy asks you to open a new Passport Seva account with a new email address and pick the mission for your new state.

How early can I renew?

The Embassy allows re-issue when the passport expires within one year. The Seattle consulate notes that international travel, including to India, generally needs at least six months of validity.

Can extra pages be added to my passport?

No. The New York consulate says pages cannot be added and lists re-issue when only 2 to 4 blank visa pages remain.

My passport expired more than three years ago. Can I still renew?

Yes, according to the New York consulate, with a signed letter explaining the delay and fresh police verification.

Is there a fee discount for children or seniors?

The 10% discount for children up to 8 and people over 60 applies only to fresh applications, not re-issues. Children aged 15 to 18 can choose a 10-year passport at the adult fee.

Can I travel while police verification is still pending?

Yes. The Embassy says the passport remains valid for travel if it arrives before verification finishes.

Does Visarun renew Indian passports?

No. Visarun helps prepare visa applications for your next trip once the new passport is ready, without guarantees on decisions or timelines.